Some fear new NCAA rule eliminating limits on calls, texts to recruits could lead to chaos
Saturday, January 26, 2013
by Matt Porter
This fall, college football recruiters will ask high school coaches for a top player's height, weight, 40-yard dash time, highlight film, transcripts and test scores.
Just to be sure, they'd also better find out what kind of cell phone plan he has.
That's because the NCAA has ushered in a new era of recruiting, eliminating limits on communication between coaches and players. On Jan. 19, the Division I Board of Directors, acknowledging that their current recruiting regulations are difficult to enforce, approved sweeping changes to their recruiting guidelines.
Beginning Aug. 1, college recruiters can make limitless calls, texts and other messages to recruits, with no dead or quiet periods. Football programs can hire entire support staffs dedicated to recruiting, and send out as many recruiters at one time as they'd like. There's nothing stopping them from sending an onslaught of recruiting material to a prospect's home.
Dwyer senior defensive end Malik Brown, who has verbally committed to Syracuse, is glad he'll be in college by then.
"I think it's BS, honestly," Brown said. "We're still kids. We're not businessmen who are on the phone 24-7. Having a coach call whenever he wants, it's going to get ridiculous."
The new regulations were borne out of the NCAA's wish to slim its overstuffed rulebook. In August 2011, a summit of Division I presidents concluded that the NCAA should focus on larger issues rather than penalizing schools for calling on the wrong day.
"The NCAA did it to even the playing field, just so they don't have to police people," Cardinal Newman coach Steve Walsh said. "It's just easier to loosen up the rules."
But the changes could push the bigger, wealthier schools to a different level entirely. Under the new rules, a top SEC school, with a big-budget athletic department and a TV contract, could conceivably hire a separate staff devoted solely to contacting and building relationships with recruits. A lower mid-major program might not have the funds for that.
"The schools that have the resources, they're going to have a coach flip his phone to some [graduate assistant] and say, 'Text these 50 recruits, every night,' " Walsh said.
The rules will only help powerhouses like Alabama maintain their elite status. With more deregulation possible, programs could get a head start on dominating the recruiting game.
2013 National Signing Day
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Originally Posted by Nomad
