Even though UCLA target Kyle Caldwell was making his decision to
attend Arizona State over Arizona television, within a few seconds,
fans in Southern California knew via an Internet chat room.
Even though safety Dennis Keyes said publicly he wouldn’t
announce his intentions until Jan. 30, his commitment to UCLA was
known almost a week in advance via a post on an Internet message
board.
And while the thirst for recruiting knowledge by the average fan
seems to be ever-growing, the Internet is leading the way toward
quenching that thirst.
“The Internet has changed recruiting in many different
ways,” Tracy Pierson said. Pierson heads the popular Internet
Web site BruinReportOnline.com, which covers all aspects of UCLA
athletics. Subscribers pay $7.95 per month for access to the Web
site’s inside stories, message boards and chat room. Lately,
however, the Web site has been a mecca for recruiting enthusiasts,
particularly as today is signing day.
“For the recruits, they’re privy to so much more
information (about the program),” said Pierson, who said the
BRO subscriber list numbers in the thousands. “For the
coaches, they can look up on the Internet and see what that recruit
thought about the visit. For the fans, it’s given them an
entirely new season in which to root for their team.”
Indeed, the Internet has distinctly stamped its signature on the
recruiting process. The average fan can literally access a
recruit’s 40-yard dash times, his height and weight, who he
has scholarship offers from, when he is visiting and which colleges
he is considering ““ all with the click of a button.
On the other hand, by bringing fans closer, the decision-making
process, difficult for any high-school senior, is suddenly put
under a microscope.
“The kid has more exposure, but there’s also more
pressure to go to a fan’s college,” Long Beach Poly
head coach Raul Lara said. “The kids here at Poly know and
talk about the Internet all the time. College recruiters come in
and talk about the Internet all the time. It’s definitely a
force to be reckoned with.”
Another downside is the message boards and chat rooms, which can
often become downtrodden with trash-talk and lies. To the
high-school recruit, it’s a concern, given the
sometimes-malicious nature of the rumors.
“It’s free speech,” Keyes said. “A lot
of people don’t realize that we’re still teenagers. If
someone wrote, “˜Keyes to Cal,’ I might have gotten my
UCLA scholarship pulled. Many times, those rumors and stories
aren’t correct.”
But Pierson says the accuracy of the Internet is getting better.
Some fans have said that they’re willing to overlook the
occasional inaccuracy because the Web site often gives better
coverage than even local newspapers. The compelling nature of
recruiting comes, in part, from the unpredictable nature of
teenagers.
“You have the coaches, grown men in their 40s and 50s,
falling all over themselves, following the whims of
teenagers,” Pierson said. “What goes into a kid’s
decision is sometimes very compelling. There is one recruit
changing his mind over a school because, when he sent in his
National Letter of Intent, the fax jammed. He thought it was a sign
and switched his commitment.”
New UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell admits that the Internet has
had such an impact that college coaches now have to recognize it as
a force.
“I’ve only been out of the college ranks for three
years, but it’s changed a lot,” Dorrell said.
“You can get a lot of specific information from recruits, and
sometimes it’s truthful, and sometimes it’s not. It can
be damaging at times. But we’re at where we’re at. We
want to turn it into a positive. But it is a tremendous
change.”
Regardless, the Internet is here to stay. The convenience and
access to inside information is luring more and more fans to the
Web sites, and there appears to be no end in sight.
“Recruiting reporting has gotten huge,” Pierson
said. “The Internet is the perfect medium for recruiting
since it’s immediate and there are no space constraints.
It’s a great marriage ““ the Internet and
recruiting.”