Five Easy Ways to Lose a Scholarship - Ethics

Tired of Free Tuition, Room & Board?  No problem.  Here are Five Easy Ways to Lose a Scholarship.

NCAA Bylaws - Unethical Conduct § 10.1: 

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        Refusing to Provide Information or Providing False Information During NCAA Investigations – Grounds for loss of an athletic scholarship.

·      Academics & Cheating – Losing a scholarship and expulsion for plagiarism creates challenging job interviews down the road!

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     Inducements & Benefits – Nothing good is free.  Fan boys & girls & boosters may offer free stuff, reduced prices, and excessive salaries to high-profile college athletes.  Identify the inducement and walk away.   

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      Banned Substances & Medications – Trading or selling prescription drugs like Adderall without a white lab coat or license is a poor life plan.

Sports Wagering (Brackets & Pools) – This only applies to enrolled college student athletes.  However, high school athletes earn bonus points from college coaches by communicating their understanding of gambling prohibitions. 

Seth Godin - Getting Started

Seth's take on breaking stuff and getting started on new stuff:

"If you need the alternative to be better than the status quo from the very start, you'll never begin."

Seth - Tribes

...the first draft is a mess; it's supposed to be.

Alabama's Nick Saban on Process Goals

Nick Saban, head coach of Alabama expects his program focus on the present: 

“Be the best [you] can be one play at a time, like it has a history and life of its own – then do that for an entire game, that is going to give [us] the best opportunity to get the results [we] want.” 

More on Process Goals in Athlete to Entrepreneur.

   https://www.amazon.com/Athlete-Entrepreneur-Skills-Future-Leaders-ebook/dp/B074JS5B47/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502560630&sr=8-1&keywords=brian+brunkow 

Athlete to Entrepreneur: Adaptability

The Yankees HOF shortstop Derek Jeter made 56 errors in his first season of minor league ball.  A record.  He recovered. 

Athlete To Entrepreneur

Athlete To Entrepreneur - Five Skills Future Leaders Gain Thru Youth Sports

*** Now available for free download with Amazon Prime ***

Ch 1 Excerpt - GRIT

REJECTION HAPPENS.  Sometimes again and again and sometimes again.  Colonel Sanders (KFC) was broke.  In the 1950’s (when 65 years old was old), Colonel Sanders was…really broke.  He failed as a lawyer – the demise came when The Colonel punched a client.  Ethically questionable behavior by a member of the bar.  That is tough love.  Some tough lawyering.  He then failed in selling insurance.  Following that he failed as a restaurant guy.  He was 65 years old collecting a small monthly social security check....

https://www.amazon.com/Athlete-Entrepreneur-Skills-Future-Leaders-ebook/dp/B074JS5B47/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501953755&sr=8-1&keywords=athlete+to+entrepreneur

High School Sports & Concussions

High School Sports & Concussions - Stats

3.9 million — that’s the estimated number of sports and recreational-related concussions every year in the United States, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”). The problem, though, is that you can’t see a concussion. 

Briefly, a concussion is an injury that changes how the cells in the brain normally function and is caused by a blow to the head or body that causes the brain to move rapidly inside the skull. The CDC reports that football and hockey have the highest number of concussions, followed by soccer, wrestling, basketball, field hockey, baseball, softball and volleyball. It’s estimated that U.S. high school athletes sustain 300,000 concussions per year; 67,000 from interscholastic football. The risk of concussions is highest in the 15-to 19-year-old age group among all age groups nationally.

There are tons of concussion management and "return to play" protocols available thru the CDC and your state's interscholastic website.   

http://www.npr.org/2017/07/25/539198429/study-cte-found-in-nearly-all-donated-nfl-player-brains

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Spurned Major League Baseball Team

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Spurned Major League Baseball Team

College Athletes should always consult their school’s Professional Sports Counseling Panel (PSCP) when evaluating turning pro early.  

