To Tweet Or Not To Tweet

[knapplc]

I don't really have a dog in this fight, since I don't tweet recruits (and don't think it's a very good idea). BUT, I don't think the NCAA has set any policy aimed directly at tweeting---have they? It just seems to me there's a big difference between tweeting some recruit, and other (forbidden) types of booster interaction. A tweet seems more akin to yelling out a recruits name as he comes out of the tunnel. It's just a (mostly) anonymous communication. And the likelihood of harm seems minimal. If a particular person bugs a recruit with tweets, they can simply be blocked.

As for the compliance officers, of course they have to give this answer. It's a gray area right now. They can't give the appearance of supporting this. In case the NCAA ever gets their act together and drops the hammer on recruit tweeters.

Carry on.

It isn't a gray area. It's clearly defined. They don't need to use the word "twitter" in the rule to make this black-and-white.

 

[QMany]

And ripped from today's headlines, a player asks for people NOT to tweet him about things that could be NCAA violations. So when we start saying, "They like it," we need to pare that broad brush down a bit. Not all of these guys like it, and not all of these guys are willing to flout NCAA rules.

@AFRO_THUNDER80

Please people, stop tweeting me about things you want me to support. NCAA rules won't allow me to use my status to support things.

I saw this tweet and knew someone was going to try to bring it to this argument, even though it is completely different.

I'm guessing people are asking him over and over to help with charitable organizations, and he's getting tired of it.

Brigette Rech ‏@Brigettey_247@AFRO_THUNDER80 Can I get a RT 4 my mom. Shes a huge huskers fan & had a severe stroke this AM. They r unsure if she can recover from it!

Retweeted by Kenny Bell

Noemi Arias Saldana ‏@Husker_Girl22@AFRO_THUNDER80 Please help our school by retweeting/tweeting the hashtag #LudvikCampaign It's for a great manhttps://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Get-Well-Soon-Bernie- …

Retweeted by Kenny Bell

 

[knapplc]

A conversation about how tweeting players (and recruits) is an NCAA violation is "completely different" from a player saying he doesn't want certain tweets from fans because said tweets would be an NCAA violation?

That makes so much sense.

 

[NUance]

I don't really have a dog in this fight, since I don't tweet recruits (and don't think it's a very good idea). BUT, I don't think the NCAA has set any policy aimed directly at tweeting---have they? It just seems to me there's a big difference between tweeting some recruit, and other (forbidden) types of booster interaction. A tweet seems more akin to yelling out a recruits name as he comes out of the tunnel. It's just a (mostly) anonymous communication. And the likelihood of harm seems minimal. If a particular person bugs a recruit with tweets, they can simply be blocked.

As for the compliance officers, of course they have to give this answer. It's a gray area right now. They can't give the appearance of supporting this. In case the NCAA ever gets their act together and drops the hammer on recruit tweeters.

Carry on.

It isn't a gray area. It's clearly defined. They don't need to use the word "twitter" in the rule to make this black-and-white.

Is yelling a recruit's name as he emerges from the tunnel a violation? Or asking for a recruit's autograph? Because these things happen at every home Husker game. And, unlike tweets, these two examples involve interpersonal communications and not simply remotely sent, somewhat anonymous, messages.

Has the NCAA actually even addressed the issue of tweets? I mean specifically addressed the issue---not in some overbroad rule which may/many not apply.

 

[QMany]

A conversation about how tweeting players (and recruits) is an NCAA violation is "completely different" from a player saying he doesn't want certain tweets from fans because said tweets would be an NCAA violation?

That makes so much sense.

It is completely different than the conversation that we were having.

One, Kenny Bell is not a recruit. Two, they are asking him to support certain organizations.

 

[QMany]

What are the rules on contacting current players via Twitter? What if they are considered a "booster?"

 

[ADS]

I don't really have a dog in this fight, since I don't tweet recruits (and don't think it's a very good idea). BUT, I don't think the NCAA has set any policy aimed directly at tweeting---have they? It just seems to me there's a big difference between tweeting some recruit, and other (forbidden) types of booster interaction. A tweet seems more akin to yelling out a recruits name as he comes out of the tunnel. It's just a (mostly) anonymous communication. And the likelihood of harm seems minimal. If a particular person bugs a recruit with tweets, they can simply be blocked.

As for the compliance officers, of course they have to give this answer. It's a gray area right now. They can't give the appearance of supporting this. In case the NCAA ever gets their act together and drops the hammer on recruit tweeters.

Carry on.

It isn't a gray area. It's clearly defined. They don't need to use the word "twitter" in the rule to make this black-and-white.

