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Post by wildcat on Feb 10, 2008 16:31:01 GMT -6
AGAIN though..you guys keep saying "oh, the media should have 'researched' ". What do they DO? THE SCHOOL, is hosting the press conference . The KID is saying he was offered a scholarship, WHY ON EARTH would they make it up? Using your logic, each kid who "signed" then should be contacted by all of the media who printed anything, BECAUSE.. each school could have made it up. It has nothing to do with whether or not a story was made up. It has EVERYTHING to do with the journalistic process...checking sources, getting background information, getting quotes, statistics, anything that could "add" to the story. The media types involved in this debacle were apparently satisfied in taking a 17-year-old high school kid at his word and were either too lazy or too stupid to do ANY legwork on their own. Probably explains why they are writing for some backwater fishwrap in Northern Nevada...
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Post by wildcat on Feb 10, 2008 16:35:56 GMT -6
If I were a member of the media I wouldn't look it up to see if it was legit. I would just research what I'm doing a story on....Ok this kid is recruited by Cal, let me look up who else Cal has recruited. Let me know if Cal has any top 150 recruits. Lets see where their recruiting class ranks amongst other Pac 10 schools. You would think one of them would wanna learn more about this kid or the school he was going to. Exactly! It really has nothing to do with whether or not the kid was telling the truth...you would naturally assume that he was. But, when you googled the kid's name to try and get some background information and find out that this kid has not taken an official visit anywhere, is not being discussed on the major recruiting message boards, is regarded as only a two-star recruit, and has not won any post-season awards and accolades, that would lead you to start asking more questions. No one should have or would have assumed that the kid was lying...however, 5 minutes on the Internet would have resulted in Hart's story falling apart well before the press conference.
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Post by phantom on Feb 10, 2008 16:44:41 GMT -6
None of which changes the fact that the coach screwed the pooch on this.
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Post by coachd5085 on Feb 10, 2008 16:46:36 GMT -6
If I were a member of the media I wouldn't look it up to see if it was legit. I would just research what I'm doing a story on....Ok this kid is recruited by Cal, let me look up who else Cal has recruited. Let me know if Cal has any top 150 recruits. Lets see where their recruiting class ranks amongst other Pac 10 schools. You would think one of them would wanna learn more about this kid or the school he was going to. Remember, this happened BEFORE signing day. When it happened CAL had 0 recruits. When it happened, CAL had NO OFFICIAL position on ANY of its kids, as it is illegal to comment. CAL HAD NO OFFICIAL recruiting class. All of this wealth of information would be coming from second hand "unofficial" sources. SO, all that would result from what you guys are saying is that at the press conference, the reporter could say "I THINK YOU ARE LYING" Thats it. Thats all that could happen, is that the reporter could accuse the H.S. kid of being a liar in front of his friends and family, based on second hand information.
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Post by wildcat on Feb 10, 2008 16:54:01 GMT -6
If I were a member of the media I wouldn't look it up to see if it was legit. I would just research what I'm doing a story on....Ok this kid is recruited by Cal, let me look up who else Cal has recruited. Let me know if Cal has any top 150 recruits. Lets see where their recruiting class ranks amongst other Pac 10 schools. You would think one of them would wanna learn more about this kid or the school he was going to. Remember, this happened BEFORE signing day. When it happened CAL had 0 recruits. When it happened, CAL had NO OFFICIAL position on ANY of its kids, as it is illegal to comment. CAL HAD NO OFFICIAL recruiting class. All of this wealth of information would be coming from second hand "unofficial" sources. SO, all that would result from what you guys are saying is that at the press conference, the reporter could say "I THINK YOU ARE LYING" Thats it. Thats all that could happen, is that the reporter could accuse the H.S. kid of being a liar in front of his friends and family, based on second hand information. Are you trying to say that a reporter couldn't have found out whether or not Hart has taken any official visits? That Hart hasn't won any post-season awards or accolades? This press conference just didn't "happen"...Hart has been telling anyone who would listen since September that he was being recruited. That is an AWFUL lot of time that the reporters in the area had to uncover the fact that Hart's story wasn't true. Heck, one of the area reporters referred to Hart as "One of Northern Nevada's Top Prospects"... where the heck did THAT come from??? Your assertion that the reporters couldn't do anything to prevent being duped is simply laughable.
