Recruiting
NCAA bans text messaging
INDIANAPOLIS — College coaches will have to recruit the old-fashioned way next year.
The NCAA’s board of directors approved a ban Thursday to eliminate all text messages from coaches to recruits beginning in August, then left open the possibility of revisiting that legislation as early as 2008.
"One of the abuses that was described to us were text messages from a coach to a player saying ’Call me,"’ Division I vice president David Berst said on a conference call.
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As a result, coaches will no longer be allowed to send text messages to recruits.
High-school athletes face far fewer restrictions. A recruit, for instance, could still message a college coach although the coach could not respond under the new rule.
The move comes a week after the NCAA’s management council recommended passage of the ban, which also eliminates communications through other electronic means such as video phones, video conferencing and message boards on social networking web sites.
E-mails and faxes would still be permissible and subject to current NCAA guidelines, which include some time periods that prohibit coaches from contacting recruits in any form.
