Subscribe to the NCSA BlogThe NCAA Recruiting Violation Race
June 11th, 2009 - byAre secondary NCAA violations a minor problem? They may occur frequently, but they rarely result in a recruiting advantage. If a school turns themselves in, the violation is almost always forgiven. Unfortunately, in the age of the internet it seems that the pace of these once minor violations is picking up drastically to the point where some schools are reaping a significant college recruiting advantage.
ESPN’s Bruce Feldman decide to dive into just why violations are occuring at such a frequent pace.
This issue is part of why the recruiting landscape gets murkier by the day. You have lots of rules, some seemingly ill-conceived rules, and coaches who apparently don’t worry that much about the punishments associated with violating some of these rules, which leads to a very weird mix.
One conference official said the NCAA recruiting rules have not transitioned into the digital age to keep up with new media. I agree that’s part of it, but it’s also due to the fact that the NCAA rulebook is suffocating under its own weight. There is so much minutia that it leaves too much of a gray area, which creates perhaps as many problems as it solves.
One conference official said the NCAA recruiting rules have not transitioned into the digital age to keep up with new media. I agree that’s part of it, but it’s also due to the fact that the NCAA rulebook is suffocating under its own weight. There is so much minutia that it leaves too much of a gray area, which creates perhaps as many problems as it solves.
Feldman even called the NCAA to get a ruling about a media presence during recruing and the answer he was given implied that his best selling book, Meat Market, could be seen as a violation by the school he reported on.
He concludes that things will get trickier and trickier to distinguish and it will be impossible to stop the pace. I totally disagree. Things don’t have to be this way. I will continue to make the argument that the NCAA needs to open up its way-too big rule book and allow schools to clearly interpret the rules. Would this allow a lot more contact with recruits? Would this spark a potential arms race? Absolutely!
But, at least at that point everyone would be competing on the same plane. In my opinion, this is the only direction the NCAA can realistically hope to go if it hopes to actually police enforcement.
