NCAA Warns Schools About Recruiting During COVID-19 Stoppage
There's an old saying in college athletics that "if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying," and apparently some coaches are living by that right now.
Two weeks ago the NCAA, along with halting all games ordered its member institutions to stop all official and unofficial visits, contacts, and evaluations, but still permitting phone calls and text messages to potential student-athletes.
NCAA Vice President of Enforcement Jon Duncan shared that some coaches have continued on, despite the directive against such contact.
“We have heard that recruiting is continuing,” Duncan said.
Imagine that, some coaches are still recruiting in ways outside the NCAA mandated guidelines.
Schools that are found to have violated the current dead period will be subject to NCAA penalties, and other coaches are turning in those who are violating the rules.
Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde spoke with Duncan concerning the current situation and wrote of the activities of the NCAA enforcement staff during this unusual and unprecedented time in college athletics.
- “Protecting compliant schools during the dead period.” When informed of potential recruiting violations, Duncan has taken the complaints to the alleged offenders, contacting university leaders to let them know what’s being said about their employees. He said the schools have been generally receptive to the information and willing to take action.
- “Student-athlete academic well-being.” With in-person classes canceled and distance learning in place, the opportunities for academic fraud are plentiful. In a proactive move, the NCAA has sent a two-page reminder letter about academic bylaw parameters to member schools. “Enforcement would rather prevent a violation than process one,” Duncan said.
- Slowing, but not stopping, the processing of a “small number” of remaining major men’s basketball cases related to the federal probe of corruption within the sport. “We will keep the cases moving,” Duncan said, while remaining respectful of the pandemic-related hardships universities are facing.
While there has been no indication as to which schools or coaches have potentially violated the rules, and there is every possibility that some violations happened simply in error and were not intentional, the NCAA will still likely deal with each in a stern manner if proven guilty.
Why would coaches risk penalties during this time?
It's pretty simple actually, any advantage one can obtain in the high dollar world of college coaching is worth the risk to some, unless and until they get caught.
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