NCAA passes revolutionary recruiting rules

Submitted by I Like Burgers on

So the NCAA has passed a bunch of new recruiting bylaws including one that does this:

So starting with the class of 2014, college coaches can call, text and communicate privately by any methods available without restrictions. No more one-call-per-week. No more dead periods. No more ban on text messaging.

Still on the table and awaiting a decision is this potential new rule:

If 13-2 passes in April, prospects in their junior years can expect up to six visits per institution at home and school from coaches during the contact period, just as seniors experience.

This will only make recruiting even more insane and more competitive, because in addition to all of this you can have coaches that are not full-time staff members make calls for you too, and there are no longer limitations on the number of coaches that can be on the road recruiting.

Essentially, recruiting has been deregulated.  So...as a school with a large budget, do you think this good for Michigan?  Or will the "we play nice in the Big Ten" culture hurt us?  We already know the SEC will go nuts with these rules...

jdon

January 19th, 2013 at 6:26 PM ^

but it will hurt the game.

 

I wonder if this isn't all getting out of hand?  Unless they are going to do an early signing day...

turd ferguson

January 19th, 2013 at 9:53 PM ^

Interesting point.  I think the same story applies to complaints that Rodriguez, Meyer, Hoke, etc. are going after other Big Ten school's commitments.  They probably are (or were).  Why?  Because they can.  If Tim Beckman (Illinois' football coach) calls up Shane Morris, something tells me that it won't be as productive as Brady Hoke calling up Reon Dawson.

turd ferguson

January 19th, 2013 at 9:47 PM ^

It can hurt us.  Recruiting is a zero-sum game.  We're harmed by a rule change that benefits other schools more than it benefits Michigan.  Based on some of Hoke's talk about technology, I think this generally reduces our recruiting advantage (or increases our disadvantage), though probably not by much.

BlowGoo

January 20th, 2013 at 5:56 AM ^

It CAN hurt us... But I don't think it will. I think Michigan Football has more resources available to it than almost every other program out there. It is at LEAST comparable.

So as long as Michigan is SMART about it, I think the resource advantage that we enjoy shall give us MORE recruiting advantages. Not less.

In fact, wasn't part of this NCAA regulatory overhaul a philosophic statement basically acknowledging that some programs will simply have more resources available than others and to try and equalize for those advantages is beyond the NCAA's mandate? That basically the NCAA wants everything to be fair ON THE FIELD OF PLAY, but off the field, it is open season?

To me, this sounded like the NCAA saying, "Start your engines," to the recruiting powerhouses. Like Michigan. I think it probably comes secondary to the wide distribution of talent across NCAA football that has allowed for Boise State (and even, gulp, Appalachian State) type success stories, but makes the lack of NCAA basketball sized tournaments controversial in choosing national championships. So as the NCAA Div I precipitates into superconferences, the decision of how much to "compensate" the weaker programs in order to artificially boost their abilities to recruit talent thar would otherwise be out of reach, falls to the superconference managers and NOT the NCAA.

Assuming the B1G leaves things deregulated, such that the Marylands and Rutgers recognize that their perks in joining B1G is strictly limited to a share of the network pie, but not an artificial boost in recruiting imposed by NCAA/ B1G recruiting rules to keep the big boys from using their resource advantage, i see this as good for us.

julesh

January 19th, 2013 at 6:27 PM ^

Does it concern anyone else that not everyone has unlimited texting, and therefore they can be charged a lot for getting 30 texts a day from coaches?

Lucky Socks

January 19th, 2013 at 8:19 PM ^

What is the motive behind this rule change anyways?  Seems like the kids are going to end up hating it.  I can see many committing to schools earlier than they should as a result.  Coaches will probably hate it because they're going to invest so much time into kids that they have a ~10% chance at landing.  SO MUCH TIME.  Baby Borgeses, I hope you liked seeing your Dad.  In 2014 he might as well be Lennay Kekua because you won't see him anymore.  

Zone Left

January 19th, 2013 at 6:29 PM ^

Why can't there also be a "do not call" list, in which a prospect can specify which schools cannot contact him. Update it bi-weekly and make it a major violation penalized by one scholarship loss to continually contact any recruit your school cannot contact.

TIMMMAAY

January 19th, 2013 at 10:28 PM ^

I think this is an excellent idea, the only potential problem being the irrationality of teenagers sometimes. Or helicopter parents ie; the Forcier clan. 

I doubt that any schools or coaches would be in favor of it though, it doesn't serve their interest at all. If the rule kept a coach that a particular recruit hated from calling, so what? If that recruit already didn't like the offending coach, they probably wouldn't listen anyhow.

I still think it would be a net postiive for the recruits and their families though, and would like to see  somthing like this in effect. 

FreddieMercuryHayes

January 19th, 2013 at 6:30 PM ^

God, this is ridiculous.  Now recruiting is just going to be a game of how many times can you call someone.  And not to mention that the burnout from coaching could be much higher.  I suppose a staff could just target less kids, but harder.  It's going to be difficult to keep up with 200 kids.  And does the NCAA care about the recruits at all.  Big time prospects are going to get like 500 texts a day.  Whatever happens, I really hope our staff is ready to "keep up with the Jones".  I would hate to see us fall behind other schools that dedicate themselves to living on the phone with recruits.

