HI NOTES: Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

♦ We posted last week about Word on the Tweet rumors of possible changes being talked about at the ABCA Convention in Chicago, with many of those tweets coming from Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game (@KendallRogersPG). Kendall now has an article up at Perfect Game with more details about the things he heard. Well worth clicking the link and reading the whole story: ABCA convention rewind (PerfectGame.com)

"This is for prospect student-athletes, those in high school or in the junior college ranks," Lennon said. "In this case, they might be able to have agents and advisors allowed in negotiations. We're prepared to put forth this idea for the council to consider."

A swift change of opinion on the agent-advisor relationship was only the tip of the iceberg for Lennon and the NCAA at the convention, as they also announced the NCAA is in the midst of some significant deregulation across the board, putting more of the responsibility regarding NCAA rules and regulations on member institutions.
...

♦ Baseball America's Aaron Fitt (@AaronFitt) was also a frequent tweeter at the ABCA, and he follows up with his ABCA notebook and a focus on Livelier Balls Discussed At ABCA Convention (Baseball America) (also well worth clicking the link and reading in its entirety)

Clemson coach Jack Leggett led the push for switching to the professional ball this fall, prompting Keilitz to study the issue. Currently, Keilitz said, the NCAA does not mandate any ball standards for regular-season play except that the ball’s coefficient of restitution (COR) cannot exceed .555. The higher the COR, the farther a ball will travel. Professional baseball uses a ball with a maximum COR of .578.

In the NCAA tournament, games must be played with an official Rawlings ball with seams that are higher than the seams of a pro baseball. For that reason, college conferences generally use the raised-seam ball during the regular season to prepare for the postseason.

Leggett sent a letter to coaches across the country in the fall. He said about 55 coaches responded to him, and all but one supported his proposal to switch to the minor league ball...

♦ And rounding out our pocket-full of change, there's John Infante (@John_Infante) with Breaking

Down the NCAA’s First Steps Toward Deregulation (The Bylaw Blog on AthleticScholarships.net)
On January 19, 2013, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors will meet at the NCAA Convention. It should be a significant day in NCAA history. The board will likely adopt 26 proposals that represent the most sweeping deregulation of NCAA rules ever attempted in a single stroke. The proposals touch on staffing, off-campus recruiting, phone calls, text messaging, minor academic rules, and a good portion of the extra benefit legislation.
...

An example of one of the 24 proposed regulations he covers:

RWG 13–1: After Signing National Letter of Intent

Would allow schools to treat prospects like student-athletes for purposes of applying recruiting regulations once a National Letter of Intent or signed offer of admission or financial aid is received.

Details about this proposal are scarce. A “Points to Consider” document does not include any more explanation. But saying that athletes are student-athletes once they sign an NLI opens up a can of worms about what that status means.

Odds of a fight: High. The extra benefit language in the proposal is too unclear. I would expect a significant number of override requests.

♦ The Nebraska Cornhuskers are adding Sand Volleyball to their list of NCAA Intercollegiate Sports. Sand volleyball in Nebraska in March? Someone must have told them they could play on Omaha Beach: Nebraska to Add Sand Volleyball as 24th Intercollegiate Sport (huskers.com)

Sand volleyball is a spring team sport. The Division I playing season starts the first Thursday in March and ends eight weeks later or the end of the school year, whichever comes first.

♦ And lastly, a look at a new recruit:

Word on the Tweet: ABCA in Chicago, New Transfer Rules??

The American Baseball Coaches Association annual convention is underway in Chicago this weekend.  Lots of discussion and creative ideas being knocked about, according to the twitter-sphere.  And, by the way, several College Baseball people you should be following on Twitter among the quotes that follow.

ABCA Convention in Chicago
Photo by Nate Shipp (twitter)

@CoachPietro: On our way to Chicago for the #ABCA convention. @jemens20 caught a big one! http://lockerz.com/s/274296423

@vianneybaseball: Sitting behind @CoachPietro and the rest of the Mizzou Staff at the ABCA Clinic. Impressed to see them locked in getting better

@StLPiratesPitch (former Mizzou Baseball asst coach Brian Delunas): Good first night in Chicago catching up with friends. Looking forward to the speaker lineup the rest of the weekend at the ABCA!

