nick stevens: blog 
nick stevens' golo sports blog
nevada recruiting fiasco resolved: player lied about offer
Published Feb. 9, 2008
Does anyone remember the name Ivan Renko?
The Las Vegas Sun made the comparison between Renko and another athlete in a recent article. Renko was a post player from the former Yugoslavia who Bob Knight recruited to come play at Indiana while he was still the coach of the Hoosiers. Renko committed to Indiana, and all of the media outlets and recruiting services reported the commitment.
There was only one problem. Renko didn't exist.
Fast forward to 2008, and the reverse situation has occurred. Kevin Hart, an offensive lineman at Fernley High School in Reno, Nevada, is a real person. He really played football, and he is really from Nevada. Hart committed to UC-Berkley last week, but again, there was one problem. Cal never offered him a scholarship.
That's right. Hart committed to a school that never offered him a scholarship.
Hmmm. Hart reported offers from Cal, Illinois, Oregon, Washington State, and Texas A&M. What Hart reported, however, wasn't what he really had. No. Hart did not receive an offer from any of those schools.
The police, the Nevada Interscholastic Athletic Association, and the NCAA all began investigating the issue, believing someone had impersonated the coaches.
Since, Hart has come forward admitting that he made up the entire story.
When he made his confession, he said that he had always dreamed of playing Division-I College Football. "When I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I made up what I wanted to be reality," said Hart.
What do you do here? Do you laugh? Do you take disciplinary action? I wonder if he made the confession in front of the same 1,000 people that turned out to watch him make his commitment to Cal. Well, to answer my own question, no. A school administrator actually read the statement for him.
Like the Las Vegas Sun said, the authorities actually handed this case over to the cop with the short-shorts in Reno 911.
Oh, by the way, my four-year-old brother just got an offer from Duke to come play basketball!
close
Welcome to GOLO, where WRAL.com visitors can comment on stories and create profile pages, blogs and photo galleries.
You must be a registered WRAL.com user to use these tools. Click here to register or log in.
I'm not saying it's wrong for young people to dream, not at all, but what has happened is that the hype of college recruiting has become a sport in and of itself to the point that folks want to be a part of it and in many cases, whether it's the athletes themselves, their parents, HS coaches trying to gain on local area recruiting or private for-pay recruiting services it seems like everyone is trying their angle to cash in!
And IMHO...that is what is wrong! Everyone looking out to get what they "think" they deserve right now!
February 9, 2008 7:43 p.m.
Please log in to add comment.