Photo: Greg Poole/Bulldawg Illustrated
In a recent interview, Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald said parent evaluation is a now part of the recruiting process:
An increasingly larger part of the evaluation of the prospect, for us, is evaluating the parents. It’s a big part of the evaluation,” Fitzgerald said. “When we talk about our fit, we’re evaluating the parents, too. And if the parents don’t fit, then we might punt on the player and not end up offering him a scholarship.
It makes sense that, especially when a school is down to a couple of recruits vying for a single scholarship, the fundamental role of parenting would play a part in the institution’s decision. These days, perhaps, the old recruiting practice of getting the parent(s) on campus is as much for the benefit of the university’s evaluation process as to impress the athlete’s family.
Fitzgerald’s remarks begin at the 7:50 mark of the video below:
Makes perfect sense. Out on the circuit, the parents with gargantuan egos are shopping their kid for a price. Continuing to recruit a player whose folks hands are out saying pay me is disaster not waiting, but going to happen.
As we have seen with Cam Newton and Laremy Tunsil, the parents (and step parents) can create problems every bit as big as the player can.