The recent controversial Twitter rant about loyalty and accountability by Texas A&M assistant coach Aaron Moorehead after a high-profile high school quarterback recruit de-committed is enough to make every administrator and coach in the country reevaluate how a program presents itself to recruits through electronic communication.
It raises an interesting question now that the NCAA has deregulated unlimited text messaging to junior and senior football prospects starting Sept. 1: If this happened in public, what goes on in private conversations?
It is not only a concern about what, but also when. During school hours? During homework at night? During family time? While the young athlete is driving?
College basketball coaches have been allowed to text high school junior and senior recruits as many times as the they want in the last four years. The move by the NCAA then was to try to eliminate third parties communicating with the athletes speaking for coaches. No proof exists that does not still happen.
Not much has been reported about these text messages because they are private. The New York Post published a story in 2012 when the NCAA allowed college basketball coaches the opportunity to text junior and senior prospects whenever they desired. Two messages recruits revealed to the Post included: “U got some honeys with u?” and “Midnight in (city of school) and thinking about how good u would look in a (school name) uniform.” This is just an example. Similar messages must occur. Hundreds if not thousands. How is something like this a necessary element in the recruiting process?
Since 2007, the NCAA banned college football coaches from texting prospective athletes. The reason for that change and allowing coaches to now be free to “like” or retweet a recruit’s social media post? The NCAA reports that it cannot realistically enforce all that goes on with Twitter and Facebook. It lessens its burden because the use of text messaging and social media is so widespread.
A 5-star recruit could potentially receive hundreds if not thousands of messages a day, many of which will come from a staff member posing as the head coach, another fallacy of the whole situation. When does the recruit have time with all his demands (attending class, studying, practicing, training and being with his family) to sift through all of that? Why make it possible for the recruit to shift his focus to staring at his phone when he has more pressing needs as a 16- and 17-year-old?
With that being the case, why not set a rule that texting should be kept to a minimum? Why not limit coaches to text athletes during certain periods of the year at specific times of the day? The reason comes back to the NCAA admitting it is too difficult to police when coaches interact with recruits on cell phones and with social media.
Why doesn’t the NCAA go another step further and deregulate when a student-athlete can sign? Instead of adding to the charade that has become the recruiting process by allowing non-stop texting and Twitter exchange, the NCAA should eliminate the signing period and enable a recruit and his family to make their decision when they want.
The argument here is the NCAA can, in fact, keep distractions in check by allowing a recruit to sign with a university without having to wait for a signing period. When the athlete signs, the charade of mass text messages and social media reactions comes to an end. If a recruit likes that kind of attention and wants to prolong the recruiting process because of it, then a coach must seriously ask himself: Where are the recruit’s priorities?
Instead of making an earnest effort to subdue the charade that overtakes the recruiting process, the NCAA effectively threw fuel on the fire with coaches now able to text recruits whenever they want and “like” and retweet their Twitter posts.
Hopefully, sooner than later, the NCAA will realize the best way to put a stop to the circus is to make the proper change of allowing a football prospect, in this case, to sign when he wants without the restriction of a signing period.
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