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What do you get when you make 233 phone calls to college basketball
prospects? No, not a cell phone overage charge. If you were former
Oklahoma and Indiana men's NCAA basketball coach,Kelvin
Sampson, it would get you a pink slip and a difficult road to
re-employment.
At least those were the consequences until recently, when the
NCAA deregulated the number of phone calls, texts,
and other communications that Division I men's basketball
coaches can make to prospective recruits. The NCAA sounded the
buzzer on the old policies to make it easier for college coaches to
build relationships with prospects, and to curb the influence third parties have in the recruiting
process.
Previously, rule 13.1.3.1.3 of the NCAA's Division I Manual limited the
frequency of phone calls recruiters could make to men's
basketball prospects, and rule 13.4.1.2 proscribed electronically
transmitted correspondence, including texts and instant messages,
to prospective student athletes, other than e-mails and faxes. The
announced change will presumably amend both rules.
According to at least one source at the NCAA, the change reflects a
more relaxed attitude toward phone call violations as the NCAA
instead must "d-up" against more pressing issues. It also
may have been in response to the building number of infractions and
violations by coaches and schools under the previous
rule.
In the case of Coach Sampson, the
allegations included that he had provided false information to
NCAA enforcement staff; but, at their core, they flowed from
improper phone calls placed to potential recruits. Under the new
rules Sampson may not have fouled out. And the new rules may also
have saved
Baylor basketball from the three years' probation it
received for 738 impermissible texts and 528 improper calls.
The NCAA's recent announcement additionally permits
"some contact at a prospect's educational institution
during the junior year." While what constitutes permissible
contact has not yet been detailed, the amendment may provide
men's basketball coaches worried about facing an Urban
Meyer-type predicament a much needed timeout. In May, Meyer, the
current Ohio State and former Florida football coach, self-reported a secondary violation when
visiting recruit Noah Spence at his high school game. Meyer headed
to Spence's coach to wish him well when Spence himself
approached the coach to say, "Hello." Meyer replied,
"Good luck." Those keeping score on whether wishing a
recruit "good luck" before a game will still be
considered a violation in men's college basketball should
probably keep their eyes on rule 13.1.6 of the NCAA's Division
I Manual, which governs contact at specified sites and during the
day(s) of competition.
The NCAA's deregulation announcement also extends to private
messages via social media, but public messages will still receive a
full-court press because of the prohibition against publicizing
recruiting events, which likely keeps intact section 13.4.3,
Advertisements and Promotions. This distinction means that
the comically impermissible tweet by Memphis
basketball coach Josh Pastner, in which he accidentally mentioned a
recruit's name, and a student's improper Facebook page begging John
Wall to attend NC State, both would still likely run afoul of
NCAA rules.
The new policy on recruiting communications still may not be a
complete slam dunk for NCAA Division I men's basketball
coaches, but at least in many cases they will be able to avoid
drawing a charge from aggressive regulators.
* Editor's Note: For those, like me, who are somewhat
text-illiterate, SMH stands for "shaking my head."
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