Top Recruits Find Value In Delaying Letters-of-Intent

Today marks the arrival of the NCAA's traditional spring signing period, when senior basketball players yet to commit to a school can formalize their college choice. Although it usually is one of the slower periods on the NCAA's recruiting calendar, the growing trend of players committing to coaches and not schools has reshaped this window into an important time for both colleges and recruits.

As the offseason coaching carousel continues to spin -- and Internet-fueled speculation about potential coaching moves continues to increase -- a growing number of players have held off on their college choices while other elite players are trying to opt out of the letters-of-intent they signed last fall.

The most visible example is John Calipari's move from Memphis to Kentucky. Calipari, one of the country's most formidable recruiters, had already received commitments from highly rated guards Xavier Henry and Nolan Dennis. Those players asked Memphis for a release from their letters-of-intent. Post player DeMarcus Cousins, who verbally committed to Memphis but never signed a letter-of-intent, now plans to sign this week to play for Calipari at Kentucky.

Guard John Wall, regarded by some as the nation's top high school senior, has yet to announce where he plans to play next year.

Coaching turnover has " made [the spring signing period] more important because more and more elite kids are waiting," National Christian Coach Trevor Brown said. "They'll know after the Final Four if a coach is leaving or not."

When Henry, Dennis and Cousins initially signed with Memphis last fall, they also signed addendums that said Memphis would grant a release from the letters-of-intent if Calipari was no longer the team's coach, Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson confirmed.

However, according to the Collegiate Commissioners Association, which oversees the National Letter-of-Intent program, those addendums are non-binding on the school because the letter-of-intent stipulates "my signature on this NLI nullifies any agreements, oral or otherwise, which would release me from the conditions stated within this NLI."

Susan Peal, who administers the National Letter-of-Intent program for the NCAA, said that if recruits want a release, they must petition the school with which they initially signed. In the 2007-08 school year, Peal said, schools granted a release to 362 of the 401 recruits who requested them, or about 90 percent of the time.

"A lot of schools are letting kids out of their letters more and more," Brown said, "because [players requesting their releases] is happening more."

Major schools can be reluctant to lock players into their letters-of-intent for fear that it could damage its reputation among recruits.

"The school doesn't want the negative publicity so they'll let you out," Brown said, referring to elite recruits. "The problem with the average player is, he won't have that kind of leverage. If your only offer is from Loyola, you can't go to them and say, 'I want out of my letter.' They won't do that."

Montrose Christian Coach Stu Vetter long has advocated his players not sign the letter-of-intent, but rather an institutional letter, or scholarship papers, which outline the grant-in-aid provided -- tuition, room and board, books, and other fees -- and often accompanies a signed letter-of-intent. The absence of the letter-of-intent, though, allows the recruit the freedom to back out; a letter-of-intent binds a recruit to a school, while the scholarship papers bind the school to the recruit.