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MySpace and Recruiting

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tibor75 said:
How can it be a violation if an unaffiliated OSU fan leaves messages for a kid telling him what school to go to? Unless the person is offering money or is affiliated with OSU, there is no violation, or is there?

What do these kids expect when they put out their info in a public forum as widespread as myspace. I don't have any sympathy for people who do that and then whine about the unintended bad effects.
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As soon as a fan makes contact with a recruit on behalf of the school, they are seen and considered as a booster. SI recently had an article about basketball players and recruiting violations on Myspace. It explains it alot better in the article, so heres the link.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/luke_winn/07/26/myspace.violations/index.html
 
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tibor75 said:
How can it be a violation if an unaffiliated OSU fan leaves messages for a kid telling him what school to go to? Unless the person is offering money or is affiliated with OSU, there is no violation, or is there?
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When did the NCAA start making sense?

I mean, I agree with you, the argument that OSU (or any school) should be held accountable for the behavior of its fans in cyberspace is wholly absurd. However, the NCAA doesn't think that way.
 
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aurorabuckeye13 said:
As soon as a fan makes contact with a recruit on behalf of the school, they are seen and considered as a booster. SI recently had an article about basketball players and recruiting violations on Myspace. It explains it alot better in the article, so heres the link.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/luke_winn/07/26/myspace.violations/index.html
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Thanks.
But the NCAA rules are correct and they show that this is not misconduct. MYSPACE geeks are not boosters. Boosters are defined by:

• 13.02.13: Representative of Athletics Interests
A "representative of the institution's athletics interests" is an individual, independent agency, corporate entity (e.g., apparel or equipment manufacturer) or other organization who is known (or who should have been known) by a member of the institution's executive or athletics administration to [non-applicable sections omitted]:
(c) Be assisting or to have been requested (by the athletics department staff) to assist in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes;
(e) Have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution's athletics program.

tibor75 is not a booster. I have never assisted the athletic department. I have no contacts in the athletic office. I do not promote their program except by buying tickets.

Now, if I became famous and was found to be frequently on the sidelines at OSU games, then, yes, I could be considered a booster.

But for anybody to think that a random person who leaves a message on a MYSPACE page to a recruit is a booster, that's just stoopid.
 
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tibor75 said:
Thanks.
But the NCAA rules are correct and they show that this is not misconduct. MYSPACE geeks are not boosters. Boosters are defined by:

• 13.02.13: Representative of Athletics Interests
A "representative of the institution's athletics interests" is an individual, independent agency, corporate entity (e.g., apparel or equipment manufacturer) or other organization who is known (or who should have been known) by a member of the institution's executive or athletics administration to [non-applicable sections omitted]:
(c) Be assisting or to have been requested (by the athletics department staff) to assist in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes;
(e) Have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution's athletics program.

tibor75 is not a booster. I have never assisted the athletic department. I have no contacts in the athletic office. I do not promote their program except by buying tickets.

Now, if I became famous and was found to be frequently on the sidelines at OSU games, then, yes, I could be considered a booster.

But for anybody to think that a random person who leaves a message on a MYSPACE page to a recruit is a booster, that's just stoopid.
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Check this paragraph out...

And yet as of now, if the interpretation reached by UK (with counseling from the SEC compliance office) holds, any recruiting-oriented post made by a fan on a prospective player's MySpace page could equate to unacceptable contact by a booster. "A booster doesn't have to be someone who donates money," said Kentucky compliance director Sandy Bell. "As soon as they involve themselves in recruiting, we have to consider them a booster."
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I understand that is one schools interpretation of the law, but since these fans are promoting their school, they are a type of booster because they are promoting their school's athletic program.
 
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RB07OSU said:
Myspace is a site for people of the same age group and interests to become friends on. To go on and stalk the recruit or just sell OSU blatantly would be bad, but to just drop a line or to shoot the breze about recruiting isn't a big deal. I've actually talked to a few recruits on myspace(mostly the local players) and became casual friends with them. They like to hear the fans opinions and see the message boards when you mention them. Plus me being a player it is fun to talk to all the other players and talk football, recruiting, etc. That is quite different from stalking them and selling OSU repeatedly. Now some may do that, I don't know.
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Not sure why you felt the need to defend yourself here....but my comment was not intended for you.

I've seen firsthand how hectic, annoying, and, occasionally, scary this recruiting monster can become. What may seem innocent sometimes is not...especially when it is coming from hundreds of directions.
 
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Buckeyeskickbuttocks said:
When did the NCAA start making sense?

I mean, I agree with you, the argument that OSU (or any school) should be held accountable for the behavior of its fans in cyberspace is wholly absurd. However, the NCAA doesn't think that way.
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The rationale is that this is the only way to curb the problem. The NCAA has no authority over the individual fans. The only deterrent they have is to hurt the one thing the fans care about.
 
