The Cost of Recruiting

http://www.charlotte.com/sports_breaking/story/478556.html


Clemson coach Tommy Bowden was about to make his most important recruiting trip of 2002 when the school's plane broke down.

With little notice, the school chartered Bowden a plane. He got to Owensboro (Ky.) High in time to impress Justin Miller, who signed to play cornerback for Clemson.

Miller led the ACC with eight interceptions in 2002 and led the nation in kickoff return average in '04. Bowden said going to the expense of chartering the plane was worth it.

"If you just look at us the last three years, we have literally been one play away from the (ACC) championship game," he said. "A lot of these games, if you just stop the team on third down and get the ball and run the clock out, the game is over.

"A lot of times it's one play made by one player, so that one player can make a difference between an $18 million bowl and a $4 million bowl."

This belief causes schools to spend on recruiting in amounts that would make a human resources director at a medium-sized company blush. An Observer survey of 2006-07 fiscal year recruiting budgets revealed numbers well into six figures at Carolinas Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) public schools.

Each school itemizes in its own way, so it's impossible to proclaim a Carolinas recruiting budget champion. But North Carolina ($449,347) and Clemson ($401,083) each spent more than $400,000 and South Carolina ($283,505) and N.C. State ($243,462) more than $200,000 in 2006-07.

East Carolina spent $148,412, and Football Championship Subdivision champion Appalachian State spent $45,000, according to data provided to the Observer.

The NCAA limits schools to 25 scholarships in a class. That means some Carolinas schools in 2006-07 spent more than $10,000 per signee. North Carolina spent $18,722 per signee in a class of 24.

Such expenditures concern some who believe college athletics spending is out of control.

"Recruiting is one of those expenditures that just continues to increase," said Amy Perko, a Kannapolis native who is executive director of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. "And the number of players that they're able to sign hasn't increased, so it is something that needs to be continually looked at in terms of policy."

The Knight Commission is a consortium of academicians and former athletes dedicated to changing college athletics to emphasize academics and decrease commercialism. In a 1991 report, the commission said some schools spend more to recruit a handful of basketball players than they do recruiting the rest of the (non-athlete) student body.

N.C. State athletics director Lee Fowler blames rising travel costs for increases.

"Gas is three dollars a gallon instead of a dollar fifty a gallon," Fowler said. "A lot of the expenses are because of the economy as much as anything else."

Transportation, hotels and meals for traveling coaches and athletes' official visits make up the bulk of recruiting budgets -- 79 percent of Clemson's and 78 percent of South Carolina's, for example.

Clemson spent $93,694 to fly coaches on the university aircraft and an additional $27,790 for charter flights.

Schools also spend on printing brochures for prospects ($57,073 for N.C. State) and on subscriptions to recruiting services ($52,834 for South Carolina).

Coaches often subscribe to recruiting news sites such as rivals.com and scout.com, said rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell. They also get early evaluations and contact information on prospects from companies such as The Forbes Report, a Miami-based service run by Terry Forbes, a former assistant to Lou Holtz at Notre Dame.

"These are very valuable sources of information ... that provide all this stuff for them as their starting point," Farrell said.

The NCAA cracked down on some lavish recruiting practices in 2004 after reports of excesses surfaced. Recruiting hostess groups were disbanded. Private plane trips for recruits for official visits were banned.

But some coaches still fly on private planes to visit players, and recruits eat 30-ounce steaks while staying in plush hotels on their official visits.

"Everywhere I went, they had better beds than I have back at home," said Concord Robinson offensive tackle R.J. Mattes, who committed to N.C. State after visiting five schools.

That's a small part of what the Knight Commission reports call the "Arms Race" in college athletics. If a visiting recruit gets a bed with six pillows in a nice hotel at one school, coaches at some competing schools will want to provide seven pillows in a nicer hotel.

"At Division I-A schools, (athletics) expenses have been increasing at a rate three to four times that of overall university expenses," Perko said. "It just can't be sustained, and recruiting is one of those areas that has really jumped and continues to grow."

When Bowden spared no expense to make his meeting with Miller, the coach might have made an impression that landed Clemson an impact player.

Fowler said that when schools pay for recruiting services, they're trying to make sure they won't miss the next great running back or quarterback who can make a huge difference.

"Recruiting is the lifeblood of any program," Fowler said. "You've got to have good athletes."

So while the rest of the nation tightens its belt in fear of a recession, recruiters afraid to miss out on the next great prospect have spared no expense as signing day approaches.

 

Clemson just got a newer plane this year, so hopefully, he won't have to make any last minute charters any time soon.

 

ONE PLANE?? ROFL

 

Dude tried to blame it on the price of gas.

 

Fowler is a moron.