The Weekly Audible: 2/12/16

Good morning and welcome to another edition of The Weekly Audible. While this week was a little light on feedback, what we did get spanned a range of topics and inspired a bit of debate.

As always, this article and our entire site for that matter, are entirely dependent upon you. Have something you would like to say? Let us know on Twitter at @CollegeAD. Need more than 140 characters? Then hit the “Contact AD” button below.

Now let’s dive right in.

Previous experience preferred

Because of the sheer volume that we put out, a lot can be learned from the replies we get to job postings. Honestly, there is no better way to know what the industry needs than to have them tell you, right?

“I wish more law schools offered classes and/or specialization on NCAA compliance. Perfect for many JDs.” – Assistant Managing Editor at SportsBusiness Daily, Austin Karp, @AustinKarp

This isn’t the first time it’s been suggested that a specialization be required to handle or even understand NCAA compliance, and it clearly won’t be the last. But hey, at least you know what you’re getting into with that job. Some others aren’t so clear.

“Or as we call it in one-man SID shops, “other duties as assigned.”” – SID/Director of Marketing at USCB, Justin Jarrett, @justinjarrett

I’ve heard many SIDs referred to as jacks-of-all-trades, which basically translates into jacks-of-everything-that-needs-to-be-done. Guess there’s only one way to gain experience.

Think of it as a reminder

Speaking of experience, the venerable Scott Stricklin makes a solid observation regarding our article titled, “Why Don’t We See More Athletic Directors Helping Recruit?”

“@collegead From my own experience, and from conversations with peers, ADs often meet w/recruits … From all sports.” – Athletic Director at Mississippi State, Scott Stricklin, @stricklinMSU

Maybe that is the answer to our question. The question came about based on a comment made by Brian Kelly about his AD. Otherwise we would have never known about it, just like we and many others didn’t realize this was a regular practice. That is something you should make mention of. It shows involvement at all levels by the AD, and almost serves as a vote of confidence in the coach’s recruiting practices to the fan base.

Call your SID and tell him to take care of that for you.

Therein lies the… solution?

When we asked if National Signing Day had jumped the shark in its production value and promises to recruits, we got a lot of this.

“As long as you selling opportunity, competition, & growth and not fake dreams & lies I can ride with the trend..” – UMass Sports Management MBA Candidate, Brandon Ellis, @BeGreat24

While my first reaction is, “Yeah, but…” I’ve come to the terms that Brandon here is right, but it would be nearly impossible to regulate a coach telling a recruit he could be great one day. In the end, you can put on a great show and promise the world, but for all the stock we put in recruiting methods, it really is a self correcting market. Kids will go wherever the real opportunity lies for them.

So in the end, it really is just what Brandon calls it. A trend.

Make some noise, just not right now please.

As we wrote, there has been some great movement as far as adjusting the rules of the men’s basketball game. There is still work to be done, though.

“Would love to see the ‘bands and amplified music’ rule from wbb added to the men’s game.” – Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing & Promotions at Oregon State University, Sara Elcano, @SaraElcano

This is a rule I think has a place, but needs to be rewritten. Here is the current form. How can you try to temper use of noisemakers by fans without an outright ban? Sure, don’t play music during a live ball situation, but no thunder sticks or vuvuzuelas? Now you’ve crossed a line.