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The National Letter of Intent Policy and Review Committee, which is managed by the NCAA Eligibility Center and governed by the Collegiate Commissioners Association, reviewed several recent cases in which schools included side deals along with their athletes' signed Letters of Intent--and it wasn't happy. The deals effectively freed the athletes from their commitment if a head coach were to leave, which is not something the Committee condones.

Last year, Xavier Henry and Nolan Dennis both signed Letters agreeing to play for the University of Memphis men's basketball team when John Calipari was still the head coach for the Tigers. But at the time of the signings, they each got a signed note from Athletic Director R.C. Johnson promising that they would be released if Calipari left for another job. Months later, Calipari did leave, taking over the program at the University of Kentucky, and Henry and Dennis were released from their committments.

"I don't like it, but that's what you have to do if you want to get those top recruits," Johnson told Sports Illustrated. "Honestly, you'd like to think the student-athlete is coming because of the university itself ... [But] the coach is such a big part of it."

The National Letter of Intent Web site explicitly states that players who sign do so with the school and not the coach. It also states that the athlete's signature "nullifies any agreements, oral or otherwise, which would release me from the conditions stated within this NLI."

So how could Memphis' Johnson make the deal? While it is not okay to leave due to a coaching change, the rules do allow schools to release athletes for reasons other than coaching changes. (For example, an ill family member that wants the student-athlete attending a school closer to home.)

Now, the Policy and Review Committee isn't taking any more chances for misinterpretation. In early October, it adopted a policy that renders "null and void any letter of intent that contains any advance agreements that would release the prospect in case of a coaching change or other circumstances." In other words, no more side agreements are allowed to come with the signing of a National Letter.

"The committee is saying this isn't the intent of the [National Letter of Intent] program," Susan Peal, Associate Director of Operations at the NCAA Eligibility Center and Liaison to the National Letter of Intent Policy and Review Committee, told the NCAA News. "We have a formal release process in place."

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The following case didn't involve a side deal. But there was a coaching change, and this time, the school refused to release the athlete because of it.

Like many other high school basketball athletes planning to continue their playing careers in college, North Carolina high schooler Kelsey Evans signed a National Letter last fall. She committed to play at Western Carolina University, then, last spring, Head Coach Kellie Harper left to take over the program at North Carolina State University. With Harper leaving, Evans asked that WCU release her from the Letter of Intent, but WCU refused, meaning Evans would be ineligible to play for one year if she chose to enroll elsewhere.

When the university refused to release Evans from her Letter of Intent, she filed a lawsuit in late August asking that the Letter be thrown out on the grounds that she was a minor when she signed it. In North Carolina, a minor can back out of a contract upon turning 18 unless a Superior Court judge had approved the contract. (Currently, North Carolina Superior Court judges do not review National Letters of Intent.)

Two weeks after the suit was filed, WCU granted Evans's release, freeing her to play elsewhere. Evans dropped the lawsuit, and will play closer to home at Elon University, where she is on the 2009-10 roster as a freshman forward.

While Evans's story ended with her playing at the school of her choice this winter, her case raised quite a few eyebrows concerning the legality of National Letters of Intent when signed by minors. Evans's attorney, Richard Gusler, expressed surprise that this is the first time the legality of a Letter of Intent was challenged on the basis that the signee was a minor.

"The law believes minors suffer a disability and that the disability prevents them from executing binding contracts," he told the News & Observer. "I have talked to quite a few lawyers in the country, and every one I have spoken with agrees. I can't imagine a minor not being allowed out of a contract."

"A couple of college coaches said this ruins the entire recruiting process," he continued. "A recruit who is under 18 can back out of the agreement for a good reason, bad reason, or no reason as soon as the athlete turns 18. The NCAA can't force someone to give up a year's eligibility either."

When Evans's suit was dismissed, Peal said the issue would be looked into. "We have a lot of research to do," she told the Observer. "There is no need to hit the panic button yet. This just came up. We don't know if this law is applicable only in North Carolina or elsewhere."

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Finally, one of the proposals up for review by the NCAA Division I Legislative Council later this month would limit the number of football players schools can offer financial aid or accept signed National Letters of Intent from. If approved, Football Bowl Subdivision schools will only be allowed to accept Letters from 28 student-athletes from the first allowable signing day through May.

The proposal is seemingly in response to the practice of teams over-signing players. University of Mississippi Head Football Coach Houston Nutt made headlines when he signed 37 players in February despite NCAA rules that limit schools to just 25 new scholarships that can be handed out each year.

Nutt and other coaches who "oversign" know that not all the players they sign will end up qualifying for enrollment academically. Some will decide to go to a junior college instead, and other will end up gray-shirting--delaying full-time enrollment.

"If you look at it purely in principle, you're uncomfortable with it," Wright Waters, Sun Belt Conference Commissioner and Chair of the NCAA Football Issues Committee, told Sports Illustrated. "But you've also got to ask if kids are being benefited by it. If they are, then you've got to find a way to not hurt those kids and at the same time make sure you maintain a level playing field."

The topic of over-signing also came up in Athletic Management's June/July cover story on ethics in recruiting. Ole Miss Athletic Director Pete Boone told us his main concern is with making sure that the student-athletes know about the potential issues that could arise in advance of signing.

"As an athletic director, I want to know that written documentation has gone from the coach to the student-athletes and their parents that says what we're planning on doing and everything is clearly presented up front," he said. "I let the coach decide whether gray-shirting is a good or bad thing and how he wants to develop his program. I just want to make sure no one is surprised."

But not all athletic directors agree that over-signing is okay. Bob Bowlsby, Athletic Director at Stanford University, is one of them.

"I think it's a problem," Bowlsby told AM. "Generally speaking, having kids come in mid-year is not the right thing to do. If you over-sign, then you're probably either going to gray-shirt kids or run some players off the current team to get down to your scholarship limit, and I don't think either scenario is appropriate."

Abigail Funk is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management.