National Signing Day Drama Shows Recruits Should Sign to a School, Not Coach

Flipping season for recruits starts when the dead period ends in January and lasts until national signing day.

For some coaches, flip season starts after recruits sign on the dotted line. 

There were several key coaching moves that took place shortly after national signing day, including UCLA defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich apparently heading to the Atlanta Falcons, according to FoxSports.com, and Florida defensive line coach Terrell Williams jumping to the Miami Dolphins, according to the Palm Beach Post. The team officially announced the hire Friday.

Shady? You bet, especially considering the slanted contracts high school football players signed Wednesday, as Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples notes:

This brings us to what should be the No. 1 rule of thumb for top-tier prospects during the recruiting process: Commit to the school, not the coach.

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Several prospects in the class of 2015 found this out the hard way.

Roquan Smith—a 4-star linebacker from Montezuma, Georgia, committed to UCLA on ESPNU Wednesday, but opened his recruiting process back up shortly after the cameras turned off and he found out Ulbrich was reportedly leaving the program.

"We just got the news on Coach Ulbrich getting the offer from the Atlanta Falcons," Smith's high school coach Larry Harold told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Roquan just holding his UCLA papers to see what Coach Ulbrich is going to do. We’re just sitting tight right now."

Ohio State 4-star running back Mike Weber found out running backs coach Stan Drayton is leaving for the Chicago Bears, according to the Chicago Tribune. Weber took to Twitter to vent his frustrations.

CeCe Jefferson—a 5-star defensive end from Glen St. Mary, Florida, committed to Florida later in the afternoon on ESPNU but has yet to send in his national letter of intent after learning that Williams is leaving the program.

Williams' departure caused another domino to fall, as Texas defensive line coach Chris Rumph left on Friday to take the same position at Florida. That didn't sit well with 3-star defensive line signee Du'Vonta Lampkin.

It should never get to this point for either side.

From a player's perspective, it's incredibly disingenuous for a coach to sell a program for two or more years only to bail the day after signing day, leaving the kids with a different product than they purchased. But it does happen a lot, and prospects should know this. More important, the program should be upfront about these possibilities.

From a program's perspective, it shouldn't matter.

There are assistants such as Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster, Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and others who are longtime assistants at their schools, but those coaches are the exception, not the rule.

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Most assistants—position coaches, in particular—are in volatile positions on coaching staffs. If they succeed, plenty of coordinator jobs open up every offseason that present options. If they fail, they're easily replaceable, especially in this day and age of growing off-the-field staffs.

Over the last five years, we've seen wholesale changes to entire coaching staffs—not just position-coach movement—in eight of the 14 SEC programs.

Assistants often provide the day-to-day contact for prospects along the way, and of course those relationships are important. For proof, look no further than 4-star linebacker Jeffery Holland, who directly credited defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson for his commitment to Auburn.

"That was just a big deal right there," Holland said, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. "I've been loving Auburn and that just put the icing on the cake."

That's fine. 

If an assistant is what seals the deal, but a player is happy with the school regardless, that's the appropriate way this process should work. But an assistant coach being the primary reason a player commits anywhere is silly.

Players should know that post-signing day coaching moves happen every year. Coaches should be upfront about opportunities, even if the marriage lasts for a little while. Players should recognize that even if position coaches stick around for the prospect's freshman year, the coaching carousel spins pretty fast every offseason, and that could change the structure of the staff at any given school.

Coaching is a nomadic business, but playing college football isn't. As a result, players should commit to schools, not people.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.