The ACC is reviewing football recruiting rules in the expectation that the NCAA is going to tighten its rules. Wisely, the ACC wants to get in and draw some of their own lines before the NCAA steps in. The ACC has always tried to hold higher standards than the NCAA at large.
The flash point story that is driving these reviews is the series of stories coming out of Colorado. Basically, it looks like Colorado has been using sex, or at least the promise of sex, as a selling proposition to high school recruits. Now that there are a number of rape allegations, coaches and administrators are saying that they are shocked, SHOCKED, that this could go on at their school. Please.
Sex has been used to attract recruits for decades. Everyone knows it. Most big time football schools (and all the ACC schools) have “host programs” which are basically groups of attractive coeds who show the players around when they visit campus. Now, I’m sure that the hostesses aren’t told to have sex with the recruits, and I’m sure most don’t, but I’m also sure it happens. The groupie phenomenon isn’t just isolated to pro athletes or rock stars.
If the recruit doesn’t score with his hostess, there’s always the strip club or frat party. Every college wants to be seen as a great party school, especially when trying to convince the All American linebacker to spend four years there. And there’s no better way to impress an 18-year-old male than with women. Hell, even fraternities at my little private university routinely had strippers during rush. If those fraternities can spring for a stripper or two, you know that huge football programs with nearly limitless resources can provide a fun weekend for their prize recruits.
The visits from those recruits don’t just include women and booze. They often involve chartered flights, five star hotels and meals at elite restaurants. For a great view into what happens on an official visit, check these stories by Willie Williams, one of the top high school linebackers in the country (Seriously, read these articles – they are fantastic. I could write a whole piece just on these things). He told the Miami Herald about his visits to Florida State, Auburn, Miami and Florida. Williams then chose Miami just days before the media learned that not only was he arrested on his visit to Florida, but he’d been arrested ten times previously. His offer from Miami still stands.
From Willie Williams’ stories, it’s clear that recruiting trips have gotten out of hand. Private jets to pick up high school students? Dinners of fillet mignon and lobster tails? It’s pretty clear that the schools have lost all sense of perspective with these trips.
If the spending on recruiting weekends seems excessive, consider that that money is only a fraction of what schools have spent and are continuing to spend on new football buildings. Not just buildings. Shrines. Huge, beautiful, gaudy testaments to football excess. Take the new facilities at NC State as an example. They built a $26 million, 103,524 square foot building just for football. Now, does this huge new building, with its expansive weight rooms, locker rooms and training facilities make the team any better? No. Guys can get just as big working out the old weight rooms. Pregame speeches are no more effective there than in some basement dungeon. So, what are these huge buildings for? Recruiting. They are there to impress 18-year-old high school students who visit on a weekend trip.
As Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said, “How do you get better players? First, you have to start with better facilities.” It’s that belief that has led to a football building arms race, with each school trying to keep up with its rivals. This frenzy has led to new complexes popping up each year, including recent improvements at Virginia, UNC and State.
They want that top prep QB to walk into their building and get the feeling that this school is really first class. They want to give off the aura of wealth and success, even if the school has a relatively paltry history (as most ACC schools do). And if the recent recruiting classes at Virginia and NC State are evidence, these buildings work.
Along with these serious issues about football recruiting, the new-found concern about using sex to recruit, the lifestyles of the rich and famous weekends and Taj Mahal facilities, is one more big reason why the ACC may be reviewing policies. The addition of Miami and Virginia Tech to the conference. Both schools are clearly football schools. Other sports barely matter. Their addition doubles the ACC’s contingent of true football schools (joining Florida State and Clemson). Football schools have a justly deserved reputation for being a bit more loose with the rules. Both Miami and Virginia Tech also have a recent (and somewhat long) history of troubles with players. It seems like their players get arrested all the time.
Miami in particular has a long standing reputation as one of the outlaw programs in the NCAA. Things seem better under Larry Coker, but surely the suits in the ACC offices remember the not-too-distant days of drug busts, rappers on the sidelines, camouflage warm-ups and pregame brawls. Any additional rules for Miami to follow, the better.
All in all, it looks like college football recruiting could use a good scrubbing. It’s likely that a round of regulations from the ACC and NCAA won’t fix things just yet, but it’s a step in the right direction.