Yesterday, the NCAA Division I Council changed two major rules surrounding the role of recruitment in college football.
The first saw that college programs are no longer allowed to have satellite camps outside of their range of influence. The second change overturned the ban on electronic communication between coaches and players that was established in 2007.
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This reversal will now allow coaches to have unlimited electronic contact with their recruits—be it text messaging or over some social media platform.
Immediately, the change in regulation was met with backlash, and especially so from one of the best coaches in college football, Urban Meyer.
“Do you really want text messages from 100 universities on your phone when you come out of school? Now you’re going to get them. Some intern is going to be punching text messages on your phone,” Meyer said, of the changing experience for recruits.
Meyer promotes a valid concern for the high school recruits. Since college football is essentially a business, programs will be hard-pressed to access potential recruits as much as possible to sway them towards their school. Meyer added that the NCAA may be welcoming electronic communication, merely because it is difficult to fully enforce the ban.
Even though the NCAA outlawed texting in football, electronic communication has been allowed in basketball since 2012. For the most part, it has been a positive force, allowing coaches and players to become better acquainted with each other before a recruit makes a decision that will impact the rest of their lives.
But, it has also meant more work for coaches, who have to constantly be on alert for a text or call from one of their prospects. Maybe after all, Meyer is dreading the extra workload that will be placed upon his shoulders for recruiting, and the time it will take away from the actual sport.
In the end, the NCAA can not police all communication in today’s day and age, so why not embrace it and let talented kids get to know who they will be spending some of their formative years with?