FreddieMercuryHayes

January 19th, 2013 at 6:40 PM ^

You're right, it could have a negative effect, and the good coaching staffs will be able to feel that out.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  Maybe it's just my naturally cynical self, but I don't think that's going to happen very much.  How many times do we hear news of recruits changing their favorites because a certain schooling is "showing them the love" more?  I feel like the kids like Poggi who at most tolerate the recruiting process as it is today are few and far between.  We're talking about a bunch of 16-18 year olds who are usually naturally impressionable and getting a ton of attention from huge name coaches.  I just think it's going to turn more into an arms race of contacting kids.  We may also see more early commitments if kids get sick of it, and then subsequent decommitments as other coaching staffs continue to contact kids.  Now staffs are going to have to keep contacting their already committed kids non-stop to keep them committed as well.  I do not envy coaching staffs with this one.  Probably will see more staffs with dedicated recruiting coordinators as well.

I Like Burgers

January 19th, 2013 at 7:28 PM ^

Frequency of contact hasn't slowed down coaches before.  I've heard a couple of stories for the 2013 class where coaches have sent a recruit 100 letters in a day and the recruits haven't been that dissauded.  So now, (and since texts are easier to send than letters) I'd expect recruits to get hundreds of texts and emails a day.  Its nuts.

jdon

January 19th, 2013 at 6:38 PM ^

I'd imagine it works it self out much like we do in the business world;  we can call anyone as many times as we want but usually let a contact go when we are out of it.

I would imagine that some schools will run the risk of being seen as annoying and hopefully this will regulate itself...   Although like I said earlier this all makes sense if they have an early signing day.

jdon

 

FreddieMercuryHayes

January 19th, 2013 at 6:53 PM ^

I'm sure it will find some equilibrium amoung the recruits who do or do not like the attention and the coaching staffs that do and do not give as much attention.  But frankly, the reason I really don't like this rule is because I don't believe it benefits our program like it does others.  I can have a rational discussion on the impact of this rule on the lives of high-school athletes and coaching staffs, but I couldn't give two shits about either if this rule would mean UM would win championships every year. 

If for some reason our staff has been thinking "if we could contact recruits more, we would have the #1 class every year", then I absolutely love this rule.  But I can't help look at the age of our upper level coaches and see the more "old school" additude, and then look to the south at our main rivals' upper level coaches' youth and general additude about recruiting and think this benefits them more.  Maybe (hope) I'm wrong.  Our coaches were very visible around the region when they first started and it was big help in land a great first class.

readyourguard

January 19th, 2013 at 6:35 PM ^

This is absurd. Further proof the NCAA doesn't give two shits about student-athletes. Kids are going to get bombarded with texts, calls, tweets, and emails for 2+ years. That's just too much for 16/17 year old kids.

MaizeNBlueTexan

January 19th, 2013 at 6:38 PM ^

Nick Saban has already found the loop hole in the texting recruits that do not have unlimited texting. He will text them 100 times a day. He will inform the recruit to file a light complaint with the school. Saban will look like a hero by paying the kids fees for going over his texting limit AND, here's the kicker, will pay a 500 dollar penalty for "pain and suffering" caused by his staff overtexting the recruit. 

Saban will save this tactic for the most highly valued of the class. He will have several "new interns" that will that overtext his highly sought after recruits every year. Saban will complain that his new interns didn't have time to learn the extensive new laws and fire them off the team.

He will now be able to literally pay several recruits every year to come to Bama. The NCAA will take 5 years to even determine this as a questionable recruiting tactic, by which time Saban will have 7 National Titles and will be retired from the game.

Tater

January 19th, 2013 at 6:38 PM ^

So now, kids who aren't allowed to take money from boosters because they are "amateurs" are going to have even more demands on their time while they're only in high school.  

National Curmudgeons Abusing Athletes have done it again.

TheGeneral

January 19th, 2013 at 6:50 PM ^

This is shameful. The recruits already commit too early to bring an end to the madness. So the NCAA response to that is to make it worse. I may stop following recruiting because I feel so bad for these kids. It sounds silly to feel bad for someone that will get a free education but sheesh, the NCAA is absurd.

MGoStrength

January 19th, 2013 at 6:55 PM ^

How can we get Kate Upton to be UM's new recruiting coordinator?  What 18 year old guy would say no???

TruBluMich

January 19th, 2013 at 7:03 PM ^

So they basically just made it legal to hire a telemarketing firm to call, text, message them on facebook and Twitter as much as they want.  All of which can be automated to the point where the recruit would have no idea the head coach wasnt the one sending them the message asking them how thier day was and if htey had any questions to call.  I don't know much about other laws, but Im pretty sure the FCC is going to step in eventually, this is going to get out of control.

Baloo_Dance

January 19th, 2013 at 7:09 PM ^

This will also be good for lawyers, because I think you are going to see more than a few restraining orders filed.  

 

This is ridiculous if there isn't an early signing period instituted.  Once again, the NCAA puts the kids last.