Is yelling a recruit's name as he emerges from the tunnel a violation? Or asking for a recruit's autograph? Because these things happen at every home Husker game. And, unlike tweets, these two examples involve interpersonal communications and not simply remotely sent, somewhat anonymous, messages.

Has the NCAA actually even addressed the issue of tweets? I mean specifically addressed the issue---not in some overbroad rule which may/many not apply.

It's not a violation, but I do remember a school showing a recruit during a basketball game and announcing who it was to the crowd and that was a secondary violation.

 

[knapplc]

Is yelling a recruit's name as he emerges from the tunnel a violation? Or asking for a recruit's autograph? Because these things happen at every home Husker game. And, unlike tweets, these two examples involve interpersonal communications and not simply remotely sent, somewhat anonymous, messages.

Has the NCAA actually even addressed the issue of tweets? I mean specifically addressed the issue---not in some overbroad rule which may/many not apply.

Yelling a person's name is not encouraging them to go to your school, hence you would not be defined as a booster, hence you would not be violating rules. Same with autographs.

The NCAA has addressed every kind of contact. In the rule, they call it "contact." They used that word, presumably, because they're not going to get into the business of identifying every single method or mode of contact in the rule.

You can read more about this HERE.

 

[NUance]

Yelling a person's name is not encouraging them to go to your school, hence you would not be defined as a booster, hence you would not be violating rules. Same with autographs.

The NCAA has addressed every kind of contact. In the rule, they call it "contact." They used that word, presumably, because they're not going to get into the business of identifying every single method or mode of contact in the rule.

You can read more about this HERE.

Come on man--is that really your argument? LOL. Weak.

:lol:

 

[knapplc]

No, that's the NCAA's argument.

 

[NUance]

No, that's the NCAA's argument.

I'm glad to hear that. Because I don't think I've ever read one of your posts with such a weak argument---on any topic. I actually agree that tweeting a recruit is a terrible idea, and I don't think fans should do it. That said, I don't think the NCAA has provided any guidelines or rules specific to tweets. The link in your post above is to a compliance officer, right? Not an NCAA source.

I hope the NCAA acts to clarify this issue in the coming year. The problem is only going to get worse.

 

[QMany]

I think the NCAA will either: come out with a rule stating its OK for fans to contact recruits on Twitter or continue not doing anything about it. I hope that it is the former.

First, if schools are really monitoring this and reporting, that is the most biggest waste of time and inefficiency I've heard of in NCAA compliance. Which would be right on par with the rest of the organization.

 

[knapplc]

No, that's the NCAA's argument.

I'm glad to hear that. Because I don't think I've ever read one of your posts with such a weak argument---on any topic. I actually agree that tweeting a recruit is a terrible idea, and I don't think fans should do it. That said, I don't think the NCAA has provided any guidelines or rules specific to tweets. The link in your post above is to a compliance officer, right? Not an NCAA source.

I hope the NCAA acts to clarify this issue in the coming year. The problem is only going to get worse.

Those compliance officers linked to NCAA rulebooks. You should read what they've said.

And the argument isn't weak at all, inasmuchas I'm simply repeating what the NCAA has said. And again, they don't have to define specifically which method or mode of contact you use. Contact is contact whether that's at a party or via twitter.

Why would they have to write a specific rule specifically discussing twitter?

 

[knapplc]

Speaking of those Compliance officers, something I'm a little surprised about is that I didn't get replies from ALL of them. So far, these schools have not responded:

Oklahoma

Ohio State

Florida State

Florida Atlantic

Stanford

Duke

New Mexico State

Illinois

Now, it's possible the person I emailed at these schools is out of the office or AFK for some reason, but as promptly as some of those folks got back to me, I felt like I'd get responses from everyone pretty quickly.

Oklahoma was the first school I emailed, and Illinois the last. Ohio State is probably the most surprising non-responder, considering their recent compliance issues and allegedly greater emphasis on compliance as a result.

 

[QMany]

Why would they have to write a specific rule specifically discussing twitter?

Because there is a difference between tweeting at someone showing excitement about them possibly coming to your school (which happens routinely) and calling a recruit at their home to try to talk them into coming (which should NEVER happen: http://blogs.ajc.com...logs_recruiting).

Twitter is so prevalent and so many recruits are interacting with fans on Twitter, the NCAA should bifurcate the rules. Otherwise, it looks like they don't care about the millions of fan interactions that are happening each day. If they don't fix the rules, school compliance departments are going to spend a crazy amount of time reporting this (or be subject to violations for not reporting). Its not efficient.