“Managers” for High School Football Players?

We all know that there are some key “players” in the basketball recruiting world. Many people question the ethics around relationships that develop between these young players and those that “help” them get recruited.

It seems that in at least in Kansas, football might be headed down that same path. In a New York Times Article from Feb 3rd, Brian Butler identified himself as the trainer and manager of top high school football recruit Bryce Brown. In fact, the article stated that, “To get to Bryce Brown, coaches must go through Butler. He handles Brown’s workouts, recruiting and news media requests.” WHAT? This is a high school player, right? Not someone gearing up for the NFL Draft. Oh, and Butler also sells information on Brown and other players over the internet for $9.99/month or $59/year if you are interested.

For those not aware, Bryce Brown did not sign on national signing day and has yet to sign an NLI. The scholarship and NLI papers issued by Miami (where he verbally committed in Feb 2008) on Feb 4th for signing day expired on Feb 18th and an anonymous representative from Miami was quoted as saying they would not issue new papers. Amazingly, Butler was unaware scholarship papers expired at all and that Brown would sign on March 16th. Between his verbal commitment and his brother playing at Miami there was significant speculation he would end up there. However, Brian Butler also has indicated that Brown could skip college and enter the CFL for “$5 million a year for 3 years”. One problem with that math is that the CFL salary cap is $4.2 million and the highest paid player is making $500,000 in the league right now with the league minimum about $40,000.

Regardless of what the final decision is from Bryce Brown, this is a scary new territory to be in. Many for-profit summer football camps and training centers have cropped up on the last 10 years with promises of special access to coaches and the best training. In those scenarios at least it is clear that the financial gain for the organizers is a result of tuition charged for training. But, having a “manager” really pushes the line. Even on the Potential Players website (Mr. Butler’s nonprofit) there is a by line from a press release that states, ” By Pastor Wade Moore(Christian Faith Centre) and Brian Butler (Bryce Brown’s Mentor/Trainer not Street Agent/Handler)” Why would Mr. Butler feel the need to write that he is not Bryce Brown’s street agent/handler?

Butler claims that “he has never asked a coach or a university for money, but he also said he did not vet every donor to his nonprofit organization.” Why would people even donate to this program? One supporter mentioned in the NY Times article it was because he was trying to “help as many young people as he can”. At what personal gain is Butler doing this? Yes, he charges players for workouts and training, but there are 22 players on the list on the Potential Players website (4 of which are committed or signed with universities). There are a few more high school seniors without colleges indicated on their profiles and the rest are currently juniors. The cost structure was stated in the NY Times article as, “Butler left his $65,000-a-year job as the manager of a cellphone call center to work with high school players full time in January 2008. He charges from $70 to $200 a month for training sessions and $450 a player for recruiting consulting services. Butler said he has made less than $200 selling the online recruiting subscriptions.”

Let’s estimate high and take the 22 players on the website times $450 for recruiting consultation totaling $9,900. Then, we’ll still aim high with 22 players at $150/month times 12 months for $39,600. We also have to assume there is some cost to training facilities & equipment, travel to promote his players, advertising, keeping up the website etc..

So, the income might be $49,500 pre-tax and then expenses must be deducted. Who knows what Mr. Butler is making, but given these numbers and the fact that he left a $65,000/year job to do this, it would seem to outsiders that other money must be coming in.

I don’t know if there have been any NCAA violations so far, but this structure is a set-up for potential violations (i.e. boosters supporting the program in exchange for certain players being steered to one institution over another or donations magically filtering down to the players themselves). I hope that Mr. Butler has the best interest of his players in mind, but the general feeling is that the program is more about him than the athletes (according to the NY Times article).

Finally, do college coaches really need these intermeidaries to help find talent? Most college football staff’s have recruiting down to a science and thus, some of the onus is on them to not support these types of programs so that they do not encourage the type of system that might soon require them to have relationships with “managers” to ensure access to players and their information.

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Counter-Trend Spending & College Sport

I have to begin by letting everyone know that this topic (and a lot of the content of this post) is the result of an e-mail conversation I had with Nick Infante, the illustrious editor of College Athletics Clips. If you are not familiar with College Athletics Clips, it is a fantastic service that keeps professionals in college athletics up-to-date on news and events through providing summaries of articles as well as commentary pieces. Best of all, OHIO has paid for access for students through the library website (using your Oak ID).

Anyway, back to the topic. We all know that the country, and most of the world is in the midst of a recession. So, what is the best strategy for college athletic programs to survive and even thrive in this economic climate? I’m not sure this post will answer the question, but I want to propose one idea that Nick and I think has some merit.

Can a case be made for going against the grain and increasing instead of decreasing spending in tough economic times? The term counter-trend spending (or as Nick puts it “ignore-the-recession spending”) encompasses this idea.

Nick argues that, “Whether you’re a big-time athletic program, a beer brand or an appliance store, strategic spending during a recession could be an effective way to gain on competitors. Increased spending - on personnel, advertising, price promotions, etc. — could attract recruits, fans, coaches & staff (for big-time athletic departments); new customers, distributors and bars/restaurants (for a beer brand) and new shoppers (for an appliance store).”

If other institutions are not doing these things, will the programs that are reap a big payback later? This is not a new concept in business, but it is in education. It’s all about market share. For athletics, gaining market share is usually associated with the “arms race” of facility construction, spending on football, basketball, and coaches. I think it can have multiple meanings such as signing better recruits than the competition, raising more private dollars, securing more sponsorship deals, or having more fans. As athletic programs compete for the consumer entertainment dollar, fan affinity over other entertainment options might also be considered market share.

I also believe that there is internal competition within an institution for market share. For many institutions, there is a finite amount of alumni donors. If athletics is spending more on development while academic units are cutting back, will athletics see a bigger return and could they move donors from academic donations to those for athletics?

A core challenge in moving forward with this idea is having the financial means to leverage this strategy and the guts to try it. As part of institutions of higher education, is there any athletic department willing to take the risk?

Plus, how can ROI be measured in these scenarios? Few athletic programs are flush with cash right now, so where is the money to activate these ideas going to come from? Is it worth borrowing to make this happen? Plus, this recession is pretty darn big. So, even the business concept of counter-trend spending during a normal downturn may not hold true given the scope of this recession. It would take a gutsy A.D. and president to give this a shot.

Sponsorship Insight Group has a great write-up on attracting sponsors during a recession and the opening quote is in-line with this post, “Economies are like gardens, the seeds you plan today will reap rewards in the future. With the right seeds, the right amount of light (your positive attitude) and some TLC (creativity) your garden can do more than survive, it can thrive.”