In the not-too-distant future, men’s basketball coaches like Alcorn State’s Luther Riley will have the opportunity to use their lucrative mobile phone data plans to communicate endless with prospective recruits.
The new rule was adopted by the Division I Board of Directors last October after being recommended by its leadership council. The NCAA realized coaches were having a tougher time than ever building relationships with recruits who already know their way around social media and then some.
The collegiate governing body will also allow coaches to send messages to athletes through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in addition to unlimited text messaging and phone calls.
“Anything that would help us recruiting wise, especially small schools is a good thing,” Riley said. “Any advantage we can get…I’m just tickled to death about it. It will never level the playing field, but it is a step in the right direction.”
Alcorn State, like many mid-major basketball programs who don’t have the resources or manpower to compete on the recruiting trail with their power conference brothers, now have the opportunity to build relationships with student-athletes without being subject to potential NCAA violations.
“Every recruit I go after most of them are interested in our school, our program, and what we can do for them,” said Riley. “All I need is a little. I think we have the wherewithal to take that little and make the most of it.”