MLB Draft and Agent/Athlete Relationships:

@KendalRogersPG: NCAA Legislative Council is taking a hard look at allowing HS/JUCO players to have agent/advisor representation in #MLB negotiations . . . One thing that's interesting about the agent/advisor relationship: NCAA's Dennis Poppe reiterated that all BSB folks on board with changes. . . With that, this proposal does NOT include eligible sophs/juniors in college. Would prefer to have it include HS/JUCO/those in coll #mlbdraft

@Mike_Rooney: @KendallRogersPG That sounds strange..both sets of kids have same needs.. I'm getting cynical in my old age!!

@AaronFitt: Idea of letting HS and JC players have an agent/advisor for draft negotiations is gaining some traction. Will go before leadership council. . . Very encouraged that NCAA is finally acknowledging difference between baseball and hockey drafts vs "opt-in" drafts in football/basketball.

@JimCalisBA: NCAA "allowing" agents/advisors won't change reality. Just means players won't have to lie about it, NCAA witchhunts can end. #mlbdraft

BBCOR Bats and "Livelier" Balls:

@AaronFitt: ABCA head Dave Kelitz says discussions are ongoing about whether to switch to a livelier ball, or a ball with flatter seams. . . Keilitz said in his survey, 53 percent of coaches want to keep same ball. 47% prefer a livelier ball, and 55 percent want flatter seams.

@KendalRogersPG: According to Dave Keilitz …. 86 percent of college coaches support the BBCOR bat after last season. Pretty impressive and high %.

@KendalRogersPG: ABCA's Dave Keilitz acknowledges Jack Leggett's email about changing #collegebaseball "ball" … might be something to target down road.

@Mike_Rooney: More offensive baseball makes me nervous.. Slippery slope and not sure that #StonyBrook and #KentState happen with old Big Offense set-up

Fall Baseball:

@KendalRogersPG: NCAA says there have been talks by #BigTen #MAC coaches about fall games, but that no action (for now) was possible at this time.

@Mike_Rooney: Can't understand why #CollegeBaseball cannot have same fall ball allowances as softball #Equity

@AaronFitt: D-I baseball committee not prepared to move forward yet with proposal to play fall games that count, but discussion will continue. . . I like some things about it, but it comes with a lot of complications. I like that Northern coaches are thinking creatively. . . It would be completely voluntary. But to reiterate, all this talk is still a long shot, I think.

Post-Season:

@KendalRogersPG: More notes about D-1 meeting. For now, serious talks have ceased on changing NCAA postseason format to three-game series before CWS. . . The NCAA's Dennis Poppe reiterated that "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" approach in regards to postseason format. I agree 100 percent.

@AaronFitt: After a "robust" discussion, committee decided not to seed the top 16 teams, because of concerns about cost and intra-conference SR matchups

@KendalRogersPG: Good news for your conference tourney fans, the NCAA will not announce anything tourney related until Sunday NIGHT now. Was early afternoon. . . For instance, now, if someone like #MSState or whoever is on the fence as a Regional host, winning the #SEC tournament could change things.

@KendalRogersPG: 2013 NCAA Committee: Joel Erdmann (#SouthAlabama), Randy Buhr (#Wazzu), Joey Gallo (#UNC), Rick Greenspan (#Rice), Eric Hyman (#TAMU). . . Also, Dave Hickey (#CMU), Robert Goodman (#CAA), Mark LaBarbera (#Valpo) and chair Dennis Farrell (#BigWest).

@KendalRogersPG: Bad news for you power lovers in Omaha. Poppe said no serious discussions about moving fences in. Wind has killed HR totals . . . Denny Poppe did, however, say that after another year/two in Omaha, NCAA will take a look at power numbers and other things

Odds & Ends:

@KendalRogersPG: Nothing too big from the NCAA Rules meeting in Chicago. Only notable change is suspension for bumping now 4 games (was 3). #collegebaseball

Transfer Rules:

@John_Infante: NCAA considering transfer model that would allow all athletes with a 2.6 GPA to play immediately: http://www.athleticscholarships.net/2013/01/03/new-transfer-model-would-reduce-eligibility-consequences.htm

And check out John Infante's twitter feed where he answers a lot of questions about this possible rules change

Recruiting: Important Advice

♦ Important Advice for Recruits (Informed Athlete) , written by former Tiger Ryan Allen

Hello Everyone – I hope you’ve had a great summer!

