Columnist Tim Graham: Coaches get sketchier in the summer

THEY HAVE BEEN called pimps, scoundrels, dirt balls, the scum of the earth.

The men who bring new meaning to the phrase "gym rats" have invaded Las Vegas and will infest local high schools through the weekend. They are the alleged coaches of traveling basketball teams, and they brought to town the nation's premier prep players for The Big Time basketball tournament.

The 224-team event is one of the top hoop events of the summer, giving college coaches the opportunity to window shop ad nauseam at schools throughout the valley.

It is true some leaders of these nomadic squads are quality individuals, committed to delivering an educational experience. But even those select few will agree, by and large, the typical summer coach is a reprehensible lout who knows little about developing student-athletes.

"For some of these guys there should be summer executions," one NBA scout said while watching a game Thursday at Durango High.

Too many summer coaches have no clue how to run a team or handle impressionable teenagers.

One coach, for instance, did little more than drop F-bombs when his players struggled and hollered "There you go!" when they did well. Instruction of his helter-skelter unit was negligible.

Summer coaches enter the fray for varied reasons, but the most common are money, ego and power.

They can prosper by garnering sponsors, with the most lucrative being shoe companies. They feed their egos by controlling blue-chip prospects. The power comes when major college coaches want one of those future stars.

"You have a huge problem," the scout said, "in that the NCAA legislates them into these positions of power because of the early signing period."

The early singing period for high school players begins in November, before their senior seasons commence.

If a college coach wants to land recruits by then, he must scour the summer camps and deal with the men in charge. Thus, the summer coaches become player brokers. Prep coaches are rendered virtually powerless.

"It leads to the further eroding of secondary schools," the scout said. "With the early signing period, the NCAA puts recruiting in the street rather than on campus."

To find an example of how much power summer coaches have gained, one needs to look no further than UNLV. Of the Rebels' four Final Four teams, not one player came from the famed Nike or ABCD summer camps. The current Rebel roster, however, is comprised exclusively of players who have participated in one or the other.

Less than 10 years ago a college team could win it all without recruiting a summer-camp player. Now they must embrace the concept -- and its shady coaches -- or lose.

Until control is returned to prep coaches, whose chosen vocation is to guide young people, summer villains will continue to lurk.

"If any of these kids come out of this squared away they're the exception to the rule," the scout added. "Why shouldn't kids come out of this thing goofy?"

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