Hatfield
7/11/2006, 10:11 AM
Oklahoma St. left Brown up in air
Antioch star headed to UK after Big 12 school oversigned recruits
By DAVID CLIMER
Senior Writer
It's happened to many of us. You're sitting at the gate, waiting to board a plane when a representative from the airline makes an announcement.
They've overbooked your flight. There are more passengers than there are seats. They are requesting volunteers to give up their seats for a cash voucher and a ticket on a later flight.
Preston Brown can relate. A recent graduate of Antioch High, where he had been a star running back, Brown signed scholarship papers with Oklahoma State in February, only to be told recently that the school had overbooked its scholarship limit for incoming freshmen. He was asked to give up his spot.
And he did.
Oklahoma State offered to release Brown from the national letter-of-intent he had signed in February. Brown accepted. He plans to enroll at Kentucky, his second choice during the recruiting process, in the winter term.
In short, he has taken Oklahoma State off the hook.
"They gave my scholarship away," Brown told The Tennessean last week.
NCAA rules limit Division I-A schools to 25 freshmen and/or junior college transfers per year. Many schools routinely sign more than
25 recruits (Oklahoma State signed 29). Coaches do their homework, making educated guesses that enough of the signees will not qualify academically and will not be eligible.
Since the headcount of 25 does not occur until the start of preseason practice or the first day of classes, whichever comes first, those who do not qualify are steered to junior colleges, prep schools or non-NCAA schools.
Brown was an at-risk signee. For much of his senior year at Antioch, his grades and standardized test score were suspect compared to minimum scores required by the NCAA for freshman eligibility.
Indeed, when he was being recruited by Oklahoma State, it was mentioned that a fall-back plan would be for him to enroll and play football at Butler (Kansas) Community College for two years before being re-recruited by the Cowboys.
But what happens when a coaching staff guesses wrong and the incoming class is overbooked, as was the case at Oklahoma State?
It is extremely rare. Dan Beebe, senior associate commissioner-chief operating officer of the Big 12 Conference, of which Oklahoma State is a member, said he has never heard of a similar situation.
"In my 24 years in intercollegiate athletics, I don't recall ever seeing a report about anything like this," said Beebe, former commissioner of the OVC and a one-time investigator for the NCAA. "My understanding is that these kinds of situations tend to work out for the best."
But what if Brown had pressed the issue and refused to sign a release from Oklahoma State? What if he had packed his bags and showed up in Stillwater, Okla., for the first day of preseason practice, perhaps with an attorney in tow to help enforce the wording of the scholarship papers?
Per the organization's policy, NCAA officials will not comment on individual cases. However, an NCAA representative provided a staff interpretation of the rule that indicates a school cannot withdraw a scholarship if proper documents are signed and the player qualifies academically.
In other words, Oklahoma State was on the hook if Brown had insisted on attending the school.
In that case, Oklahoma State would have been forced to steer another freshman away or be in violation of the NCAA rule limiting incoming classes to 25.
If the school exceeded 25 scholarships in the class, the violation would be reported to the NCAA, with the organization's enforcement division and membership services determining any punishment.
It won't come to this since Brown willingly signed a release from the national letter-of-intent that would have bound him to Oklahoma State. But the whole experience calls into question the practice of overbooking scholarships.
"What bothers me is that it's not a two-way street," said Mike Woodward, new football coach at Antioch High. "The letter-of-intent binds the player to the school. If he signs it and then decides he wants to stay closer to home, he can't get out of it."
Once they did the math and figured out that Brown would put them over the limit of 25 incoming players, OSU officials were quick to send word Brown was no longer wanted.
"The people at Oklahoma State told me Preston was not one of their top 25 players coming in. They offered the release very quickly," Woodward said.
"I think Preston accepted the release because it was made pretty clear that Oklahoma State didn't want him. Would you want to go to a place where you're not wanted?"
Of course, all this was different during the recruiting process. Cowboys Coach Mike Gundy came to Antioch and talked with him at length. Brown took a recruiting visit to Stillwater and liked what he saw.
Gundy did not return messages left by The Tennessean.
Last week, Gundy told the Daily Oklahoman newspaper of Oklahoma City: "He applied for a release from us. We gave him a release. Past that, I can't comment on it, because he's not part of our program. I hope things work out for him."
Indeed, this worked out. But it leaves hard feelings and questions about a recruiting system where the school is holding most of the cards.
"We notified Oklahoma State in April that he had made his test score and had a good shot at being eligible," Woodward said. "They just said, 'OK.'
"Then the summer came around and we mailed the transcript to them. Preston was anxious to get some information from them so he would know what kind of workouts he should be doing to get ready for preseason practice.
"That's when they said, 'We signed too many guys. We don't have a spot for him.' "
The flight was full.
And Preston Brown was forced to find another flight.