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Post by spos21ram on Feb 10, 2008 17:57:44 GMT -6
That ESPN link I posted was up atleast a couple weeks before signing day, I checked it. Not for this guy, I was looking up other teams recruits. Each team had the names of the players that had a high chance of going there. And if the the recruit did not disclose any info they were listed under a different category. His name would have atleast been under that one.
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Post by coachd5085 on Feb 10, 2008 18:14:07 GMT -6
Remember, this happened BEFORE signing day. When it happened CAL had 0 recruits. When it happened, CAL had NO OFFICIAL position on ANY of its kids, as it is illegal to comment. CAL HAD NO OFFICIAL recruiting class. All of this wealth of information would be coming from second hand "unofficial" sources. SO, all that would result from what you guys are saying is that at the press conference, the reporter could say "I THINK YOU ARE LYING" Thats it. Thats all that could happen, is that the reporter could accuse the H.S. kid of being a liar in front of his friends and family, based on second hand information. Are you trying to say that a reporter couldn't have found out whether or not Hart has taken any official visits? That Hart hasn't won any post-season awards or accolades? This press conference just didn't "happen"...Hart has been telling anyone who would listen since September that he was being recruited. That is an AWFUL lot of time that the reporters in the area had to uncover the fact that Hart's story wasn't true. Heck, one of the area reporters referred to Hart as "One of Northern Nevada's Top Prospects"... where the heck did THAT come from??? Your assertion that the reporters couldn't do anything to prevent being duped is simply laughable. NO, what I am saying is 1) WHY WOULD THEY EVEN TRY TO PREVENT FROM "BEING DUPED" 2) THAT is not even remotely the story here, so i am confused why you keep bringing that up. I know you are going to say that "it is fundamental journalism" BUT you have watched too much CSI. Had the kid done this at his house..and had the kid made all the arrangements...ok, I agree..and you might have seen something different. IN THIS CASE, the SCHOOL HELD the press conference. The school said "Hey, we are having a press conference so our student will announce what school he is signing with" This isn't unmasking misappropriations at the Pentagon. Editor says "hey cover this PC," you go and cover the PC. You take the PC at face value because THE SCHOOL DISTRICT approved of it. Again, tell me what you do in this situation? You do all that research, it starts to not pass the smell test....now what. What can you POSSIBLY gain by digging in? You can't publicly call a H.S. kid a liar at his press conference based on your circumstantial evidence. So, what is the point? Let me ask you, if your district hires a teacher, and sends them to coach with you, do you check and see if he is certified? YOU the coach..do you do that?
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Post by coachd5085 on Feb 10, 2008 19:00:15 GMT -6
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Post by spos21ram on Feb 10, 2008 19:06:29 GMT -6
The journalist, coach, and school are all morons...and the kid too
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Post by wildcat on Feb 10, 2008 21:22:21 GMT -6
Here you go, Champ: "Citing a policy regarding personnel matters, Lyon County School District assistant superintendent Teri White declined to comment Saturday on a report that called into question Hodges' job status."This is from the very article you posted a link to. At least the journalists in Northern Nevada are actually getting off their butts and asking some questions now. It's about time!
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Post by coachd5085 on Feb 10, 2008 21:59:52 GMT -6
wildcat--you never answered my question--would you, as a coach, check on the teaching credentials of someone your district hired as one of your asst. coaches?
Does your HC or AD (or whoever handles your schools eligibility) contact the state of Illinois to verify that each and every student athlete at your school is submitting an accurate birth certificate, or are they lazy, and just take the parents word for it that the certificate they submit is accurate and not modified/forged?
