When women’s basketball coach Kathy Olivier wants to
contact a prospective recruit, she has a variety of options at her
fingertips.
She can hop on a plane and travel anywhere in the country, pick
up a telephone and dial, or simply type 439 into her cell phone,
which, when translated into letters, reads “Hey.”
It’s the latter form, referred to as text messaging, along
with e-mail and instant messaging that are transforming recruiting
from a semi-formal process into an all-out dogfight for an
athlete’s attention. And it’s taken some getting used
to.
For a majority of Division I coaches who can reminisce about the
days when all it took to lure a recruit was a simple phone call and
a forthright conversation, the newly developed means of
communication have forced them to rethink their strategies.
“It’s not even close to being the same,” said
Olivier, who has been recruiting women’s basketball players
for UCLA since 1985. “The technology is ridiculous
now.”
That’s why, at any given moment, coaches now are just as
likely to be talking to recruits in person as they are to be
feverishly tapping the little buttons on their cell phones or
keyboards.
“You feel like if you’re not doing it, someone else
is, and they’re beating you,” said Olivier of
initiating contact early on. “You don’t want to give a
recruit an excuse about why they didn’t choose you, and
that’s a product of the new technology, totally.”
Under the current NCAA bylaws, coaches are restricted in how
many times they can initiate face-to-face and phone communication
with recruits after they reach their junior year.
However, the NCAA has yet to put the same sanctions on coaches
communicating with recruits via electronic correspondence. Coaches
can start texting, instant messaging, and e-mailing prospective
recruits once they enter 11th grade, and there’s absolutely
no limit on how many times they can do it.
But the fact that there are now more open avenues of
communication puts increasing pressure on coaches to dedicate even
more time to recruits. For coaches whose first passion is to coach,
the time spent on recruiting creates quite the dilemma.
“It seems like (recruiting) is becoming more
time-consuming because there’s more ways to get a hold of
them,” UCLA men’s and women’s water polo coach
Adam Krikorian said.
“I like the old-fashioned way of just making phone calls.
With technology increasing, the load keeps on getting worse and
worse on us, and the NCAA doesn’t seem to be helping
it.”
Because coaches now have a means of contacting prospective
student-athletes more often in the recruiting process, they feel
obligated to show that they’re interested right away. There
is a pervasive fear among coaches that if they’re not at a
recruit’s doorstep from the beginning, it could later come
back to haunt them.
“Everything is happening a lot faster and a lot
sooner,” said women’s volleyball coach Andy
Banachowski, who is in his 38th year at UCLA. “We could write
a kid an e-mail 10 times a day. We have to make sure we keep in
touch with our recruits all the time.”
And while some may disagree with how the NCAA is handling the
situation, coaches will still primarily do whatever it takes to
keep the highly prized recruits coming in, even if it means taking
two minutes to spell out five words over the phone.
“You just have to keep up with the times, or you
won’t be doing anything,” Olivier said. “So
I’d rather be texting than not doing anything.”
But there are still limits as to how far coaches will stray from
their norms.
“I don’t do text messaging,” said Krikorian.
“That’s too much for me.”
The increased affordable access has also caused recruits to
demand more from their coaches than just X’s and
O’s.
Coaches now have to go to greater lengths than ever before to
entice recruits to commit, and as a result they shower them with
attention and end up forming close personal relationships with
them. However, maintaining that type of relationship once the
recruit hits college is not always as easy.
“We’re setting ourselves up,” Olivier said.
“As far as (recruits) expecting that much attention when they
get to college, we’re very honest with them, telling them
that when they get here, we won’t be doing it all the
time.”
Looking back to what recruiting once was, one thing is clear.
Whereas coaches used to win over recruits by simply expressing
interest, the tables have most certainly turned, with the power now
falling into the player’s hands. When a prospect now sends a
text message to a coach, it puts the coach on the defensive to have
to answer right back. Any time wasted is time forever lost. The
ball is no longer in the coaches’ court.
“Coaches must cater to the players a little bit
more,” said sophomore Noelle Quinn, one of the most coveted
women’s basketball recruits in the country two years ago.
“They didn’t even have instant messaging seven years
ago. But now, with the technology, (the players) are getting a lot
more control.”
That shift in control is forcing both sides to adapt to the
changing dynamic of recruiting, even if it means communicating in a
way that was at one time unfathomable.
“I don’t mind texting; it’s an interesting way
to communicate,” Olivier said. “I’m not nearly as
quick as any of the players. But I’m getting
better.”
And with just a little more practice, texting 4663293 (goodbye)
will become second nature.