Bumping into recruits can be bad for coaches...

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Bumping into recruits can be bad for coaches

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Nick Saban needs to hear this. Every other college football coach should listen up, too.

The profession may think it's no big deal to bump into a prospect and chat for a minute outside of an official contact period.

The fan in the street may believe it's no big deal, either.

There are important people who disagree.

Some of those people are compliance directors and athletics officials at colleges and universities beyond those that compete in the Southeastern Conference and recruit in the South.

Like the rest of us, they heard the stories last month about the new Alabama coach allegedly having improper contacts with three south Florida recruits during the spring evaluation period.

Unlike a lot of us, those suits didn't wonder what all the fuss was about, and they didn't buy the argument that it was a non-story because everybody does it.

The Saban story touched off calls to NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, and it sparked a debate in compliance circles.

The more radical members of the compliance crowd have discussed the need to put more teeth into the existing rule that prohibits anything more than incidental contact with a recruit during a non-contact period.

One idea making the rounds: Prohibit prospects from attending a school that breaks the no-contact rule.

Harsh, but it's one way to help recruits narrow their lists.

Alabama seems to be taking seriously the allegations about Saban and improper contacts. Athletics department spokesman Doug Walker said Tuesday that the school "is in the process of compiling a report for the SEC office, and we plan to submit that report in the very near future."

If Alabama self-reports any secondary violations, it would make the school no different than, say, South Carolina.

The Gamecocks announced Friday that they've reported eight secondary NCAA violations this calendar year in various sports, two of the violations involving improper contacts with football recruits.

But it's the Saban story that's put the issue on the front burner. Some compliance officials are so fired up, they'd like to see the NCAA make an example of someone who violates the rule.

The most infamous bumper in recent times was Rick Neuheisel, whose creative ways to make contact with recruits during non-contact periods helped put Colorado on probation in 2002.

The most outrageous example of that creativity had Neuheisel talking to a recruit on the phone while standing across the street from the recruit's home.

Improper contacts usually are considered secondary violations when they're isolated and inadvertent and they result in no recruiting advantage. When they're not isolated or not inadvertent or they do result in a recruiting advantage, they can be a major pain.

Read these chilling words from the NCAA Infraction Committee's report in the Colorado case:

"The committee takes this opportunity to send an unequivocal message that the custom of `bumping' prospects during non-contact periods is a violation of NCAA rules no matter how widespread the practice, and coaches who continue to do so will be held accountable for their actions."

The NCAA hasn't exactly cracked down on the practice in the last five years, but that may be about to change.

So look out for things that go bump in the night.

Kevin Scarbinsky's column appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Write him at kscarbinsky@bhamnews.com.