Clarification on contacting recruits
Last week there was a thread regarding contacting recruits. In essence it stated that anyone who contacted a recruit became a booster. It also suggested that anyone who spoke to a recruit and suggested that recruit should attend a specific school would be in violation of NCAA bylaws.
After reading the actual bylaw I disagreed with this interpretation of the OP and tried to describe why, but many disagreed with my interpretation (which is fine, that is what debates are all about). Since I still had questions as to how someone like myself could be considered a "booster" (a person who isn't an alumni, isn't a season ticket holder, has never been on campus, never donated money, and don't belong to any "booster associations) I contacted UM compliance in regard to my question.
I can't copy and paste the emails on my phone so I will give you the highlights of what she (Elizabeth Heinrich, Assistant Athletic Director of Compliance at UM) said: First I will be clear that my question was how could a person who has no affiliation with a university other than being a fan be considered a "person of athletic interest" which is what they call boosters. Her response was someone fitting that description would not be committing a violation by simply talking to a recruit and passing the idea that said recruit should attend a specific university. She continued by stating that a person fitting my description above would only be found to be committing a violation if they offered something in exchange for their commitment (money etc), but simply saying they should attend a university is not a violation.
To be clear, this only covers a person fitting my description above. If you are a season ticket holder, student, alumni, etc you may fit the definition of "booster" as set out in the NCAA bylaws. I also want to be clear that I think anyone (short of people who actually know a recruit or work in the industry like TVH) who contacts these recruits is taking far too much interest in recruiting and is likely doing far more harm than good.
I posted this so that people who may have been left with uncertainties after reading the previous thread (like myself) could have a more definitive answer as to whether a person with no affiliation to a university would be committing a violation by contacting a recruit and offering them nothing more than advise as to where to attend university. A societal violation, yes...an NCAA violation, no. Hope that clears it up.
It also clarifies that people who are simply fans of a University who may attend the odd game here and there but are not alumni or make donations to the University are not considered boosters by the NCAA.
that rug really tied the room together, did it not?
paragraph break failure in 4...3...2...
Edit: Ha, I was already too late.
Get the App.
Yeah, when they did the Droid App I thought everyone was pretty much covered, but I didn't think of that. If it makes you feel any better, I think the disappearing paragraphs thing is pretty standard for a mobile browser on here. The App doesn't let you mark what board the post is on, so it doesn't appear on the board page unless you then log into the browser and drag down.
<br>
<br>But you can do paragraphs, with big spaces.
Tl;dr
Someone never learned to use the enter key! You're lack of enter key much similar to Great Panda's lack of failure *in Asian accent*!
<br>-Chet
this is the best part:
"anyone (short of people who actually know a recruit or work in the industry like TVH) who contacts these recruits is taking far too much interest in recruiting and is likely doing far more harm than good."
Well put...our staff doesn't appear to need much help.
He'd probably be like:
Well I offered Kiel my solid gold, 200 foot yacht because he's a family friend stretching back four days. This might get him to comitt, unlike the fakeass Wolverine RJS.
-Chet
The "entice, then kidnap if necessary" strategy?
Don't.
If Hoke wanted your help he'd ask. Secondly it's creepy and wrong. Finally the NCAA rules are byzantine and odds are you'll fuck something up. At which point the rest of us show up and celebrate the sanctions by razing your house.
And can do a lot of harm.
<br>
<br>Even in the above scenario, does anyone (other than Chet) really believe some stranger saying "Go to Michigan, they're cool" is going to make a player go to Michigan? Get a life.
did you hear about the recruits who say "wow" when Chet contacts them? Are you sure he hasn't been driving our recruiting success??
Anyone who has gone to field level during pregame can attest to the fact that there are always fans calling for high-profile recruits to "Go Blue!" Are those instances violations? Of course not. That is part of the recruit's experience, and something they should remember forever. There is no way in the world that can be stopped, nor should it be. But according to the memo referenced by the OP, those would technically be violations.
That said, anything more than that (i.e. facebook/twitter contact, phone calls, e-mails, personal conversations) is just not a good idea. It's not only creepy, but also borderline harassment. You said it best, CRex, creepy and wrong.
EDIT: For clarification, it is not my style to yell at recruits during pregame, I was simply using that as an example of what I have seen and know goes on at nearly every D1 football game.
If anyone knows how byzantine the rules can get, it's CRex....where you have to get screwed by your mechanic just to fix a recruit's car....
Thanks for the info.
<br>
<br>(I know that MGoEtiquette dictates that I make some sort of snide comment to you at this point or be a dick to you in some way, but you really don't deserve that just for passing along information.)
Hey! This is the Internet, you'll get snide remarks irregardless of whether or not you are correct.
<br>-Chet
And you will also get people who say "irregardless."
If you run into a recruit in Nova Scotia, can you take him lobster fishing? (Or on a tour of the shrine in Cole Harbor)
You know Sydn
Sydney Crosby's birthplace. I threw that in to troll some wings fans.
"Tell recruits not to accept phone calls from that guy." (Points at creepy MGoUser)
who profess to love the manly toughness of MANBALL and POINTING, but when it comes to reading one single long paragraph without a line break by a long-time MGoBlogger, they fall to their knees weeping in ocular exhaustion, as though they've never had to read a book from the Grad Library that isn't primarily pictures with 24-pt type. Jesus.
Mah head feels like it's gonna be all explodey and stuff though!
<br>-Chet
The Ncaa considers you a season ticket holder, even if you've only bought one ticket, I believe
.....that paragraph that went on for ages.....
I don't get it. What's the fascination with wanting to contact 17 or 18 year old kids? Wanting to follow them on twitter and give them advice? Is your name Ted Sarniak?
Agree with above post: if Coach Hoke or staff wanted your help they would ask for it. They seem to be alright for themselves.