Changes to NCAA regulations to provide coaches leeway in recruiting

In January, the NCAA Board of Directors approved a set of rule changes that will have ramifications across all NCAA sports and universities. The rule changes eliminate many of the restrictions schools have in recruiting players, allowing coaches to contact recruits more frequently and in higher numbers. For example, there will be no restriction on how many texts coaches can send or how many coaches can visit high school players.

Before these changes, many — including NCAA president Mark Emmert — argued that the NCAA was trying to enforce so many rules it could not possibly enforce them all. In the end, Emmert argued, these measures simply seemed to be counterintuitive, ineffective and unnecessary.

“Some of our rules are counterintuitive, outdated and just unenforceable. They just don’t make sense in the world we live in,” Emmert said in an NCAA press release. “We are refocusing on the things that really matter, the threats to integrity and the biggest issues facing intercollegiate athletics.”

However, the rule changes have elicited a large and heated response from many sports fans and journalists. Those skeptical of the changes worry that this new NCAA deregulation will increase the gap between schools willing and unwilling to spend a lot of money. Jason Belzer elucidated these concerns in his Forbes Magazine article, “NCAA Rule Changes Open Door For Escalation Of College Athletics Arms Race.”

Schools will now be allowed to hire specific recruiting coordinators whose sole job is to develop recruiting strategies and reach out to athletes. Belzer says that this will give schools with more financial resources a competitive advantage and is sure to widen the gap between the top and bottom in NCAA athletics.

NCAA basketball notably passed its own set of recruiting reforms more than a year ago. These rule changes allow for unlimited texting but are not nearly as far-reaching as the rule changes passed for other sports last month. Men’s basketball head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 indicated that the new basketball rules have been very beneficial in the recruiting process.

“It’s really helpful to text with kids. That’s how they communicate,” he said. “Our rule changes include unlimited phone calls with parents and kids, and that’s really helpful. It’s so helpful in the process of getting to know each other, gathering information. That’s what we’re here for. I think it’s been very good.”

Although Henderson did not have an opinion on the NCAA-wide changes, he said he thought the basketball changes were positive.

“The idea is supposed to be that kids can pick the right school,” Henderson said. “That’s the whole point of getting the information you need.”

Using these new recruiting rules this past year, the men’s basketball team recruited three new freshmen: forward Hans Brase, guard Mike Washington Jr. and center Edo Lawrence. Brase has led the rookie group, becoming a full-time starter on Dec. 20 when the team beat Rider, averaging 7.7 points per game from that point on.

The team has also seen a slight decline in the total number of recruits, with last year’s three being the smallest freshman class the team has had since the 2007-08 season. This appears to be a general trend the team has seen over the past few years, as each freshman class since the 2009-10 group, which had six, has had one fewer player than the year before.