This story is an outlier but a few years ago the Philadelphia Phillies turned in an Oregon State University baseball player to the NCAA for using an agent to negotiate a professional baseball contract.  Contract discussions broke down, the player declined the Phillies offer, and he decided to stay at OSU on scholarship.  Or so he thought.  The Phillies felt burned and blew the whistle or snitched depending on how you see it.  

The mistake the player made was enlisting an agent as an unofficial “advisor” for the contract talks.  The easy fix is to avoid agents and use the PSCP to handle discussions.  This protects amateur status and scholarship eligibility.  NCAA compliance excerpts and story link below.

12.3.1  An individual shall be ineligible for participation in an intercollegiate sport if he or she ever has agreed (orally or in writing) to be represented by an agent for the purpose of marketing his or her athletics ability or reputation in that sport…

12.3.4  Professional Sports Counseling Panel. It is permissible for an authorized institutional professional sports counseling panel to:

(a) Advise a student-athlete about a future professional career;

 

(d) Meet with the student-athlete and representatives of professional teams;

(e) Communicate directly…with representatives of a professional athletics team to assist in securing a tryout with that team for a student-athlete; and

(g) Visit with…representatives of professional athletics teams to assist the student-athlete in determining his or her market value (e.g., potential salary, draft status).

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/report-phillies-turn-unsigned-draft-pick-in-to-ncaa-for-using-an-agent/

Three Sports Parenting Documentaries For The Summer

Three Documentaries For Sports Parents This Summer...

Check out these docs on Netflix before the school year starts.

      

   Trophy Kids (Examples of extreme, manic sports parenting)

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   At All Costs (The rise and impact of AAU basketball on high school hoops)

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   Schooled: The Price of College Sports (The business side of amateur college athletics)

NCAA Athletic Scholarships and Entrepreneurship

NCAA Athletic Scholarships & Entrepreneurship

Well, nobody promised this stuff would make sense.  The NCAA allows scholarship athletes to pursue entrepreneurship in the off-season.  So far, so good.  However, scholarship athletes may not use their “name, photograph, or appearance” to promote the business.  Not so good. 

This conflict shows why student athletes must work closely with the university’s athletic compliance department.  The NCAA rules are complex and don’t make a lot of sense sometimes.  For example, if an athlete wants to sell real estate in the summer, they will set up a website and agent bio.  This will include their name and photograph for branding and marketing.  Before setting up the website the athlete should contact the school’s compliance department.  The compliance department will then seek an NCAA waiver allowing the athlete to set up a real estate agent website showing their name and photo. Good times.

NCAA “Self-Employment” rule below.    

12.4.4 Self-Employment. A student-athlete may establish his or her own business, provided the student-athlete’s name, photograph, appearance or athletics reputation are not used to promote the business. 

Patriot Robert Kraft's Simple Formula for Success

Patriot’s owner Robert Kraft was recently interviewed on Bloomberg.  

Kraft’s succinct response on his approach to business decisions and achieving success:

·        

   * Look for opportunities others miss or pass    on,

* Take chances others are not willing to take

…hiring Coach Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady come to mind.

Divorce & Sports Parenting Conflict

Divorce & Sports Parenting Conflict

It’s common for youth sports to cost $10K + per year per student-athlete. This includes league fees, team travel, private coaches, and summer camps.  Between the time and expense, youth sports lead to child support and parenting plan conflicts – what sports to play, financial sacrifices, time commitments, and safety issues create a lot of ground for arguments (i.e. – more trips to court to spend time and money to argue about…time and money).    

A practical guide for sports parenting conflict is William Ury’s three-part series (Harvard Negotiation Project):

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   Getting To Yes (Interest-Based Negotiations)

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   Getting Past No (Creating Mutual Gain for Durable Agreements)

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   The Power of a Positive No (Staying at the Table Thru Impasse)

William Ury’s Amazon link below.

https://www.amazon.com/William-Ury/e/B000AQ6KZ8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1496786495&sr=8-2-ent

Path to College Coaching: Creating Opportunities

How a "Walk-In" appointment with Coach Jim Harbaugh at Stanford led to a college coaching career.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/19016332/tsuyoshi-kawata-went-japan-stanford-cardinal-all-thanks-jim-harbaugh

Progress Isn't Linear - Cubs Joe Maddon

Good article from Men's Journal on Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon.  