While I usually tend to speak on the athlete preparation and approach side, I’d like to take this time to offer advice for all prospective student-athletes and parents, based on some experiences that I’ve had working with initial eligibility in a college athletics compliance department.

In my current job as the Recruiting and Education Graduate Assistant at the University of Missouri Athletics Department, my main focus is making sure that all prospective student-athletes are on pace to qualify academically for both university admissions and for NCAA eligibility.

Read the rest at InformedAthlete.com

♦ 2012 Early Signing Dates for Baseball Recruits: November 14 to November 21

NCAA Rules Changes & Baseball

♦ DI Board adopts Sweeping Changes in College Sports (collegebaseballdaily.com)

The NCAA D1 Board of Directors announced some major changes to collegiate athletics on yesterday afternoon. The changes toughen academic standards and provide increased academic and economic support to student-athletes.
. . .
Our NCAA compliance director thinks this will make a major difference in college baseball especially with programs that use transfers extensively from the JUCO ranks. He stated “The JC transfer rules will probably have a bigger impact on baseball than any other sport. A jump from 2.0 to 2.5 will be a significant hurdle and non qualifiers who had to go to junior college have an additional science requirement.”
. . .
“With an extra $2000 available to full scholarship players, it will be harder for coaches to give top prospects 80-90% scholarships, since they will be giving up much more. That will impact depth in top programs and mean most of the top pitchers and position players will be on full scholarships.

The multi-year scholarships might cause more top prospects to not sign and enter college. They get the security of three to five year scholarships that colleges could not guarantee them before.

There is much, much more. Read the details at http://www.collegebaseballdaily.com/2011/10/28/di-board-adopts-sweeping-changes-in-college-sports/

Online Resources: The Business of Sports

■ SportsAgentBlog.com

This site is run and written by people with experience as agents and sports law. It's an interesting blog that not only curates various stories and other online content related to sport agents, but delves into the business of sports as a whole. Lots of baseball-related stories. Plus some other great features:

• Sports Agent Twitter List : Want to follow the twitter accounts of a bunch of sports agents? The folks at Sports gent Blog have created a list of 188 movers and shakers in the sports agent world.
  
  
• Comprehensive List of Agencies, sorted alphabetically, by sport or by state.
  
  
• One-on-One Interviews with top agents
  
  
• Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-up is a weekly compilation of trending stories and content from the week past. Even if you don't follow SAB daily, its worth checking out this weekly wrap-up. You'll pick up some interesting obscure content that just might give you a little edge in your knowledge of where the world of sports is heading.

■ Sports Law Blog

This blog is managed and written by college professors in the fields of sports law and business. Rather than just compiling and curating content from the web (which they do), most of the content on this blog is original written material pertaining to current and historical events and issues related to sports law. Recent post topics included the George Brett Pine Tar Bat incident from 1983 and Curt Flood's legacy, plus coverage of current topics like the Roger Clemens trial, the NFL labor dispute and the Dodgers' financial woes.

An intriguing recent piece looked at the tax consequences for the fan who caught Derek Jeter's historic home run ball:

I suggest there are other results possible. Among these other results, it could be asserted that the ball constituted an accession to wealth (i.e., gross income) to Lopez, to the extent of its fair market value. Lopez’s subsequent transfer of the ball to Jeter, coupled with his receipt of items from the Yankees, could be construed as a sale to the Yankees, perhaps at a loss. As the ball did not belong to Jeter prior to the hit, Jeter’s receipt of the ball from Lopez could be seen as compensation from the Yankees, which allowed the ball to pass to Jeter.

