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Getting the message: Text messaging is the latest craze in college recruiting(Modesto Bee, The (CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jul. 2--Hilmar High graduate Nathan Costa received a wild wake-up call one morning during his junior year. The star quarterback heard his cell phone ring at 4 a.m., alerting him of an incoming text message. It was from then-Boise State assistant football coach Robert Tucker, who made sure Costa knew how much the Broncos wanted him. According to Costa, it read: "We can't sleep, we're so excited about you." "It was weird -- but kind of cool," said Costa, who will play for the University of Oregon this fall. "It lets you know they're thinking about you." Former Modesto Christian basketball star Adrian Oliver didn't have much time to think his junior season -- the height of his recruiting process. The Washington-bound guard said he received between 85 and 100 text messages a day. "Oh my God, they'd text me the whole day," Oliver said. "From 7 a.m. until midnight or so." The NCAA is now looking to put a clamp on the text-messaging craze that has taken over college recruiting since August 2004, when the NCAA defined it as general correspondence -- thus lumping it with letters and e-mails. Armed with the latest recruiting tool, coaches take advantage of the instant access to athletes by text messaging them from airports, gymnasiums, automobiles -- and even from home: "Hows it goin?" ... "Cant wait to see u play" ... "You are on the top of our list." The NCAA's Recruiting Committee on Academics, Eligibility and Compliance proposed legislation on June 16 that would limit coaches to text messaging athletes from 4 to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. The proposal currently sits in a two-month comment period, during which coaches and conferences can suggest changes, before it's written in August and put before the NCAA Management Council for consideration in January 2007. A two-thirds vote is required for adoption; implementation would be immediate. Many coaches believe text messaging is the new way to reach the younger generation, a group that carries cell phones like extensions of their hands. "In recruiting, it is a huge advantage," said Ron Verlin, University of the Pacific associate basketball coach. "You can communicate with kids daily. It's instant, and they get right back to you. "If a program doesn't have it, they're at a disadvantage." Less time, less money It is multitasking at its finest for University of Washington basketball coach Lorenzo Romar. On a Wednesday night in early January, Romar sat in the stands at the San Joaquin Memorial High gym in Fresno. While watching two of his incoming recruits, Oliver and Memorial's Quincy Pondexter, Romar fiddled with his cell phone and sent text messages to other recruits. Romar likes the tool because he feels text messages aren't as threatening as phone calls, where kids often are put on the spot trying to hold a conversation with an adult they've never met. Instead, with a few flicks of his fingers, Romar can build relationships -- or make kids feel special -- by texting, "Hows your family?" or "Good luck at your game." Or, he can get quick answers to practical questions: "Whats your summer bball schedule?" Phone calls are precious. For example, the NCAA limits Division I men's basketball coaches to one call per month during a student's junior year and twice per week starting Aug. 1 before his senior year. But there are no such limits -- yet -- on text messaging, which can begin Sept. 1 of the recruit's junior year. Verlin said the UOP staff sends about 50 text messages a day. Some are sent like mass e-mails that can reach dozens of prospects. "Everyone is always going to try to get an edge within the rules," Romar said. "That's not going to change." Text messaging allows coaches a loophole for the phone call restrictions. Oliver and Costa said more than 50 percent of the messages they received from coaches included the phrase, "Call me." There are no limits on calls from recruits to coaches. "You're not supposed to prompt phone calls, but everyone does," said Verlin, going into his 13th season with the Tigers. "So now, instead of one phone call, you have three or four. It helps you build relationships faster." All three UOP assistants have a cell phone. Through Verizon Wireless, each can send unlimited messages for $15 per month. UOP also uses a software program called Scoutware, a Web-based messaging service that allows the coaches to send text messages and personalized e-mails from their desktop computers. As it says on the company's Web site, www.scoutware.com, "This is about winning the most important game of all: Recruiting." It's also about cost-cutting, as text messages save money typically spent on postage for letters to hundreds of kids. Said Verlin: "It's really streamlined the recruiting process." Big thrills, big bills The messages Oliver receives while in bed, in class and en route to the mall were fun until he received his first bloated cell phone bill. Apparently, a plan for 1,000 texts per month wasn't enough, as Oliver's bill was about $50 more than expected. "My mom was mad," Oliver said, laughing. "We ended up changing it to an unlimited plan." The text messaging trend isn't limited to basketball and football. Former Escalon track star Amanda Moreno and former Oakdale softball star Marissa Drewrey received them. Moreno, however, made a pre-emptive strike by giving her cell phone number to only four coaches. "If I gave it out to more, it would have been a big mistake," she said. None of the eight athletes interviewed by The Bee are in favor of eliminating text messaging. Some feel the tool is less burdensome than a 30-minute phone call, and others enjoy feeling "special." Fresno State football coach Pat Hill feels handwritten notes are more effective. Hill typically pens one a month to recruits and, while on plane trips, asks each member of his coaching staff to write a letter to 10 to 15 prospects. The personal touch "Mine is more of a personal touch," Hill said. "I'm not into texting or e-mailing. A lot of it after a while gets repetitious. I think we've lost that personal touch with the computer age." Some coaches admit being somewhat technologically challenged when it comes to texts. "I try to reply to one, and it takes me a half-hour to type 'I'll call you back,'" said a laughing Keith Larsen, 50, the Cal State Stanislaus men's basketball coach. "It's that younger generation that's used to text messaging. It seems like they even have their own language." Either way, Shane Lyons, an associate commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference and chair of the NCAA subcommittee that made the proposal, believes some tempering of texting is necessary. "It was too intrusive," Lyons said. "We have to do something with it. Let's at least strike a balance here." Bee staff writer Joseph Smith can be reached at 578-2300 or [email protected]. |