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Texas Rivals guy vs. Texas A&M Rivals guy

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Steak Snabler, Jan 26, 2015.

  1. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    It's a violation of NCAA rules if they're quoted. If you cover any NCAA sport and you don't have off the record conversations with assistants and in some instances, the head coach, you're not doing your job.

    If they are the only source of your information, you're also not doing your job.
     
  2. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    I'm sure some recruiting reporters will disagree with my forthcoming assessment, but I'd argue that, yes, a lot of how coaches uses recruiting sites is more or less a NCAA violation. An it's not really that big of a deal, but the "recruiting guys" as they're called, are more often a go between for coaches and prospects than anything else. The coaches will call the recruiting guys, the recruiting guys will call the kids, they'll call the coach back, they'll talk about what the kid said, etc. For people I know/used to work with on both sides of it -- so beat guys covering the team for papers/TV and recruiting guys -- there's friction, in part because the beat guys feel like they can't develop relationships, especially with young coaches, because of the "what are you going do for me?" angle, while recruiting guys inherently feel like they're not respected for what they do and when they do have a good story -- which is fairly often -- it's pooh-pooed by the traditional media.

    It's a weird job anymore, from what I can tell. You either have to be an "insider" sitting on the coach's lap -- you see events the way "coach" does, including games where the coach fucked up and doesn't want to admit it -- or The Big Critic, purposefully outside the loop. Reporters struggle to play it somewhat straight, because they inevitably hit that wall of "recruiting guys," and have to decide which path to take.
     
  3. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    Why, hello. Nice to meet you pal! ;)
     
  4. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    That's pretty accurate, Alma. I felt like I never got to know anyone on my beat, while there was this alternate universe where the recruiting guys were working the phones with the assistants into the night. Not that I wanted to be BFFs with the guys I covered, but it was strange that there were basically two kinds of relationships existing on the beat: (1) BFF (for symbiotic reasons, of course); (2) Persona non grata.

    Recruiting guys also got a ton of stuff from parents, who they got to know while covering recruiting. I bet 80 percent of their non-recruiting inside info originated with parents.
     
  5. SoloFlyer

    SoloFlyer Well-Known Member

    Parents are great for info after the kid has moved onto campus, but they're also good for initial contact, as are other kids who are being recruited.

    Many of these kids sign up for events hosted by the recruiting sites (I think Rivals does a national tour now or something). Kids go to those events, fill out their relevant info, and it all gets put into a database or passed around to the relevant sites. So they already have their contact info, and when Joe Quarterback tweets out he's going to Big State U's summer camp or taking an unofficial visit, recruiting writer gets in touch. Mommy and Daddy tend to email constant updates, too, for their priceless underlooked stud of the future.

    Where the coaches come in handy is verifying info. Is he a high priority? Does he really have an offer? Some of that is self-explanatory (a kid with 50 offers is probably a high priority for every school who has been in touch) but kids and parents do embellish quite a bit.

    Glad I'm out of it now. It's more nonsense than it's worth. Your BS detector has to be operating non-stop.
     
  6. Truth Hurts

    Truth Hurts New Member

    Wow. So much misinformation about the world of recruiting/team coverage. Coaches giving out info and reporters acting as a go-between? My word. 10 years in the business and I have never seen either. O well. Don't let the facts get in the way of smearing some folks.
     
  7. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Now you have.

    A former University of Florida assistant football coach visited a prospect off-campus before NCAA rules allow for recruiting contact, according to a decision issued by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel. The contact with the prospect resulted in the school receiving a recruiting advantage. In its decision, the panel noted that contacts of this nature exceed the boundaries of permissible recruiting and are a serious issue for the membership.

    The school immediately suspended the former coach and ended recruitment of the prospect. The panel determined the corrective actions and penalties self-imposed by the school were appropriate and assigned no additional penalties or measures.

    Before the former coach talked with the prospect, he was notified by a recruiting service reporter that the prospect would be waiting outside of his high school when they arrived. Once the former coach was at the high school, he spoke with the prospect, let him know the school wanted the prospect to be a part of their football program and got the prospect’s social media contact information.
     
  8. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    This is exactly what I'm talking about. Blatant cheating. The truth hurts doesn't it, Truth Hurts lol
     
  9. Truth Hurts

    Truth Hurts New Member

    Yes it happened once in 10 years. They must all do it. I guess all reporters are plagiarists too because of Jayson Blair.
     
  10. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    You think it's rare that coaches would tell a recruiting writer to call so-and-so because he just committed or some "violation" like that? You must not really be doing that job.
     
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