■ FindLaw Sports

For the nuts and bolts of Sports Law, the Sports section at FindLaw.com delivers the goods. A compilation of links to current stories, plus a more detailed database of information for those who want to dig deep

Recruiting Calender

■ Updated Recruiting Calender (InformedAthlete.com)

Within the next month, prospects in many sports who are completing or have completed their junior year of high school can begin receiving recruiting calls and in-person, off-campus contacts from Division I and II coaches. The “magic date” is June 15 for Division II, and July 1 for most Division I sports (subject to the recruiting calendars for each sport).

Informed Athlete is a service of Rick Allen, parent of a former Mizzou pitcher, who has extensive experience in compliance and recruiting.

Mizzou Baseball Quotes & Notes

■ Mizzou Baseball falls to Jayhawks in Kansas City, 7-1 (KBIAExtra) - PHOTOS

Missouri sophomore outfielder Blake Brown led off Wednesday night’s game with a single through the left side of the infield.

That would be the Tigers first and last hit of the game.

■ Kansas beats Missouri at Kaufmann Stadium (kansan.com) - PHOTOS

It’s hard to say why Kansas’ baseball team has fared so well against Missouri in its annual game at Kauffman Stadium the past four years.

Maybe it’s the fact they’re playing in the Royals’ home stadium. Maybe it’s the fact it’s a rivalry game. Or maybe, just maybe, they’ve simply been better than Missouri on those days.

■ Mizzou one-hit by Kansas at Kaufmann (missourinet.com)

But Mizzou’s offense was unable to get anything going all night and it couldn’t recover from Kansas’ seven runs over the first three innings. Eric Anderson made his third appearance on the mound since season-ending shoulder surgery last season. He went 2.0 innings and allowed just one hit and struck out one in a promising outing for the sophomore.

■ College baseball reconsiders murky rules on agents (AP)

The NCAA's man in charge of baseball told college coaches earlier this year that new rules acknowledging baseball's "unique set of circumstances" could be on the way.
"If I had a kid who was left-handed and threw 95 (mph), I'd like to know what his value would be," Dennis Poppe, managing director for baseball and football, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. He didn't discuss any specific changes.
. . .
Missouri baseball coach Tim Jamieson said that NCAA officials briefed college coaches about possible unspecified changes at the American Baseball Coaches Association national convention in Nashville earlier this year.
"They suggested that there's some pretty significant changes coming, and left it at that," he said.

Simmons Field e-mail

A few odds and ends from my e-mail in-box:

■ A note from a former Mizzou student and vocal heckler, telling me about the launch this past week of a new Mizzou Tigers message board. Check it out at http://www.shaggytruman.com. Beware: This is not yo' mama's message board.

■ A reply to a question came from former Section B fan (and only occasional umpire-heckler) Steve Tingler:

Jayce (Tingler) is still with the Rangers but moving more into player development and personnel. . . He has been promoted to Director of Instruction for the Dominican and AZ Leagues. Not quite sure what all that entails but he will be working with the players and the coaches.

■ The latest issue of the Informed Athlete Newsletter arrive in my e-mail in-box this weekend (subscribe HERE)

A coach cannot take away an athletic scholarship during the academic year except for very specific reasons, such as the athlete becoming ineligible or if the athlete voluntarily quits the team.

■ And finally, a Nigerian prince wants me to send him the contents of my underwear drawer for the support of victims of the Japanese earthquake.

Well, anyway, feel free to e-mail me at simmonsfield@hotmail.com

"Redshirts"

It's that time of year again, for the annual roster cuts. A good time to repost a link to a Tigerboard.com post about the NCAA's definition of the term "redshirt" and what happen when a player is not included on the roster for the playing season. This was written by the same compliance expert that runs InformedAthlete.com.

1. The players who did not make the 35-man roster and were cut from the team cannot practice with the team and are not allowed to sit on the bench. They basically are no longer a part of the team under the NCAA rules - at least for this year.
   
   
2. The term "redshirt" simply means that a player did not use a year of his eligibility. So the players who were cut can use this as a "redshirt" year.
   
   
3. Even a general student who was not a part of the team at all this year, but would try out and make the team next year, could call this year their "redshirt" year because they didn't use any eligibility.

Quotes & Notes

■ The 2011 MU Baseball Media Guide is now available at mutigers.com. Available in Viewer Friendly Version and Printable PDF File.