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Ncaa is a joke. To put myspace in the booster money category. Whats the difference between a recruiting site asking ?'s to a recruit or someone like me. I talked to chris wells about 10 times before and after he signed with OSU and went to his graduation party. Hows that a violation when are mothers work together. I knew he was a buckeye a long time before he commited and said it on here. Whats that freedom of speech
 
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akronbuck said:
Ncaa is a joke. To put myspace in the booster money category. Whats the difference between a recruiting site asking ?'s to a recruit or someone like me. I talked to chris wells about 10 times before and after he signed with OSU and went to his graduation party. Hows that a violation when are mothers work together. I knew he was a buckeye a long time before he commited and said it on here. Whats that freedom of speech
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Because you had a prior relationship with CW before he became a prospect his Jr. year.

As a coach, I could not accompany my players on official visits unless I pay for my 100% of my trip...no matter the family situation, how close I am with kid, or if I am his main financial supporter.

The booster scare is huge with the NCAA.
 
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methomps said:
The NCAA has decided to do this because they believe this is the only way to curb the problem. The NCAA has no authority over the individual fans. The only deterrent they have is to hurt the one thing the fans care about.
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Yeah, I can see that. It's ridiculous to hold a school accountable for its fans, but I recognize that because of technology and interest in recruiting, etc. the problem is signifigant. Frankly, in my mind, a recruiting violation - at its core - is one where one school leverages something to gain a distinct advantage over the competition. So, if we had coaches on Myspace, for example, I can see a violation. .... Even as I describe what I'm thinking I can see how my poor choice of words renders my thinking full of holes.... anyway.. Fans have no influence (over stated) on a recruit, and generally speaking the playing field across schools fans is level. That is, there is no directive to go out and convince a kid, come hell or highwater, to pick OSU.

I'm really not describing my thoughts well here, so I hope you get the jist of my point. More or less, I'm troubled by the concept that a school could be held responsible for something wholly out of their control. I can see it if a link can be made to a honest to god booster, or worse a coach. That is, a coach says, "Hey, go chat up Recruit X's myspace account!" But, even then, these things cut both ways... I'm sure there has been more than one recruit that has decided, "!@!@ these guys" based on being annoyed with their fans and their fans activities on-line.

Bottom line: The NCAA wants it both ways, this "noble idea" of student athlete v. Money (For the whole of the organization itself, as well as for recruiting services, etc.). These interests do not match in today's world. I'm inclind to drop this romantic idea of the student athlete. I mean really, I just want to see some touchdowns. I don't really give a S--- if Player A is doing well in school. I know that's not a popular opinion, and everyone likes to think their school has something special to be proud of. I'm proud of Ohio State for a lot of reasons, but this concept of Heroic student athletes ... and by that I mean, high grades and high scores in ball games... aren't one of those reasons. Again, when it comes to players, if they're doing great in school, more power to em. But, for me, selfish and as much an A--H--- as it makes me sound, I could give a #^@%. Just get the ball in the endzone.
 
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So I'm not misunderstood, of course I want these kids to excel in the classroom. It's just that, at the end of the day, a touchdown is more important to me. To them, their education should be more important, and of course I wish them well in their endevours. I'm not anti Scholar Athlete.
 
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Buckeyeskickbuttocks said:
Yeah, I can see that. It's ridiculous to hold a school accountable for its fans, but I recognize that because of technology and interest in recruiting, etc. the problem is signifigant. Frankly, in my mind, a recruiting violation - at its core - is one where one school leverages something to gain a distinct advantage over the competition. So, if we had coaches on Myspace, for example, I can see a violation. .... Even as I describe what I'm thinking I can see how my poor choice of words renders my thinking full of holes.... anyway.. Fans have no influence (over stated) on a recruit, and generally speaking the playing field across schools fans is level. That is, there is no directive to go out and convince a kid, come hell or highwater, to pick OSU.

I'm really not describing my thoughts well here, so I hope you get the jist of my point. More or less, I'm troubled by the concept that a school could be held responsible for something wholly out of their control. I can see it if a link can be made to a honest to god booster, or worse a coach. That is, a coach says, "Hey, go chat up Recruit X's myspace account!" But, even then, these things cut both ways... I'm sure there has been more than one recruit that has decided, "Screw these guys" based on being annoyed with their fans and their fans activities on-line.
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I understand your point entirely. I think the best thing for the NCAA to do is to make it a secondary violation with no teeth. Basically use it as a scare tactic. All the fans read in the paper that School X was forced to report recruiting violations for what their fans did on a recruit's message board.

The coaches play along and scare the fans. Everyone complains about how it isn't fair that the school is hurt by something out of its control, but they take note not to participate in such activities. They discourage others from doing it, too.

Then the NCAA quitely makes the penalty something light like requiring the coaches to familiarize themselves with recruiting rules. Basically, the school is never really punished.
 
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You guys are right, the NCAA doesn't always make sense. The problem is, there is no reasonable way to get fans to stop this behavior. Realistically, I think that 99% of the time, stuff like this is gonna slide by. The problem is, there is the potential for fans on the internet to make an organized effort to bombard a recruit with contact - or even worse - for a coach to do it by proxy.

Most of the time there is a stupid rule by the NCAA, the reason it is there is that somebody made such an egregious end run on the rules that a riduculous rule needs to be made to stop common sense violations or to close loopholes.
 
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