Alabama high school coaches may want to reconsider recruiting players in the future
Nobody will admit it, but recruiting within the high school ranks is becoming a serious problem. On Monday, a Georgia coach was denied a new job when word came out that he had recruited a player from another school.
The news may come as a shock to some, but if you look around the country, you'll see recruiting violations are becoming common occurrences in some states. It's not nearly as bad as what goes on in the college ranks, but the way things are progressing at the moment, it has the chance to get to a similar level in the future.
Plenty of states have started to crack down on the issue in the past year, and it appears the Alabama High School Athletic Association is set to follow suit, after it decided that any coach or school found to have been involved in the recruitment of a player would be banned from competitive play for a full year.
According to the Birmingham News, coaches from around the state have differing opinions when it comes to recruiting within the state. Some believe it's a serious issue, while others tend to think the problem starts and ends with the AAU ranks.
"Everybody knows it happens," Shades Valley boys basketball coach Mike Burrus told the Birmingham News. "But it's not coaches doing it. It's all your AAU people . . . parents talking to parents. In AAU ball, all the superstars get on one or two teams. . . . Parents travel with kids and get to know them and say, 'Hey, instead of you living in that apartment, why don't you come live here so they can play together?' "
No matter which side of the fence you currently sit on, there's no question something needs to change in the future, and the state of Alabama clearly feels like the first step is to hammer violators.
The big question that has yet to be answered is if a one year ban is enough to keep coaches, parents and players on the straight and narrow. Some believe it will, while other remain incredibly skeptical that a ban is going to change the problem at all.
"Whether that's going to control it or not, I just don't know," Woodlawn football coach Bruce Breland told the Birmingham News. "I think it may (force) a coach to be a little more careful, but there are ways to go around it."
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