Brooks: Signing Day Only Comes Once A Year – And That’s A Mistake

BOULDER – Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre introduced his Class of 2017 on Wednesday – the first day he and his counterparts scattered about the FBS were officially allowed to publicly offer their signees' names, heights, weights and other pertinent stats that can make grown alums and donors grovel.

In years to come, MacIntyre is hopeful that he won't have to wait until the first Wednesday in February to officially dispense this vital info after gathering his signees' signatures on their letters-of-intent.

MacIntyre and others in his profession are pushing for an earlier signing date. Collectively, they've targeted mid-December, around the time when junior college players are now permitted to sign. But if MacIntyre had his druthers, football's early signing date would be in July.

There are several reasons for this, maybe the biggest being that recruiting might be the darkest, snarkiest endeavor this side of the DC Beltway. Teenage recruits who believe they've made up their minds on a college and its football program offer their verbal commitments, which should be the end of that.

Of course, it's not – as MacIntyre and his staff discovered during this recruiting period maybe more than in any of their previous years in Boulder.

"You have grown men (read: grown recruiters) come in and tell them all kind of stuff," MacIntyre said Wednesday before a bank of TV cameras and other assembled media in CU's Dal Ward Athletic Center's Touchdown Club Room. "It's an interesting dynamic for a 17-year-old young man who's trying to figure it all out. If you have teenagers you know what that's like, period. It'll keep getting harder and harder for us."

Football recruiting has become a never-ending cycle. MacIntyre and his guys already are eyeing commitments for their Class of 2018, maybe beyond. The key is solidifying those commitments, protecting them from those nasty poaching "grown men" and not having to wait until the first Wednesday in February to do it. A July signing day, even one in December, would work to that end.

"I'd like to see it just like they do it in basketball (mid-April, mid-November), one in July before you start your season," MacIntyre offered. "I know a lot of high school coaches would like to see that too. There's a lot of logistics on that; the (college) coaches have moved to vote on it to do one in December, which I think would be great.

"Everything has sped up with the access of Hudl and video and all the other things you're able to do. Kids used to, back in the Stone Age when I played and I guess ten years ago, kids would take an official visit . . . now the first official visit is the unofficial visit. So it's totally spread out.

"If you flipped the calendar a little bit and let them have some more official visits earlier somehow, I think it would be better. Any way we could move (a signing day) up some, I'm for it."

AND IF THE BUFFS' RISE CONTINUES – which MacIntyre expects – it will become imperative to nail down those commitments as early as the law allows. CU had the bulk of its 28 available scholarships committed before the season began or shortly into it. And most of those 2017 commitments were a cut above what the Buffs had been chasing in recent seasons.

Said MacIntyre: "We had to turn away some really good football players, which we haven't had to do in the past. I mean some really good football players."

For the first recruiting period of his now five-year tenure, the pieces fell into place. Long before MacIntyre arrived, CU was able to sell its academic reputation, location and lifestyle to prospects, not to mention the proximity to a major city (Denver) and airport (DIA). Two years ago an eye-popping facilities project was added to the mix. And this season the on-field product – a 10-2 regular season and Pac-12 South Division title – became a bonafide selling point.

"You look at the whole package, I know I'm biased, but our whole package is pretty good now," MacIntyre said. "It's risen to another level."

Result: Some of those living rooms marked "Ralphie Keep Out" have suddenly opened. CU wasn't rubbing shoulders with the Clemsons, Alabamas, Ohio States and Michigans on the recruiting trail, but the Buffs suddenly were pursuing a higher profile recruit – and perhaps finding it harder to keep him.

I asked MacIntyre if, because of the Buffs' 2016 success, he found it easier or more difficult in this recruiting period to hold onto a better quality commit.

He answered, with a laugh, "It depends on the night you called me. It seemed like it was happening a lot more, and (more) when you recruit higher and 'higher caliber' classes . . . it's all a little in perception, but we had a lot more guys getting attacked.

"The other reason is, people trust our evaluations now – they know we're evaluating well and they also know the kids we're recruiting will be (academically) eligible. There's a big key to that; if Colorado's recruiting them they have to be eligible because (CU) has high credentials. That's a pretty good target to go at.

"And the other thing is, most of our kids are from out of state, so (schools) that are near them they think they're closer and think they have a chance (to poach a commit)."

MACINTYRE IS A STRONG BELIEVER in a commitment being just that, but he understands the pressures that prospects face and he won't throw up a roadblock if an early recruit wants to visit elsewhere before signing. When a prospect signs the binding letter of intent, MacIntyre wants the player and his parents to experience that peaceful, easy feeling.

"It's kind of different with each individual, each one has a different reason, is confused, and wants to sit down and talk about it," he said. "Some want to take a visit and see what it's like and then they come back and say we want to be with you. Every one of them is different; you just keep recruiting them and show how much you care about them and go from there.

"Hopefully the trust you've built up and what they see helps them stay here. If you try to twist their arm and make them feel guilty about it, that's not really the way you want to do business. You want to do it the open way. They're making their statement about wanting to be here and they know if you treat them like that when you're recruiting them, when they get here you're going to treat them the same way.

"I always say be careful how you're treated because you're going to be treated like that when you go to that school."

Recruiting can be a roll of the dice, but there are ways to make it less of a gamble. Through their hard work, an assist from CU's administration, and an autumn that finally met expectations, MacIntyre and his guys appear to have removed some of the uncertainty.

The next step isn't up to them. An early signing date would allow him, his recruiting staff and coaches to take a deep breath, do their in-season jobs, cut back on those "protective" phone calls and quite possibly enjoy life a little more.

I'm guessing it wouldn't be a bad deal for high school seniors either.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU

Brooks: Signing Day Only Comes Once A Year – And That’s A Mistake

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