Great article! Coaches should be held accountable for the way they treat their players and the promises they make during recruiting. I think I remember Saban going after a recruit that changed his commitment from U of A to another school, by saying "a commitment is a commitment". However, when he needed to change his mind on 2 players that he had offered scholarships to this year, it was OK. I don't think this sets a good example for the young men who play for him to follow. JMHO.

WDE!!!

I'm an Auburn man and I have an interest in what Auburn practices might be. Frankly I doubt that Chizik's staff talks much about other schools since they have a lot of good things to say about Auburn. I don't think the Auburn people make commitments and back away from them if the commitment becomes inconvenient. Our school makes four year commitments, not one year renewable when favoring the football programs interests. How does any of this, known to all of us for years, affect Auburn, affect anything?
It is my understanding that our Board, our President, our AD, our coach, and our coaches staff refrain from any of these practices. Where am I wrong?
I fail to see any virtue in talking about the sins of football programs in general terms.. Broadcast specific charges against specific programs with some evidence that these are not everybody knows baloney, and advise parents that a school has done some of the stuff that harms the athletes, and see how quick things change. Talking in generalities, hard to sue a generality, isn't going to change much. Investigative reporting, and harping on known cases of harm to high school athletes will do more than any edict from a long sleeping NACA would do. Phillip's sermon about generalities changes little as it doesn't shine a very bright light on a specific case of gross misbehavior by a named coach or University at a time when athletes and their families are thinking about where four star jo is going to school. Bring that case to the attention of the world of high school athletes looking for a place to settle for four years, and see what changes right now. That will beat the heck out of soap box oratory, which is Phillip's blog-face it. Journalism used to be more than the farce of the moment. It was a force for change. Not so anymore. Shame. It's dying because it's immaterial.
I got three negatives. No comment on where I'm wrong headed. Just negatives. Probably get more. All without comment on where I'm wrong. Why? Could be because AUC would like to avoid argument. Could be a problem with articulating a sound argument. Could be that they have a yen to praise Phillip. Reasonable, I have one myself which I occasionallhy overcome. Pointing out a school's faults in recruiting during the recruiting period could have an effect on rational parents regarding their son's education and football career. Talking about it in February after LOI's are in won't accomplish much. Come on guys, give me an argument, insults are not arguments. Down votes are, well, simple like the minds of origin. Now, that's an observation, not an insult.

However, if players were allowed to change schools at will, just imagine that the recruiting would not stop at NSD but would go on for 3 more years. What chaos!

I do believe the NCAA is coming around also, but I am jaded enough to believe that way because USC, Ohio State, UAT, Nebraska and the Penn St horror shows that most of these' media sacred cows can't follow the rules and do it the right way; so finally change is coming to a biased,broken system

Phillip, give it hell! That is a great article! It is time schools and coaches, and I mean all of them, realize it is the players who ultimately generate all that cash for the schools. Integrity should be across all sides, players and recruiters. College athletics is an entertainment which commands big bucks. What would ESPN do without college athletics? What do they gain by trashing some universities and showing favoritism to others? It is not and never will be a level playing field. Remember how many years Auburn had to play Alabama in Birmingham, its second home field. I do hope the NCAA goes in the right direction, their record doesn't impress me. They would have a lot to lose if the college players were unionized. Now there is an ugly thought!

I am not a graduate of Auburn, but I am a fan. I have lived under a pretty stong honor code though and I do know ethics and morality, which are not the same. I see your argument as pragmatical in nature. You want specifics so anyone can pin the tail on the donkey so to speak, but that is not what we witness in college sport.
Phillip's blog does not bother me because it does point out some practices in higher education that should not be (ethics.) Whether these are obvious to all is a matter of opinion, but I do not mind the reminders.
The athletic websites ( the media may be irrelevant, but I hope not) nor the NCAA will ever do what you want them to do, in my opinion, because they are organizations that rely on sport for their livelihood. It is their job to promote sport, not threaten it. The NCAA, because it is torn between promotion which pays their salaries and enforcement which could shut down the sport, must toe a tight line. It would be my thesis that they can never meaningfully control what they are designed to promote.
Finally, I think there is a coach, Nick Saban, who should be investigated. There was an article in the AJC football recruiting section around signing time about a student-athlete by the name of Taylor in Atlanta who had his scholarship pulled in favor of a greyshirt. In that article the student-athlete said he was offered a job by Saban in their conversation about the greyshirt If the article is accurate in their quoting what the student-athlete said, this is a violation of NCAA recruiting rules. Now perhaps the student-athlete has changed his mind about the quotes in that article since he has signed with Kentucky, but why wasn't this reported as a violation initially in the media? Was the paper aware this was a violation and if so were they afraid of slander or something else?
For an athletic website to raise up and declare the violation and see what the NCAA will do, is something they will not do because the downsides are too big. But publishing an article that is non-specific about issues may be the next best thing.
I do agree with your basic tenant though, which I perceive to be if you know the truth tell it as specifically and accurately as you can. Unfortunately, the Internet chatter does not lend itself to this level of integrity and allows for people to accuse without proof or knowledge. I think that is more the problem that Phillip's excursus into ethics and morality.