■ Was that donated kidney an NCAA violation? (cbs.com)

As unsavory as it seems, the question must be asked -- did Wake Forest baseball coach Tom Walter break NCAA rules by donating a kidney to one of his players? . . .

■ Kendall Rogers makes his debut at PerfectGame.org, posting his PG Top 25 . 4 MU opponents make the list

■ What to do BEFORE your season starts (informedathlete.com, written by former Tiger Ryan Allen)

Taking care of business now will put you in good position to start the season and continuing to be disciplined and focused will help you through the ups & downs during the season. . .

Compliance

■ Walk-on transfer rules (informedathlete.com)

. . . The change required athletes transferring from one D-I baseball program to another D-I to attend the second school for one academic year before they would be eligible for competition. They can be immediately eligible to practice with the team, but can’t play for one year.

However, there is an exception that allows a baseball player to be immediately eligible upon transfer to another D-I program. . .

Compliance: Mid-Year Transfers

■ Mid-Year Transfer Reminders (informedathlete.com)

1. Baseball players transferring TO an NCAA Division I program at midyear cannot be eligible until the following academic year. This is true regardless of whether the athlete is transferring from a two-year or four-year school.
. . .
4. Athletes in baseball or basketball looking for immediate eligibility upon transfer need to look at NCAA Div. II, Div. III, NAIA, or a two-year college.

Informed Athlete is a compliance consulting service provided by Rick Allen, a former MU Baseball parent and former D-I compliance director.

Arizona State penalized by NCAA

■ Arizona State dealt heavy sanctions (espn.com)

Arizona State's baseball team must vacate 44 of its wins from 2007 and is banned from the postseason in 2011 under sanctions announced by the NCAA on Wednesday.

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions ruled former head coach Pat Murphy failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and committed numerous recruiting and other violations from 2004-08.

■ NCAA drops the hammer on Arizona State (collegebaseball.rivals.yahoo.com)

While the Sun Devils received stiff punishment, former coach Pat Murphy escaped the NCAA investigation in better-than-expected shape after sitting out a year following his forced removal from the baseball program in November, 2009. Murphy received a one-year show-cause penalty, which includes a year of banishment from making recruiting phone calls to prospective student athletes

■ NCAA bans Arizona State from 2011 post-season (baseballamerica.com)

"The university agrees it could have monitored—and now does monitor—the program more closely and for that reason it self-imposed significant sanctions, including vacating all wins during the 2007 baseball season, including a conference championship and College World Series games," ASU said in a statement sent out by Renzulli. "However, many of the record keeping related violations were highly technical (some are not even violations under current NCAA rules) and one of the NCAA’s added sanctions is unduly harsh under the circumstances.

"Thus, ASU intends to appeal the NCAA report because the university disagrees with some of the findings of fact and the characterization of some infractions as major rather than secondary. The university also intends to appeal the additional sanction of banning post-season baseball play in 2011, which punishes many student athletes and coaches who were not involved in the rules violations."

Informed Athlete

■ Recent Calls (Informed Athlete Newsletter)

As a reminder, Division I college baseball teams can't carry more than 35 players on the roster once the season starts in February.

If your son's team has more than 35 players participating in fall practice, somebody will be cut from the team before February.

If your son is cut from the team now, or within the next few weeks, the coach may actually be doing them a favor

Mizzou Baseball Alumni

■ Former Mizzou pitcher Ryan Allen joins Informed Athlete (informedathlete.com)

Informed Athlete is very pleased & proud to announce the addition of Ryan Allen to our team.

Ryan completed his final year of college baseball eligibility in May after playing 3 years for the University of Missouri (2006-2009) and 1 year (2010) for the University of Central Missouri. He will graduate in May 2011 from the University of Missouri with his bachelor’s degree in Business Management. He also is a private pitching instructor at Balls N Strikes in Columbia, Missouri.

As a former college athlete, Ryan brings a unique point of view to Informed Athlete that only someone who has “been there” can understand. He will be providing input on website content and writing blogs & giving advice from the student athletes’ perspective.

