Question, what happens to the say 2015 kid who verbally commits to a college and then does not do well on his/hers SAT exam?
The kid still has to go threw the admissions process - the application will be supported by the coach and that is how kids get into schools that they might normally not get into but a condition that the coach will make very clear to the player is that they still have to be accepted by admissions.
I have always thought that this is the one out that a coach might have on a commit he may lose interest in, the coach can not support the admissions application as strongly as was expected and ooooops sorry you didn't get in.
Ultimately, NCAA eligibility must be met first and foremost. This is the role of the NCAA Clearinghouse.
Second, the student-athlete must meet the admission standards of the university or have a waiver instituted. Such waivers can come via a coach's exemption (also known as a golden ticket) or via other tools at the admissions department's discretion.
Remember that accepting "below par" students is not the end of the NCAA compliance debate as both academic progress rates and overall academic GPA are examined by the NCAA during compliance audits.
Coaches that consistently bring in a below average player runs two major risks. The first is that academic progress, particularly for non-revenue generating sports, can come under question. Second and more importantly, the student-athlete runs the risk of being academically overwhelmed by the classroom requirements. In the case of an institution such as Duke, you would expect stringent regulations to be upheld on Board Scores for admission.
