Blue and Gold Illustrated

April 2014 Issue

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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MURPHY'S LAW DAN MURPHY T he calls for an early signing day for college football recruits s e e m e d u n a n i m o u s u n t i l i t seemed inevitable. The NCAA's pain- fully slow march toward solving its myriad issues remains two steps for- ward and a step and a half backward. During the past five years, Notre Dame's Brian Kelly has been a voice in the outspoken majority championing an earlier date for high school seniors to stop their personal recruiting mad- ness and pick a school. The Conference Commissioners Association (CCA) — the collection of 32 Division I commis- sioners that get to decide these things — formally discussed the possibility two years ago. The idea has been an annual talking point before then. The loudest question was, "What's taking so long?" "Those guys that are committed and ready to make that decision, you get them out of the way," Kelly said in a recent interview with the Atlanta Jour- nal-Constitution. "There doesn't seem to be a unanimous feeling across the board [about how to do it], but I've been on that train for a long time." Kelly said he thinks there should be an early signing period Dec. 12, when junior college transfers sign their let- ters. A long list of other college coaches agree — if they know where they want to go to school, kids should be able to sign letters of intent in early December. Or is it the Monday before Thanksgiv- ing? Or maybe Sept. 1? A few days be- fore Christmas? All those dates have been suggested by various head coaches in the past year. All of them come with a side ef- fect of problems that could be just as detrimental as having no early day to sign at all. What happens to the kid who committed in September if his coach is fired in December? The Thanksgiving week date would force The Slow Grind Of Progress Irish head coach Brian Kelly is a proponent of add- ing an early signing day for football. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND

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