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In defending the wooing of middle-school players, Kentucky Coach Billy Gillispie recently said that college presidents don't understand the ever-more-competitive nature of recruiting.
The idea of college presidents living in ivory towers and not understanding the nitty-gritty world of recruiting made Brit Kirwan laugh.
"If that becomes the real world, our nation is in trouble," Kirwan said.
Kirwan is uniquely positioned to understand. As chancellor of the University of Maryland system and co-chairman of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, his professional life demands that he understand the sports world.
Better still, he grew up in Lexington, played sports (football, basketball and track) for Henry Clay High School and went to UK on a football scholarship. His father, A.D. Kirwan, coached UK's football team and later became school president.
So when Kirwan told USA Today that he found the recruiting of eighth- and ninth-graders "appalling," it's not the observation of a bow-tied bookworm who thinks exercise means conjugating a verb. He follows recruiting and finds the process intrusive and borderline abusive when the prospects are high school juniors and seniors.
"I read stories where people had to get unlisted phone numbers ..." Kirwan said. "Now we're talking about kids a year away from elementary school who are at a much less mature stage of life."
OK, that's an exaggeration. College recruiters are not going after kids that young. At least not yet. But is it farfetched to believe that will happen sometime soon?
In the USA Today story, Kirwan spoke of taking his concerns to the NCAA. He hasn't done that. But he does plan to have the Knight Commission discuss recruiting during its June meetings.
One concern is the potential false hope raised by commitments from eighth- and ninth-graders. What if those players do not develop or a college gets infatuated by another prospect?
"I bet you those 'scholarship offers' with quotation marks around them won't be there when the kid wants to go to school," Kirwan said.
The father of Michael Avery, the eighth-grader who committed to Kentucky earlier this spring, likened the commitment to a parent putting money in an education fund for the children. A parent would be wise to make such an investment as soon as a child was born, Howard Avery said.
"I'd ask that father if he thinks he has a contractual arrangement with the university that's been so generous," Kirwan said. "Does he think if his son's abilities don't continue to rise, will that scholarship still be there?"
To use a dated reference, that's the $64,000 question.
"I don't even think it's a question," Kirwan said.
When asked if the passionate interest of fans might lead UK basketball to press the envelope of propriety, Kirwan had a quick response.
"Look, I was president of Ohio State," he said. "Whatever passion there is for basketball in Kentucky is matched by the passion for football in Ohio. If you go to most other states in the country, you'll find the same thing. I don't think there's anything special about the dynamic (in Kentucky). ...
"So I don't know that I'd attribute any of this to any special circumstance in Kentucky."
'Needs to be a kid'
Jeremiah Davis, who is finishing his freshman year of high school, now has two college scholarship offers. Indiana followed UK by offering him a scholarship last week when the family visited the IU campus.
"He's very excited," Muncie (Ind.) Central Coach Matt Fine said of the player's reaction. "A lot of Indiana kids grow up watching IU, and he was one of them."
Davis does not plan to commit to anyone any time soon, Fine said.
The player's busy summer schedule includes attending elite camps at UK, Indiana and Tennessee. Plus he'll be playing around the country for his AAU team in July.
"I told his dad, and his dad agreed, he just needs to be a kid for a while," Fine said.
Help wanted
As the UK Basketball Museum fights for its life (as presently constructed in downtown Lexington), its executive director wants past efforts to pay its debts known.
