Friday, April 20, 2007
“How many pts did u scor last nite?”
“U should com 2 visit my school :)”
Text messages like these have become as much a staple in the recruiting world as scouting reports and the ABCD Camp. But coaches might have to say “TTFN” to their texting ways.
pullquote
The best players are getting 30 to 40 messages a day. It's too much on the kids.
-Kansas soccer coach Mark Francis
The NCAA Management Council voted to restrict coaches from sending text messages to recruits earlier this week. The Council meets with the board of directors April 26 to gain approval. If the rule passes, it will take effect in August.
Some Kansas coaches support the decision, while others aren’t as excited.
Bonnie Henrickson belongs in the latter group. She frequently sends text messages to prospects.
“It’s at an all-time high now,” Henrickson said. “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t text.”
Henrickson would be at a disadvantage if she didn’t. Women’s basketball was the first sport to use it as a recruiting tool. Right now texting is only disallowed on a prospect’s game day. That lack of limitation gives coaches the chance to sell their school when they can’t call or visit in person, actions that are regulated by the NCAA.
Henrickson said she texted to build early relationships with recruits and to get them to call her (athletes can call coaches without violating NCAA rules). The first message she always sends is to ask if the prospect is comfortable with text messaging. She said she only texted if the athlete wanted to and had an unlimited text messaging plan.
“If it’s costing them money, we’re not going to do that,” Henrickson said. “But some people might not be as conscientious of it as we are.”
She’s right. Not all coaches are as responsible with texting as Henrickson. That’s one reason the NCAA wants to do away with text messages. With no rules for texting, there’s nothing to stop a coach from running up an athlete’s phone bill.
“The best players are getting 30 to 40 messages a day,” Kansas soccer coach Mark Francis said. “It’s too much on the kids.”
Francis uses text messages every day like Henrickson, but he still wants to see them get banned.
“I’ve been through it with my own kids,” Francis said. “They’re going over the amount of messages they’re allowed.”
Kansas baseball coach Ritch Price only sends text messages on two occasions: to confirm plans for an official visit and to check a pitching prospect’s throwing schedule. He’s afraid of bombarding recruits with too many texts.
“I think it’s overrated,” Price said. “There’s a point where you can turn kids off by repeatedly doing it. I respect the kids’ freedom.”
Freedom could actually be a problem if the new rule passes. Coaches would still have too much of it when it comes to texting. University compliance departments have no way of regulating text messages that coaches send.
“We are very concerned from a compliance standpoint with how in the world we are going to monitor this,” said Theresa Becker, associate athletics director for compliance. “They basically would be asking us to document something that would be impossible.”
KU’s Compliance Department can monitor phone calls. A computer system organizes each call by coach, prospect and date. But it can’t track text messages.
Coaches would be the only ones who could report their text messaging. Because there’s no way to verify their word, coaches could easily cheat.
“It boils down to people’s integrity and honesty,” Becker said. “You hope they do the right things.”
If the rule does get passed next week, recruiting will change. Coaches would only be able to contact recruits in dead periods by calling them once a week and sending e-mails or faxes. That doesn’t mean coaches won’t be able to keep in close contact with recruits without text messaging.
“It’s just an additional form of communication,” Henrickson said. “It has its purpose, but it’s not the only way.”
Kansan sportswriter Mark Dent can be contacted at mdent@kansan.com.
— Edited by Will McCullough
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