Question

[GoRU]

I'm working on an article on NLOI day.

I have a quote from Tom Lemming saying that, roughly, Joe Paterno pioneered the concept of verbal commitments in the early 90s. I've heard that elsewhere too. I've been digging around the Collegian archives a little, but has anyone seen a better source for this claim? My plan next is to look through other publications, local and national.

Since you're already reading this, I'll share an anecdote: I have a recruiting op-ed Joe Paterno wrote in 1974. It might as well be titled "an open letter to Johnny Majors". He sounds like he hates every second of dealing with primadonna kids and corrupt coaches. I'd post it here, but it's in a PDF - so I'm not sure I'm allowed to post it, and I need to find good OCR software to convert it to text.

[PSU42Fan]

Originally Posted by GoRU

I'm working on an article on NLOI day.

I have a quote from Tom Lemming saying that, roughly, Joe Paterno pioneered the concept of verbal commitments in the early 90s. I've heard that elsewhere too. I've been digging around the Collegian archives a little, but has anyone seen a better source for this claim? My plan next is to look through other publications, local and national.

That sounds right. I can't remember the name of the recruit, but someone else may.

[jayer]

Former PSU WR Joe Nastase(sp) was the nations first EARLY verbal commitment. I think it was in the spring before his senior year. I think that is what Lemming may be talking about.

[wadc45]

I would love to read that piece by Paterno...

[AustinScottistheone]

Me too.

[GoRU]

Do you have TimesSelect access? I'll C/P my segways and the quotes.

As Lemming explains it, Penn State under Joe Paterno was the first school to pioneer the concept of a verbal commitment (in order to deter other schools from contacting its committed prospects) and accelerating and compressing the recruiting process.

"We have nothing near the drama we used to have 10 years ago," said Tom Lemming, the longtime national recruiting guru who works as an analyst for College Sports TV (CSTV). "There's close to a dozen big-time guys left (uncommitted) as we approach signing day when 10 years ago, there were a couple hundred left on signing day."

Lemming traces the change to 1993 when Penn State lost several top in-state players to other schools, including quarterback Ron Powlus, who was ranked as the nation's No.'1 player and went to Notre Dame.

That caused Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno to start offering scholarships before a high school player's senior season.

"Up until then, that was nearly unheard of," Lemming said. "(Other schools) started doing it slowly, then about five years ago, everybody started doing it."

Joe Paterno did not morph into the nation's favorite curmudgeon over night. As far back as the 70s, Paterno railed against what he saw as widespread abuses in the recruiting process.

Finally, a school appears to be losing out. Accordingly, a coach whose job is on the line or who has been hired by a college president to and told to win - not teach well, but win - may do what he believes the college president, the athletic director, the alumni, and friends of the institution want him to do.

He arranges for the prospect to be offered extra money, clothes, or other illegal inducements. He isn't really concerned about getting caught because the N.C.A.A. (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has ineffective investiation and enforcement apparatus. - "OPINION: A College Coach Tells Why Recruiting Abuses Happen; Winning Above All Coaches on Spot Size of a Giant Just Can't Say No", New York Times, March 17, 1974

Paterno continues on, railing against "distorted values" and "imaginary utopias" stemming from the process, wherein, a grown man must prostrate himself before a teenage football star and grovel. Even then, it was clear that Mr. Paterno was no fan of the recruiting process. And he had good reason not to be. As Beano Cook recalled several years ago, a young Mike Ditka reneged on a promise to attend Penn State, unable to resist the lure of Pittsburgh's dental school.

That, presumably, would be where I talk about Nastase. However, does anyone have the correct spelling of that name? I can't find it anywhere.

If you don't have TimesSelect and want a copy of the pdf (the first part is cut off a little and hard to read), send an email through my profile with your address.

[PSU42Fan]

Check out this link for some "old school" info on Joe Nastasi:

Nastasi unleashes flurry on Wolverines

[GoRU]

Thanks, and now that I have the name right I can start digging up info this weekend.