To another city.
And another football program.
Invisible:
Antioch star headed to UK after Big 12 school oversigned recruits
By DAVID CLIMER
Senior Writer
It's happened to many of us. You're sitting at the gate, waiting to board a plane when a representative from the airline makes an announcement.
They've overbooked your flight. There are more passengers than there are seats. They are requesting volunteers to give up their seats for a cash voucher and a ticket on a later flight.
Preston Brown can relate. A recent graduate of Antioch High, where he had been a star running back, Brown signed scholarship papers with Oklahoma State in February, only to be told recently that the school had overbooked its scholarship limit for incoming freshmen. He was asked to give up his spot.
And he did.
Oklahoma State offered to release Brown from the national letter-of-intent he had signed in February. Brown accepted. He plans to enroll at Kentucky, his second choice during the recruiting process, in the winter term.
In short, he has taken Oklahoma State off the hook.
"They gave my scholarship away," Brown told The Tennessean last week.
NCAA rules limit Division I-A schools to 25 freshmen and/or junior college transfers per year. Many schools routinely sign more than
25 recruits (Oklahoma State signed 29). Coaches do their homework, making educated guesses that enough of the signees will not qualify academically and will not be eligible.
Since the headcount of 25 does not occur until the start of preseason practice or the first day of classes, whichever comes first, those who do not qualify are steered to junior colleges, prep schools or non-NCAA schools.
Brown was an at-risk signee. For much of his senior year at Antioch, his grades and standardized test score were suspect compared to minimum scores required by the NCAA for freshman eligibility.
Indeed, when he was being recruited by Oklahoma State, it was mentioned that a fall-back plan would be for him to enroll and play football at Butler (Kansas) Community College for two years before being re-recruited by the Cowboys.
But what happens when a coaching staff guesses wrong and the incoming class is overbooked, as was the case at Oklahoma State?
It is extremely rare. Dan Beebe, senior associate commissioner-chief operating officer of the Big 12 Conference, of which Oklahoma State is a member, said he has never heard of a similar situation.
"In my 24 years in intercollegiate athletics, I don't recall ever seeing a report about anything like this," said Beebe, former commissioner of the OVC and a one-time investigator for the NCAA. "My understanding is that these kinds of situations tend to work out for the best."
But what if Brown had pressed the issue and refused to sign a release from Oklahoma State? What if he had packed his bags and showed up in Stillwater, Okla., for the first day of preseason practice, perhaps with an attorney in tow to help enforce the wording of the scholarship papers?
Per the organization's policy, NCAA officials will not comment on individual cases. However, an NCAA representative provided a staff interpretation of the rule that indicates a school cannot withdraw a scholarship if proper documents are signed and the player qualifies academically.
In other words, Oklahoma State was on the hook if Brown had insisted on attending the school.
In that case, Oklahoma State would have been forced to steer another freshman away or be in violation of the NCAA rule limiting incoming classes to 25.
If the school exceeded 25 scholarships in the class, the violation would be reported to the NCAA, with the organization's enforcement division and membership services determining any punishment.
It won't come to this since Brown willingly signed a release from the national letter-of-intent that would have bound him to Oklahoma State. But the whole experience calls into question the practice of overbooking scholarships.
"What bothers me is that it's not a two-way street," said Mike Woodward, new football coach at Antioch High. "The letter-of-intent binds the player to the school. If he signs it and then decides he wants to stay closer to home, he can't get out of it."
Once they did the math and figured out that Brown would put them over the limit of 25 incoming players, OSU officials were quick to send word Brown was no longer wanted.
"The people at Oklahoma State told me Preston was not one of their top 25 players coming in. They offered the release very quickly," Woodward said.
"I think Preston accepted the release because it was made pretty clear that Oklahoma State didn't want him. Would you want to go to a place where you're not wanted?"
Of course, all this was different during the recruiting process. Cowboys Coach Mike Gundy came to Antioch and talked with him at length. Brown took a recruiting visit to Stillwater and liked what he saw.
Gundy did not return messages left by The Tennessean.
Last week, Gundy told the Daily Oklahoman newspaper of Oklahoma City: "He applied for a release from us. We gave him a release. Past that, I can't comment on it, because he's not part of our program. I hope things work out for him."
Indeed, this worked out. But it leaves hard feelings and questions about a recruiting system where the school is holding most of the cards.
"We notified Oklahoma State in April that he had made his test score and had a good shot at being eligible," Woodward said. "They just said, 'OK.'
"Then the summer came around and we mailed the transcript to them. Preston was anxious to get some information from them so he would know what kind of workouts he should be doing to get ready for preseason practice.
"That's when they said, 'We signed too many guys. We don't have a spot for him.' "
The flight was full.
And Preston Brown was forced to find another flight.
To another city.
And another football program.
Invisible: