College Coaches Use Webcams To Stay in Touch with Recruits

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 05/14/08

College coaches are turning to webcams as a way to stay in touch with potential recruits to bypass new National Collegiate Athletic Association restrictions that forbid in-person visits to high school campuses during the spring evaluation period, according to a report from AP. Practitioners include the University of Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban, who was at the center of recruiting malfeasance during his time as coach with Michigan State in the mid and late 1990s. Saban was accused of ignoring the new regulations last year in Miami, while a coach for the Dolphins.

According to NCAA regulations, face-to-face video-conference meetings between prospective recruits and coaches falls under the category of telephone calls, which are currently permissible.

The AP article reports that Saban speaks via webcam to four or five recruits a day when he's in his office.

The technology hasn't swept the ranks of coaching yet, though the story says that both Les Miles of Louisiana State University and Phillip Fulmer of the University of Tennessee are proponents of webcam use.