Maddon never played above low-A minor league ball but grinded out a career that led to managing a World Series win.

http://www.mensjournal.com/features/articles/can-joe-maddon-win-another-world-series-w479752

Grab a Pen & Mid-Size Post-It Note: Felonies Are Bad For Recruiting

Off Field Intangibles are the tie breaker in college recruiting.  Coaches will start the recruiting season with dozens and sometimes hundreds of high school athletes for consideration.  They are looking for a reason to cross names off the board.

Athlete or not, the college applicant must disclose and explain a felony conviction when applying for admission.  Felonies are not considered a big seller when competing for an athletic scholarship.

Disclosure sample below:

      Ball State University is committed to maintaining a safe learning environment that supports and protects students…the University requires all applicants who have been convicted of a felony to disclose this information.

An applicant who has been convicted of a felony is required to provide a letter of explanation and official court documentation…

      

       

Athletic Scholarships & Negotiations

With "Equivalency Sports" like tennis, golf, track it may be possible to negotiate the amount of financial aid offered.  Of course this depends on whether or not the student athlete has leverage.  But assuming there are at least two offers on the table, the athlete and family should have some knowledge on effective negotiating.  

Kenneth Feinberg is one of the best to learn from. Article on Kenneth's negotiation tips from Inc magazine attached.  


https://www.inc.com/magazine/201705/kevin-ryan/make-a-deal.html

How To Lose An Athletic Scholarship

Coaches must notify returning student athletes by July 1st whether their athletic scholarship will be renewed at the same level, increased, or decreased for the upcoming academic year.

Myths - student athletes will not lose a scholarship due to injury or poor performance on the field.  

Student athletes may lose a scholarship for the following three reasons:

1. Team Disruption (AKA "Workplace" Insubordination).  Sipping Slurpies at the 50 yard line while the team is running stadium steps is a bad life plan.

2. Breaking team, school, or NCAA rules.  

3.  Failure to maintain a full-time class load (at least 12 credits); or failure to maintain the minimum required GPA. 

Don't Lead With The Resume

Don’t Lead With The Resume

Big mistake coaches make when taking the reins of a “turn-around” program is leading with the resume.  Coaches feel pressure to make a good first impression in a hurry.  So they introduce themselves by rattling off their own past coaching accomplishments.  Big mistake.  Start with the “Why.”  Start with the influences and mentors in your own coaching career, program philosophy, and why you got into coaching – hopefully it’s to help student-athletes develop life skills.

Leading with the resume usually gets one of two (unspoken) responses from the sports parents – 50% of the parents will see you as a ‘me’ coach; the other half will see this coaching stop as simply a resume builder on the climb up.

Introduce yourself to the sports parents with the “Why.”  End with the resume once trust is built with the stakeholders in the room.

Tom Brady - A Work In Progress

 * Off Field Intangibles * 

 IBM passed on Microsoft. Apple fired Jobs. But this might be the biggest miss in the history of mankind and even before that. 

 The NFL combine report on Tom Brady. At least they got the off field intangibles right.

"Negatives: Poor build. Very skinny and narrow. Ended the '99 season weighing 195 pounds and still looks like a rail at 211. Looks a little frail and lacks great physical stature and strength. Can get pushed down more easily than you'd like. Lacks mobility and ability to avoid the rush. Lacks a really strong arm. Can't drive the ball down the field and does not throw a really tight spiral. System-type player who can get exposed if he must ad-lib and do things on his own. Summary: 

Is not what you're looking for in terms of physical stature, strength, arm strength and mobility, but he has the intangibles and production and showed great Griese-like improvement as a senior. Could make it in the right system but will not be for everyone."

Free NCAA Athletic Scholarship Resource

Free Recruiting Webinar is a solid (non profit) recruiting resource for sports parents and student athletes.  

Pretty generic company name but tons of useful links, stats and tips. 

The free one hour video is well worth it. 

http://www.freerecruitingwebinar.org/