Yes, they are probing deeper now BECAUSE IT IS A STORY. IT wasn't a story before. To think that it was a story that required any investigation is laughable.
The REASON I posted that link was : A) show the latest on the story, especially the coaching angle, B) show how the media changes as the story changes.
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Post by wildcat on Feb 10, 2008 22:46:40 GMT -6
wildcat--you never answered my question--would you, as a coach, check on the teaching credentials of someone your district hired as one of your asst. coaches? Does your HC or AD (or whoever handles your schools eligibility) contact the state of Illinois to verify that each and every student athlete at your school is submitting an accurate birth certificate, or are they lazy, and just take the parents word for it that the certificate they submit is accurate and not modified/forged? Please! How are either of those scenarios "newsworthy"? They aren't! That is as routine as the day is long. Furthermore, it's not MY job to check credentials, to get a backstory, to ask questions that should be asked. However, a small-town kid from some backwater school in Northern Nevada, a school that has NEVER had a D-I athlete, well...that's newsworthy! Heck, I would think that reporters for the local newspaper and media would be HIGHLY motivated to research a story, to get as much information as possible, about a "local boy done good". NO ONE in the media did their homework...like I said, this isn't about catching the kid in a lie. However, I would expect that local media-types would want to talk to the head coach and the parents about the recruiting process...see what they thought about a big-time college coach requesting tape and the kid going on official visits and all of that. Look...Hart is to blame. He brought this upon himself because he wanted to feel like a bigshot even though he hadn't worked hard enough and wasn't talented enough to be the fantasy he had created. But with that being said, a few phone calls or google searches would have exposed Kevin Hart as the fraud that he is months ago. When this kid was spouting off last SEPTEMBER about the "offers" he was getting to reporters, this whole thing could have been shut down. But I will tell you this...you can bet your butt that the next time some kid flies in suddenly from off the radar screen, those reporters WILL be doing their homework. They won't get caught asleep at the wheel twice.
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Post by coachd5085 on Feb 10, 2008 23:40:27 GMT -6
wildcat--you never answered my question--would you, as a coach, check on the teaching credentials of someone your district hired as one of your asst. coaches? Does your HC or AD (or whoever handles your schools eligibility) contact the state of Illinois to verify that each and every student athlete at your school is submitting an accurate birth certificate, or are they lazy, and just take the parents word for it that the certificate they submit is accurate and not modified/forged? Please! How are either of those scenarios "newsworthy"? They aren't! That is as routine as the day is long. Furthermore, it's not MY job to check credentials, to get a backstory, to ask questions that should be asked. You missed the point entirely here. It isn't that these are newsworthy, but you are 100% WRONG that it IS the job of the coach to ensure eligibility. So I ask again, does your HC /AD, whoever is in charge of eligibility go back and check with the state records to ensure that each athlete in your school/district is eligible? Or do they simply use the Birth Certificate that the parents provide? That's what I thought. JUST like in this scenario, when a H.S sets up a press conference, when a H.S. contacts the media outlets...the media outlets are going to expect everything to be on the up and up. Why would you expect that? That is the story YOU, as a 1%'er wants to read. Most just want a little color (picture) a few quotes, and some fluff to make everyone happy. AGAIN, not all journalism is investigative reporting. This was a feel good story, and while for those in the football industry it would be very easy to do what you suggest (and this is what happened almost immediately after the press conference) for those NOT involved in the football industry, THOSE THINGS simply wouldn't occur to people outside the industry. Just as many MANY things don't seem to occur to those in the football industry. Whose radar screen? Again, those who keep their eyes on this "radar" quickly exposed it within hours of the story hitting the public. AGAIN, lets try to get back to football rather than rehashing why you disagree with the journalistic methods. WHAT can we do as football coaches to try to put the recruiting genie back in the bottle? Does it NEED to be back there? Are Rivals and Scouts inc. GOOD for the kids? Does the celebrity status aid in their development???
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