Brandon Knight signs an "aid-agreement", not a LOI

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good article

I thought that was a really interesting article. I don't like that the NCAA changes the rules to Coach Cal can't insert language into a LOI that allows a recruit to bolt if he bolts. I still don't understand why the NCAA insists on punishing players while coaches get off without even a slap on the hand when they bolt.
 

brg

The whole one and done situation is a cesspool as far as I am concerned but I sure do not blame Mr. Knight for the current set of rules.

Eighteen year olds should be allowed to "work" in the NBA if they are qualified, IMHO. If they really do not want to go to college why should they have to fake it?

Regarding Cal, I hope he does bolt to the NBA.
 

Whatever the motive, intended or not, a shrewd move. If Slick Cal decides to bolt Kentucky, the kid now will have the option of going somewhere else. Can't blame him for that. Most of these guys pick their school based on the coach & not the school, anyways.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Whatever the motive, intended or not, a shrewd move. If Slick Cal decides to bolt Kentucky, the kid now will have the option of going somewhere else. Can't blame him for that. Most of these guys pick their school based on the coach & not the school, anyways.
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It certainly WAS an intentional choice. Top 25 elite players should take this option more often. There is no requirement to sign NLOI at all. I'm pretty sure Kris Humphries only signed grant-in-aid agreement with Minnesota.
 


This actually isn't all that new. There are a lot of athletes who only sign the financial aid forms. Especially ones that sign late in the spring. And, there are actually some stipulations to the aid agreements. They are binding, although not as rock solid as a LOI. In Knight's case, his aid agreement says if he chooses to go somewhere other than Kentucky, then he cannot go to an SEC school and get financial aid for two years.

Athletes in other sports like baseball, wrestling, etc., usually only sign this type of aid agreement for whatever reason.

I don't think it is that big of a deal. Certainly not something as big as this writer seems to be making it sound.
 

He signed it because he wanted to make sure he could go their in case Cory Joseph signed at his desired school. Not that Cory J turned down Minnesota, McKnight is free to sign here.:)
 

tjgopher said:
This actually isn't all that new. There are a lot of athletes who only sign the financial aid forms. Especially ones that sign late in the spring. And, there are actually some stipulations to the aid agreements. They are binding, although not as rock solid as a LOI. In Knight's case, his aid agreement says if he chooses to go somewhere other than Kentucky, then he cannot go to an SEC school and get financial aid for two years.

Athletes in other sports like baseball, wrestling, etc., usually only sign this type of aid agreement for whatever reason.

I don't think it is that big of a deal. Certainly not something as big as this writer seems to be making it sound.
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Actually basketball and football players typically (not always) sign both NLOI and the scholarship papers.
 

The reality is, if a coach leaves and the kids wants to leave, they are generally released. There are just some headaches from certain schools (i.e., we're not going to release you until we hire a new coach... you need to still consider us, etc.).

But.. on Humphries.. and a ton of others.. I believe a kid can only sign one NLI in a particular year. So for kids that are released from an NLI in the spring... and they find a new school.. the new school and the kid are not allowed to enter into an NLI. For example, when Kevin Noreen commits to _______, there will be no NLI signed.
 



Friend Of Tubby said:
Actually basketball and football players typically (not always) sign both NLOI and the scholarship papers.
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Correct. I never said any different. I said athletes in other sports often only sign the aid paperwork. There are some basketball and football players that only sign the aid papers, but most sign both. Thank you for reiterating my point.

The point is, this isn't that big of a deal. There were multiple late spring signees in hoops that only signed the aid papers.
 


Technically, they don't have to sign either document. There is no mandate on either one. Brandon Knight could have chosen to sign nothing and still played at Kentucky this fall/winter.
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
He signed it because he wanted to make sure he could go their in case Cory Joseph signed at his desired school. Not that Cory J turned down Minnesota, McKnight is free to sign here.:)
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And then after McKnight signed here we could try to recruit Brandon Knight.
 



tjgopher said:
Technically, they don't have to sign either document. There is no mandate on either one. Brandon Knight could have chosen to sign nothing and still played at Kentucky this fall/winter.
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Not so - they MUST sign the scholarship papers before school starts in order to received athletic scholarship $ in their sport.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
The reality is, if a coach leaves and the kids wants to leave, they are generally released. There are just some headaches from certain schools (i.e., we're not going to release you until we hire a new coach... you need to still consider us, etc.).

