Assistant men's basketball coach pat Duquette will be writing all season long as part of a National Coach's Diary Series. His first post, which can be found at College Chalk Talk, addresses the early signing period of recruiting. While he acknowledges the relief of signing recruits and receiving their official letters of intent, he also makes some interesting points regarding official visits.
One interesting quirk to the NCAA rules about official visits is that a recruit can only begin to visit officially once he begins classes his senior year. However, different areas of the country start much earlier than other parts which can make for scheduling issues. He also suggests that the NCAA allow the school to pay for travel arrangements for one parent/guardian of the recruit in order to allow the family to see the atmosphere as well, which would only make sense.
