So much ado over text messages
It looks like this will be my last post for a while (technological updates and such, boring stuff really), so I guess it’s only right that I discuss a college sports issue. Though, I had a lot of fun creating my own mock draft and offering up a new book of the month. But Hat Trick is a college sports blogger at heart, so let’s get back in the swing of it, shall we?
A number of months ago, the NCAA put a ban in effect (beginning for next season) on coaches sending text messages to players they are recruiting. There was a lot of questioning at the time, as the average sports fan wondered why this was even necessary. But upon closer examination, the NCAA’s rationale really isn’t that complicated.
Every traditional recruiting tool - visits to the campus and by coaches, recruiting packages, phone calls, etc. - are all limited. Coaches simply can’t invade a recruit’s life and overwhelm them with…well, crap…for lack of a better term. It is also, hypothetically, supposed to even the playing field, and create competition between schools for recruits.
But prior to this ruling, text messages, a relatively new technology in the context of recruiting, were completely unaccounted for. Coaches could literally text recruits as much as they wanted, and receive as many texts as they wanted. But the NCAA said no more.
So why then am I babbling on about this? Well, today I opened up my new ESPN MVP service on my cell phone (quite possibly the coolest gadget thingy ever created) and one of the top headlines read as follows: “TTYL? NCAA to reconsider text messaging ban.” Hmmm, I wondered; why would they do that?
As it turns out, the ban is going to be put into effect on August 1st regardless. The NCAA will have a board of directors meeting on August 9th to decide the fate of the ban. Many schools objected to a ban on texting, saying they would be OK with a restriction on it (just like all other recruiting tactics), but not with an outright ban. Honestly, I would have to say that I agree with the schools on this one.
How can you ban texting but not phone calls? It sets a bad precedent to treat one recruiting strategy differently than others. My hunch is that the board will either rescind the ban completely, or, more likely, amend it so that texts are allowed, but only to a degree.
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Just a note - the Board of Directors listened to the student-athletes in making their original decision. The Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee recommended the restrictions on text messaging. Their feeling, it seems, was that the practice was intrusive.
Josh Centor
NCAA