But.. on Humphries.. and a ton of others.. I believe a kid can only sign one NLI in a particular year. So for kids that are released from an NLI in the spring... and they find a new school.. the new school and the kid are not allowed to enter into an NLI. For example, when Kevin Noreen commits to _______, there will be no NLI signed.
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Correct on the second paragraph.
 

Friend Of Tubby said:
Not so - they MUST sign the scholarship papers before school starts in order to received athletic scholarship $ in their sport.
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I stand corrected. Yes, they need to get the scholarship money, obviously, so they need to sign the aid papers. No need to ever sign a LOI if a player chooses not to. They do run some risks in not signing, which is why almost all FB and BB players do sign LOIs.
 

tjgopher said:
I stand corrected. Yes, they need to get the scholarship money, obviously, so they need to sign the aid papers. No need to ever sign a LOI if a player chooses not to. They do run some risks in not signing, which is why almost all FB and BB players do sign LOIs.
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What risks would those be? Not trying to provoke; just curious. Seems to me the only risk in not signing a LOI is to the school, not the player. What does the player actually gain from signing a LOI?
 

Coogles said:
What risks would those be? Not trying to provoke; just curious. Seems to me the only risk in not signing a LOI is to the school, not the player. What does the player actually gain from signing a LOI?
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The risk in not signing the letter is you could lose your spot in the recruiting class. If you commit but never sign a letter, then the coaches have to figure you are not totally sure and they will likely continue recruiting other kids. If you're a basketball player and don't sign in November, but commit to a school, you run the risk of injury, a subpar season, or something else kind of short-circuiting your college intentions. A signed LOI locks you into the school in the fall, they will quit recruiting at your position, you have a spot and are locked in with little to no risk, etc. Almost all schools will honor a LOI if signed in the fall (assuming no legal issues arise). But, if you don't sign, you leave yourself at the mercy of your senior year performance, injuries, other players becoming more attractive than you, etc.
 

tjgopher said:
The risk in not signing the letter is you could lose your spot in the recruiting class. If you commit but never sign a letter, then the coaches have to figure you are not totally sure and they will likely continue recruiting other kids. If you're a basketball player and don't sign in November, but commit to a school, you run the risk of injury, a subpar season, or something else kind of short-circuiting your college intentions. A signed LOI locks you into the school in the fall, they will quit recruiting at your position, you have a spot and are locked in with little to no risk, etc. Almost all schools will honor a LOI if signed in the fall (assuming no legal issues arise). But, if you don't sign, you leave yourself at the mercy of your senior year performance, injuries, other players becoming more attractive than you, etc.
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What am I missing? The aid agreement states that the school MUST pay for a scholarship for the player for the first year. If the player wants to go to that school, the school has to pay, no ifs, ands, or buts. What you're suggesting is that the player would enroll in the school, receive a free education, but not be allowed to play basketball. Do you really think that would ever happen? Especially for a player of Brandon Knight's caliber?
 

dpodoll68 said:
What am I missing? The aid agreement states that the school MUST pay for a scholarship for the player for the first year. If the player wants to go to that school, the school has to pay, no ifs, ands, or buts. What you're suggesting is that the player would enroll in the school, receive a free education, but not be allowed to play basketball. Do you really think that would ever happen? Especially for a player of Brandon Knight's caliber?
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No, that isn't at all what I'm saying. You have completely misread what I'm saying. I am saying if a student chooses not to sign a LOI (and/or an aid agreement) in the fall, but verbally commits to a school and is injured or underperforms or some other players shoot past him in a coaching staff's mind, then that player runs the risk of being told he no longer has a scholarship offer. The school is at liberty to do that since the kid never signed a LOI in the fall. It is rare, because kids almost always sign. My suggestion is that a kid who doesn't sign is at risk. Not a great deal of risk, but he does risk his spot on the team.

Knight is not even in my scenario. As I said in an earlier post, this is a much more frequent situation in the spring signing period. But, the risk Knight took was this...what if he had a catastrophic knee injury in December that rendered him unable to play again? No school would give him a scholarship. But, if he had signed in November, that school would almost certainly abide by the LOI and grant him a scholarship (normally a non-athletic) scholarship so he could get an education. That was a risk he was willing to take.
 

Not sure this adds to the thread but the NLI started in 1964.

I thought the original intent of the national letter of intent was to protect the recruit from getting hounded by coaches once he has made up his mind.

From this website:

"An important provision of the National Letter of Intent program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs a Letter of Intent."

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/About+the+NLI/
 

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