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SoCal Prep Recruiting Report & News

AAU Tournament Teams, Coaches,
and Grumblings from the Midwest---October 18, 1997

For those of you who follow this site, you may have read our article on the proposals being submitted by the National Association of Basketball Coaches to the NCAA regarding summer recruiting and camps. If you did, then you know what the debate is about. For those of you who missed it, check our NABC article here.

It seems that the debate is not limited to the NCAA and the NABC. There are even more violent rumblings coming from the heartland over the "control" which AAU coaches seemingly exercise over kids who participate in tournament and club basketball.

The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association has taken just about the most extreme view yet, far more reactionary than the NABC, by proposing that the NCAA declare July an entirely "dead" month, and off limits entirely to college coaches. Why the IBCA thinks this will limit summer tournaments is not made clear, but in an article appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times Prep Sports section on October 12, 1997, Taylor Bell sought out comments from the organization and from several high school coaches on the subject. We are re-printing the article here in its entirety because it may not be available later at the Sun-Times; if it is, then we apologize, and intend only fair use by this reprinting, which is presented solely for educational purposes and not-for-profit by SoCalHoops--Please visit the Sun-Times site directly for the article (as of 10/18/97):

Coaches seek strict limitations
October 12, 1997
BY TAYLOR BELL STAFF REPORTER

The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association has been credited with laying the foundation--and applying necessary pressure in the right places--for establishing the two-class tournament in 1972.

Now, the IBCA, which thought more was better at that time, thinks too much is enough. It is campaigning for spring and summer limitations and plans to ask the Illinois High School Association to put coaches back in control of their programs.

IBCA founder and former Toluca coach Chuck Rolinski met with 21 district representatives Sept. 24 to discuss the issue. In November, the IBCA hopes to develop a proposal that will be sent to the IHSA and NCAA ``to explain the perils and what we stand for.''

``Coaches think it would be better if we went back to the way it was 10 to 12 years ago, when spring and summer competition wasn't so wide open and out of control,'' Rolinski said.

``Maybe we'll ask for a limited summer schedule with no competition in July. The biggest problem is who controls the Amateur Athletic Union and summer traveling coaches. They can do almost anything.''

Marshall coach Luther Bedford said the consensus among Public League coaches is that kids are playing too much during the offseason--one elementary school team played more than 100 games during the summer, while AAU teams routinely play 80 games--and he fears high school programs will lose more kids if coaches aren't in control.

Coaches Jim Harrington of Elgin and Steve Goers of Rockford Boylan said the IHSA should petition the NCAA to make July a dead period for college coaches or abolish the November early-signing period. Without college recruiters present at summer events, they argue, there would be no pressure on kids to participate in events from coast to coast.

``About eight years ago, I started to get a feel for the AAU,'' Rolinski said. ``I saw eighth-graders and freshmen being flown all over the country for games. Then parents began asking coaches why their kids weren't playing. Then high school coaches lost control to summer coaches. We need to do something about it.''

In our earlier article, we expressed similar concerns, but nothing nearly as extreme as this. Frankly, I think that this approach is reactionary and ill-conceived, and will never be approved by the NCAA. Things won't ever go "back to the way they were 10 or 12 years ago" and they shouldn't. The AAU performs a vital function, and if high school coaches want to get involved in coaching summer leagues, what's really stopping them? I know several coaches here in SoCal who coach club teams during the summer, and not all the AAU coaches "control" the kids. And just what is the use of that term supposed to imply anyway. In our earlier article we expressed some thoughts on that, but until we hear more from groups like the IHSA and the IBCA as to exactly what they are concerned about, it makes very little sense to talk in sweeping generalities. The real danger is that the IHSA (and other State high school athletic governing bodies) might decide to try to limit play by enacting rules which will affect high school eligibility if a kid plays on AAU teams, which would really be bad for the sport.

Too many tournaments and too much travel. Ok, I agree that sometimes too much of a good thing can be, well, just too damn much. But who says that the IBCA or some other State Athletic board has the wisdom to decide when and how a kid should be able to play basketball outside the jurisdiction of a school setting? What's wrong with the parents that a little education won't cure so that they can make better decisions for their kids about how much playing is really too much? Or how about a little self-governance from the AAU, i.e., a limit on the number of tournaments that a kid can enter during the summer season, leading up to the Nationals. Hey, AAU, are you listening?

As we said before, one thing is certain: Something will change as a result of the furor being created by the summer "off-season" and club team situation. Just exactly what will change is anybody's guess, particularly given the competing interests of kids who want to play and gain exposure and experience for not only high school ball, but also college and potentially beyond, the interests of coaches (both altruistic and selfish), parents who want their kids to succeed and excel but sometimes overdo it, and the turf wars between the various governing bodies.

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