Senator Bill Cassidy has reached out to the NCAA, asking for information on foreign athletes and their ages. Cassidy says he initially became concerned following a conversation with a legendary Louisiana collegiate coach.
“Skip Bertman and I were having a conversation. The legendary coach of LSU baseball, and he pointed out that athletes peak in their late 20s,” Cassidy noted.
This comes as more and more schools recruit older athletes from overseas. For instance, LSU’s men’s basketball team has a freshman from Israel on its roster named Ron Zipper, who will turn 23 years old during the season. Cassidy says with most collegiate freshmen, athletes or otherwise, being 18 or 19 years old, that puts them at a competitive disadvantage.
“If you are allowing colleges to recruit from overseas, and they’re recruiting people who are 25 to 30, they are going to be at a maturation and a development that an 18-year-old in Louisiana or elsewhere cannot match,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy says American universities should provide opportunities for American citizens first and foremost. He says he does mind an occasional overseas player on an NCAA roster, but there needs to be limitations.
“To have a whole team of such folks, who are in their late 20s when they’re recruited, clearly works against the advantage of some American who’s been working hard, coming out of high school looking for that next stage in their athletic career to potentially move on beyond that,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy noted that LSU had recruited Eddie Palubinskas from Australia in the early 1970s as a 22-year-old and was later an assistant coach for the Tigers, trying to teach Shaquille O’Neal how to make free throws, with very limited success.
Cassidy’s letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker can be viewed via the link below:
