Social media has dramatically changed the relationship between high school student-athletes and college coaches. Coaches are now able to recruit and follow the day-to-day life of prospective student-athletes from all corners of the globe. It seems as though no big play or outstanding overall performance will go unnoticed in today’s digital world. Countless hours of phone calls, house visits and travel to seek out the cream of the crop from each year’s high school recruiting class is now being supplemented with Twitter mentions, Instagram tags and Facebook posts. As college sports rush to adapt to social media, student-athletes are scrutinized and judged more than ever before.
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Earlier this month, the NCAA announced big changes to the recruiting guidelines that coaches and athletes must follow. College athletic programs are now allowed to be in constant contact with high school recruits wherever and whenever they see fit. College football coaches are capable of reaching out to prospective student-athletes via social media (i.e. Twitter and Instagram) and text message without restriction. As a result, highly touted recruits are now vulnerable to receive countless messages from schools they may have little to no interest being in contact with. This is where social media platforms, most notably Twitter, have become a popular recruiting tool by coaches.
As Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer stated, “If you text someone, you can’t stop that, so you have a phone full of what? Text messages… So here’s a kid in high school being bombarded with text messages sitting there doing this all day. If it’s social media, you can determine who you want to hear from.” Recruits can pick and choose between the countless resources at his or her disposal.
The University of Florida Gator athletic department is the first major program to revolutionize the trend and set the new standard of recruiting via social media. The Gator football program has taken the initiative by hiring its very own social media staff and dedicated its efforts to attract recruits on Twitter. @GatorsFB has already gained 8,000 followers by campaigning with specific hashtags and attractive media. The investment has already paid dividends and has Florida’s 2016 recruiting class ranked 13th on Signing Day compared to 21st in 2015. The results speak for themselves. Auburn’s football program has taken notice and also launched their own social media staff dedicated to the same purpose. Soon, this will become a common recruiting strategy in athletic programs all over the country. So does this mean college coaches will invest less time on social media and focus on face-to-face recruiting? When will programs discover the proper balance?
5 year contract ext for 1 of our 3 Florida TEs in the #NFL, getting paid for the hard work
#GoGators #Swamp17 https://t.co/rQtexx9Lx6
— Gator Recruiting (@_Gators_) May 6, 2016
The issue of coach involvement in social media recruiting was thrust into the spotlight earlier last week. Texas A&M assistant coach, Aaron Moorehead, took to Twitter to express his disapproval of the decommitment of 5-star QB commit, Tate Martell. Moorehead, a former Indianapolis Colt wide receiver released a series of subtweets describing Martell’s actions as “disloyal.” The situation became even worse for the Aggies when another commit, 4- star wideout Mannie Netherly, also announced his decision to decommit from Texas A&M after reading what his future coach had to say.
Moorehead’s critical mishandling of his emotions on Twitter reveals the notion that a coach’s behavior is just as important as that of his recruits. Throughout their high school career, recruits are told, “Be careful what you post on social media. You never know who could see it.” Recruits who practice good social media awareness will attract positive attention from the right coaches. The same can be said for coaches and recruiters. Social media gives power not only to the coach, but it is a tool to assist a recruit in deciding whom to pledge four years of their lives.
— Aaron Moorehead (@Amo8685) May 5, 2016
It is imperative for coaches to use this unfortunate example to internally analyze and make necessary changes to their own social media policy. Coaches may find it beneficial to avoid the risk all together and hire professionals to handle the social media posting. Some coaches may discover their efforts are more effective through other means of communication. Regardless of this week’s events, oen thing can certainly be taken from Texas A&M’s misfortune: social media holds both parties accountable and careless behavior can have critical repercussions when not used properly.