You know all of these combines and high school scouting events that are going on right now? They will be changing mightily starting August 1. The NCAA changed the rules a few months ago to prohibit college coaches from attending the combines and preventing them from being held on college campuses. This has been talked about for some time, and with the blessing of college coaches.

It also turns out that coaches like lively debate. I realized this while sitting in on a meeting of Division I-A assistant coaches. They debated the merits of attending “combines” for high school players (not much of a debate, actually. They want to make it a violation for coaches to attend them).

“By 2007, we will be out of the combine business,” said Notre Dame assistant coach Rob Ianello, who is a Stepinac High grad (a rival of my St. Francis Prep) I must point out and is greatly respected as the leader of the assistant coaches organization.

Mike Farrell of Rivals.com, while partially acknowledging his self-interest, declares that the combines are “for the kids.”

So is this new NCAA rule a good or bad thing? From my side of things, it’s bad. Of course I agree that the NCAA needs to keep sponsors from being involved in the recruiting process, and no one wants street agents in college football recruiting, but overall this ruling is hurting the one thing the NCAA seems to care about — the kids.

For every Jimmy Clausen, the Notre Dame quarterback commitment who has been known in football recruiting circles for years, there is a Robert Vaughn, a Massachusetts kid who was a complete unknown defensive back before the combine circuit last year. Vaughn came away with offers from UConn, Temple and Wisconsin in large part because of his impressive showings at the Elite College Combine (held in New Jersey) and the NIKE Camp at Michigan in May of 2005. An unknown kid from an area that doesn’t get a lot of attention getting a full ride at UConn (where he signed) is one of the feel-good stories these events create.

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Next year and beyond there will still be camps and combines and kids will show up, but without college coaches getting to see them go through drills, test in different areas and play in one-on-ones, they likely won’t bring them the same attention.

So after attending the Elite College Combine this past Monday in New Jersey and NIKE Camps at Ohio State and Penn State this weekend, where hundreds of coaches were present at each event, and following that with a Sunday NIKE Camp at Rutgers where coaches couldn’t attend (another NCAA rule about evaluating on Sundays), two things are clear to me. First, the presence of college coaches brings more talented kids, which, in turn, brings out the best effort in everyone and makes for a great evaluation of talent. And secondly, the sheer mass of coaches the Elite and at OSU and PSU leads me to believe that coaches love this one-stop shopping approach for players.

And as sure as I got sunburned this weekend, there will be players who come away from these recent camps with offers, offers they might have never received had it not been for such events. And that to me is enough reason to think that the NCAA’s ruling is putting a good thing on the endangered list.

According to the coaches, themselves they don’t like the combines much. I would imagine they feel compelled to attend since other coaches are attending and everyone has to protect their turf.

Farrell makes an interesting point about the coaches self-interest in making their own coin with their summer camps. I think that is a factor.

Of course Farrell glosses over his own self-interest. Conceding that it is there, but not getting too deep. It isn’t about Rivals.com or Scout.com sponsorship. It is about making connections with the high school prospects. Trying to get inside information about where their interest is. Getting the cell phone number and contact info.

The recruiting sites make their coin from this information. Where the top prospects are leaning and what is happening. The combines are a great, to use Farrell’s own term, “one-stop shopping approach” in collecting the info needed for the rest of the year. Usually the high school coaches attend as well. More contacts. More information to collect and gather.

This, of course, is something the college football coaches would also like to limit. They want less public information. They want less knowledge of their recruiting efforts and what kind of attention the kids are receiving. They also doen’t want the kids to know who else they are after.

My thought is that technology has changed everything. The recruiting sites can still do the combines. In fact, they can use them to generate a new revenue stream. Directly from the schools even. If the one-stop shopping is so valuable, then how much would the coaches be willing to pay for full, unedited DVDs of the Combine of all the players and their times and scores? Seems like quite a lucrative money-maker.

That same technology also benefits those kids who aren’t getting noticed. Schools put together DVDs of their players quite easily and affordably these days. Send a bunch to various coaches and see if you can get any interest.

Idle thought. I wonder if they can still have combines at the South Side UPMC facility? I mean if they use the Steeler portion? Probably not, but that would be a hell of a loophole.