There was an article on ESPN yesterday that caught my attention as a college basketball fan.  They had a video posted about a recent trend of colleges hiring parents, former AAU coaches or trainers to entice recruits to the school.  While they deny that this is the case, as some have been hired after the fact, it is clear that they are attempting to gain a sizable advantage in doing this.  The main case that stuck out in my mind is at USC.  While USC has been a hot spot for recruiting controversy, I thought that this gave them a big advantage in the recruiting process.

Percy Miller and Demar Derozen

Was Lil'Romeo to USC for Demar Derozen a package deal?

The story on USC discussed the hiring of Daniel Hackett’s father to their staff.  Daniel Hackett is currently a starting guard on their team, as well as a former top recruit in the state of California.  These types of players generally receive scholarships to play, thus bringing the team 1 closer to the 13 scholarship limit.  However, since Hackett’s father is considered an employee of USC, he receives free tuition, and therefore is considered a walk-on.  This is a clear advantage over other teams who usually must count a player like this toward their limit.  This seems a bit like nepotism to me. While this isn’t the only area nepotism is seen in sports or the world in general, however, it provides a loophole in the system to get around that scholarship limit. ESPN failed to touch on another package deal at USC. USC gave a scholarship to millionaire rapper Percy Miller (aka Lil Romeo), who to many is a borderline D-1 bench player, seemingly to lure his good friend and top recruit Demar Derozan.  While I guess this balances out the scholarship issue with Hackett with one player who shouldn’t be on scholarship, it still reeks of controversy.

andy-hargrove

Andy Hargrove son of Fmr Mariners Manager Mike Hargrove

When thinking about this, I also could not help but think about similar types of deals occuring in baseball- although for entirely different purposes.  It is common in the sport for late round picks in the MLB draft in June to be spent on gamble prospects, football players who also play baseball as a second sport, and also relatives of those within the organization.  It is very uncommon for these late round picks to make the major leagues, but just the fact that this happens may have cost a small town college or high school player a job. A few examples of these types of picks include the Mariners picking Andy Hargrove, son of manager at the time Mike Hargrove and the A’s selecting Eric Macha, son of their manager at the time Ken Macha.  The most surprising pick was in 1993 by the White Sox, when they selected Carey Schueler in the 43rd round.  Schueler was the daughter of GM Ron Schueler.  The White Sox also more recently selected Kenny Williams Jr., the son of their GM, in the 6th round, which by many was considered an overdraft, potentially giving him a higher payday.  While some of these selections, like Mike Piazza by the Dodgers, godson of the legendary Tommy Lasorda, do work out, the majority end up being wasted picks where hidden talent could have been found.

Going back to the ESPN article, they touch on one prospect who could be part of a package deal this year.  John Wall, one of the top recruits in the country yet to commit, is being heavily pursued by Baylor, who happen to have recently hired Wall’s former AAU coach.  While he has not committed yet, it is definitely a story to keep an eye on.

Chris