Let it be known, I had a great experience playing AAU basketball and loved every minute of it. I'm sure there are lot of kids who feel the same way as I did. With that being said, there needs to be some reform and some type of control to get the non-sense out. There is just too many people trying to take advantage of the system and the kids are the ones that get the wrong of the stick. And as we know, adults ALWAYS make it about themselv...the kids.
Don't let kids play AAU until after they have completed middle school. I understand there is a market for it and some coaches do a great job with kids BUT they should be playing another sport during the spring and potentially the summer. If you have want to have a team consisting of kids that just completed middle school and they are playing in a few tournaments for the summer, that works. It becomes overload for the kids and a lot of times it becomes too much for the family to be traveling all over the place to play games. The kids' bodies are still developing and for them to play as many games as NBA players do from the winter to the summer, can't be good for their bodies.
How many AAU programs actually charge the bare minimum for a kid to participate? I know there are quite a few expenses to play including gym time, uniforms, and tournament entry fees but that doesn't add up to $1000. By charging more, the programs are making money thus not making it about the kids. By doing this, the system becomes a business model not a service model. When adults have a business model, they tend to screw it up for the kids.
Create a model of consistency with each tournament. Kids should be playing with their age group or above it. There shouldn't be kids who have already graduated high school playing during the spring and summer. They've had their time to shine, now let others take advantage of that opportunity. If they created more 18U and 19U tournaments, I'd be fine with it. Just don't allow a 2015 kid play against a bunch of 2016/2017's all spring and summer.
Rosters must be sent in a three weeks in advance. If roster has anything wrong with it then the team AND coach are banned from that particular tournament. If it happens again, it is reported to the NCAA and that coach's certification is taken away for 12 months. I know it potentially takes away opportunity from kids but the coaches have to get this right. It also takes away from the potential "free agent market" that we see at the MN AAU State Tournament every year (I know it happens elsewhere as well).
To go along with get the rosters correct, give the kids an opportunity to only play on two different teams throughout the spring and summer. I understand that there are times when there is an off weekend and you have the opportunity to play with some high school teammates but there shouldn't be any jumping from team to team EVERY weekend.
AAU directors need to make a stand. If one of their coaches gets ejected from a game, they are done for that particular tournament. If it happens again, they will not be coaching in that program for the rest of the year. How many high school coaches get ejected from games? Not very many because they understand how much it hurts their team. It happens a lot more in AAU and can potentially cost the kids a chance to play more games because the coach has made it all about themselves. I don't think AAU directors want to be coaching 30 games a weekend.
Stop charging high school coaches to get into tournaments. They are there watching their kids play. They are making an investment into their program. The least a tournament could do is let them in for free.
Do not charge college coaches for "recruiting packets." The college coaches are the reason why the kids are playing in the first place (for 95% of the kids). Get as many as you can into the door and give the kids as many opportunities as you can for them to be seen. It's not that big of an expense for a tournament director to print off a bunch. Make it simple, each college program gets one packet per tournament.
To go along with recruiting packets, give college coaches their own section to sit in EVERY tournament. Coaches shouldn't be having conversations with kids and their families during tournament play. I witnessed two different D3 coaches talking to kids directly in front of me this weekend while the kids were still in the tournament. That's a clear violation and shouldn't happen. They can talk AFTER the kid's tournament is over.
The NCAA needs to make a limit on how many events are certified during the open period. There are just too many events and it ends up costing many kids an opportunity to be seen by college coaches. Limit the number to 75 (or less) tournaments throughout the country. Then have an NCAA representative at each. That rep will then have an all access pass to the tournament to roam free and see what college coaches are doing to gain an advantage.
In the past the NCAA has brought a few of their reps to tournaments that I have been at. The two (both female) that came to a tournament in Vegas a few years ago essentially flirted with the college coaches the whole time and didn't do anything that I saw. Now, they could be doing something behind the scenes to scope out some issues but it clearly wasn't enough.
The NCAA would say that it costs too much for their organization to have that many reps as well as fly them all over the country to evaluate what is going on at each tournament. We all know that is not true with the money they make from the Final Four. They don't have to be full time employees, they just have to be able to work during the April and July recruiting periods. College coaches shouldn't know who the people are and won't be able to manipulate them in any way.
Like with so many things there are few people that are screwing it up for everyone else. 90-95% of the people are doing things the right way but we tend to focus on the people that aren't.
I'm sure there is more things to put out there but I believe this is a start.
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