Kansas recruit's future at UNC?
D. Padgett has options if next Jayhawks coach doesn't suit him
GREGG DOYEL
Raleigh Bureau
CHAPEL HILL - New North Carolina coach Roy Williams has made conciliatory steps toward his top recruit at Kansas, All-American center David Padgett, setting in motion a chain of events that could end with him playing for the Tar Heels -- next season.
"No comment," Pete Padgett said Wednesday when asked if his son might follow Williams to North Carolina, David Padgett's second choice of colleges.
Such a scenario would enrage Kansas supporters while delighting Tar Heels fans, whose team probably is one big man away from entering the 2003-04 season in the top 10. It also would come as a shock to those who believe the letter-of-intent Padgett signed in November with Kansas can be broken only at a cost of one or even two years of playing time.
That's not always the case, but the truth about the letter-of-intent gets even stranger: Padgett never had to sign one.
Athletes can protect themselves from the predicament facing Padgett by signing a "scholarship agreement" instead of a letter-of-intent. A scholarship agreement binds a college to the recruit while leaving the recruit's options open until he enrolls.
UCLA has had two recent recruits sign scholarship agreements, with mixed results. Jason Kapono played four seasons for the Bruins, but Spencer Gloger backed out of his signed 1999 scholarship agreement to play immediately at Princeton.
A letter-of-intent (LOI) is more concrete. It ends a player's recruitment, stopping calls from college coaches and media, but also prohibits him from playing elsewhere for two years unless the original school gives him a release. Even then, the player must sit out one season at his new school unless he wins an eligibility appeal.
That appeal would be heard not by the NCAA but by the National Letter-of-Intent (NLI) steering committee, composed of five conference commissioners from NCAA Division I, II and III.
That process worked for five basketball recruits last year who were granted LOI releases, including Arizona's Andre Iguodala and Alabama's Kennedy Winston.
"Clearly it's a trend," said Jon Fagg, N.C. State's assistant athletics director for compliance. "Five players won their appeal to the NLI? It used to be set in stone."
It was in 1997 for former N.C. State guard Anthony Grundy, who waited 11/2 years to play because Bradley wouldn't release him from his LOI.
With players often choosing a school for its coach -- and coaches jumping from one job to the next -- some believe scholarship agreements will become more popular than LOIs.
"Kids are starting to say, `You know what, I'm not going to sign a letter-of-intent,' " said Fagg, a former assistant football coach at Arizona and Davidson. "As an ex-coach I know what I'd say: `We'll go to the next recruit, because (without an LOI) we have to assume you're not truly committed to us.' "
That tactic would work on many recruits, but David Padgett was different. A skilled 6-foot-11, he could have signed with almost any college in November, before his senior season at Reno (Nev.) High.
David signed an LOI, not a scholarship agreement, although the family was familiar with both. Pete Padgett is the coach at Reno High and was an assistant in 2000-01 at Cal-Santa Barbara.
"In hindsight I wouldn't say we made mistake, but (a scholarship agreement) might have been something we should have looked at more carefully," Pete Padgett said. "Then again, the former coach at the University of Kansas also said he wasn't going anywhere."
Pete Padgett used the words "betrayed" and "offended" to describe his son's reaction to Williams' job switch. However, North Carolina was David Padgett's second choice and Williams was his favorite coach, and now the two are one. That's why Pete Padgett didn't rule out his son going to North Carolina.
"No comment," he said of the possibility.
Before looking into their options, including an LOI release request from Kansas and then an appeal to the NLI, the Padgetts will meet Kansas' new coach. Illinois' Bill Self, the leading candidate, once recruited David Padgett.
"Bill Self showed some interest," Pete Padgett said. "We both had an opportunity to meet him, but it's not like a long-lasting friendship was created."
Williams has spoken with the Padgetts several times since Monday night, though not in a recruiting sense.
"We're trying to heal the sores," Pete Padgett said. "That's all he's trying to do. He's deeply sorry for what happened."
At his introductory news conference Monday, Williams nearly broke into tears while discussing Padgett.
"David Padgett's final decision came down to North Carolina and Kansas," Williams said. "Not being able to coach that young man is something that most people can't understand unless you've had that great relationship between players and coaches."
The turmoil created by Williams' departure from one legendary basketball program to another has made David Padgett a national story again. That's why his father leaves the house at 5 a.m. for his empty office at Reno High, where he can consider the next step.
"I've been getting here at 5:30 in the morning to get away from the phone calls," Pete Padgett said. "The speculation is rampant about David, but we're going to wait and see what happens at Kansas. If we decide to go another direction, we hope there might be a school or two willing to give him a scholarship."
There might be one in Chapel Hill.
Gregg Doyel: gdoyel@charlotteobserver
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