■ Advice from a veteran college baseball player (informedathlete.com)

Probably the best words I received going into my freshman year at the University of Missouri were given to me by my coach from Connie Mack ball.

“Just remember, they wouldn’t have recruited you if they didn’t believe you could help them get to Omaha,” he told me . . .

Mizzou Baseball: Compliance

The NCAA's APR reports are out for all Division I coaches in all sports, for six consecutive seasons through the 2008-09 season. You can check on any coach at any institution at NCAA.org

APR = Academic Progress Rate. The details of the program and how the numbers are calculated are at NCAA.org

Tim Jamieson's APR looks pretty good, compared to all other NCAA coaches: an average of 961 over the past 6 seasons, compared to 938 for all D-I Coaches.

Of course, that's comparing Jamieson to ALL coaches: football, basketball, baseball, et al.

Let's compare MU and Tim Jamieson to the other Big 12 schools:

• 980 BU Steve Smith
  
  
• 961 MU Tim Jamieson
  
  
• 958 A&M Mark Johnson, Rob Childress
  
  
• 946.5 UT Augie Garrido
  
  
• 941 KU Ritch Price
  
  
• 941 NU Mike Anderson
  
  
• 931 OU Larry Cochell, Sunny Gollaway
  
  
• 930 KSU Brad Hill
  
  
• 906 OSU Frank Anderson
  
  
• 894 TTU Larry Hays, Dan Spencer

Recruiting: Informed Athlete newsletter

The latest monthly Informed Athlete newsletter is available from former Mizzou-Dad Rick Allen, including information about new phone contact rules going into effect August 1st.

The father of a basketball prospect was quoted as giving his son this advice to follow during the recruiting process: "I told him not to put the emphasis on the school but on the people. He knew that a lot of different schools have great facilities, but I wanted him to find out what the people are like. They are the ones molding his life."

Mizzou Baseball

■ Agents taking heavy hits (Columbia Tribune)

For years Missouri has taken a proactive approach in dealing with agents and preparing athletes for professional careers, led by the school’s compliance department and longtime director, Mary Ann Austin. Ten years ago, Austin helped establish the school’s Professional Sports Counseling Panel made up of several MU School of Law professors who advise athletes on managing pro careers. In years past, the panel has brought in independent consultants and former MU athletes to share their experiences with agents and contracts, including basketball’s Jon Sundvold, football’s Jerome Sally and baseball’s Phil Bradley.

“It gives students the chance to talk to somebody who isn’t paid to give them advice,” said Bob Bailey, assistant dean of the law school and the panel’s chairman.

Compliance: NCAA Transfer Rules

■ From Rick Allen's InformedAthlete.com:

Sorry, you need to transfer to another school if you want to get playing time.

That's the last thing a player wants to hear from his coach. Yet, it happens more frequently than you might suspect. And it will happen more frequently now that the NCAA has reduced the number of players who can be on a Division I baseball roster.

Join us for our FREE teleseminar when we discuss the issue of transfers:

Day: Wednesday, December 2nd
Time: 7 PM, CDT

More Details and Free Registration

Mizzou Baseball Quotes & Notes

Compliance & Recruiting

■ Rick Allen, father of former Tiger Ryan Allen (07-09), has released his latest Informed Athlete newsletter. Some highlights:

• College Coaches Online (www.collegecoachesonline.com) is an affordable, searchable database that allows you to find coaches names, addresses, e-mails, and phone numbers quickly and easily. Passcode for a discount available on Rick's newsletter.

• While I believe that there are many athletes taking supplements, I don't believe that the number is 90 percent. I do believe, however, that athletes and parents need to be very careful about researching the supplements that they take.
With that in mind, high school athletes and parents may want to consult the NCAA list of banned substances as a resource. Keep in mind that in discussing such things as nutritional supplements, energy drinks, and the like, the NCAA uses the terms "banned substances" and "impermissible substances."

• We provide the NCAA recruiting calendars along with important dates related to ACT and SAT testing as a special benefit to our newsletter subscribers.
The link to access the calendars is: NCAA Recruiting Calendars. Both the November and the December calendars are now online and available to you.

• For more information: http://www.informedathlete.com