From The Draft To The May 1 Student Decision Day, A Reminder That You Define What’s Next, Not Vice Versa…

On Thursday the New York Jets, with the second pick in the NFL Draft, selected edge rusher David Bailey. Well spoken, thoughtful and tremendously talented, fans of Gang Green are hoping he is the next piece in a puzzle to finally get New York to break their playoff drought.

What interested me more though, were the words around the announcement. David Bailey, Texas Tech, the school where he had spent his last year, and the school where he had spent the previous three seasons, and as Adam Schefter immediately pointed out, was where he had built relationships with several coaches now on the Jets staff who had helped make the decision.

That school is Stanford, which, because of a roughly ten month post graduate stop, is how Bailey will be known on everything from game introductions to his first Topps trading card. Maybe it is where you finish, not where you start, but something seems amiss that is symptomatic of the college athletics we have today.

The past few weeks we have seen the basketball transfer portal pull the life out of most mid-major programs as athletes…which is their prerogative…chase the dollars of NIL and the promises of “something better elsewhere.” Whether all that is true is a large unknown, but it is the system we do have today.

Going wider than that, I have heard from scores of young people and parents, as usually happens this time of year, worrying about their college choice. It is not usually one which comes with portal options and dreams of NIL money, it is one of classes, culture and cash…lots of it…that will go into their education.

It’s not easy for any of them, the athletes who thinks there are better opportunities and leaves a place he/she/they may feel comfortable…or those heading to schools to figure out a career path away from athletics. All are life choices which we can’t really take lightly.

Now many kids are making their college choices by the May 1 deadline. As people pressure them for an answer, I offer up some simple advice, which I mentioned when speaking at a panel a few weeks ago at Yankee Stadium on careers…

Always remember its where you think you will fit, and learn and grow not the name of the school...it’s still a great time to be a student coming out of the chaos of the world we are in, and we…all of us at every age… all continue to learn whether we are in school or watching from the sidelines.

You define the experience, not the other way around.

And you are young enough to realize if the promises aren’t kept, you can make a change, just look at the portal and what these athletes are doing.

Your identity will be shaped by the people and places you take on and how you treat those people, not as much by the fight song. What will people remember you as? Now hopefully the NCAA finds some sanity and consistency to the multiple school paths athletes are now taking. The truth is the grass isn’t always greener, it may be filled with weeds and five or ten years from now, if you left a fleeting impression, your challenges may be even greater.

For now though, let’s let them all enjoy a bit of the ride, and celebrate the accomplishments as we head toward the end of another school year. You didn’t see many frowns on Draft Night; it held endless possibilities.

The same should be true for every student making a choice, the best should be ahead for you, no matter where that ends up being.

Stanford, be proud for young Mr. Bailey, he is more yours than the Red Raiders, even if his card doesn’t say so today.