Kentucky assistant says fans Twitter interaction with recruits helps recruit HS kids

per CoachingSearch:

Can a fan base impact recruiting?

If you ask Kentucky wide receivers coach Tommy Mainord, he'll tell you that he's seen it happen.

Mainord, who spent the last couple of years at Texas Tech, told Kentucky Wildcats TV, "I knew there was excitement (at UK), but I didn't know the level until I got to the office and felt it. You can't imagine when you're recruiting a kid out of high school and his twitter account jumps a thousand people in 2 hours because the fans found out who he was."

"It is overwhelming to me and it really brings a new excitement that I didn't know we had to myself because I know what it's doing for recruiting. We can only do so much. When they feel the Big Blue Nation out there doing that... I can't tell you how many letters I write, how many phone calls I make, or how hard I work, the fans can pour so much into it that we can't see. It's awesome to see."

http://coachingsearch.com/home/3529...-big-blue-nation-is-affecting-recruiting.html

Go Gophers!!

Twitter may also cause frustration like in the case of @PantherhawkA tweeting and attacking every recruit we have by telling them how cold it is here everyday. I'm sure they block the idiot after about a week of that crap.

Yes, I'm sure that having your fans commit recruiting violations for you does in fact make it easier to recruit. This is some real groundbreaking stuff here.

dpodoll68 said:

Yes, I'm sure that having your fans commit recruiting violations for you does in fact make it easier to recruit. This is some real groundbreaking stuff here.

Click to expand...

Is following someone illegal? I'd have thought only if you post to their feed.

In the case of this fantasy high school recruiting stuff: anything goes... ; 0 )

badgergopher said:

Is following someone illegal? I'd have thought only if you post to their feed.

Click to expand...

Fantasy high school football recruiting becomes a prime example of the blind being led by the promoters...It is what it is and it will be what it will be...The way to combat UK's advantage here would be to create bogus and phantom twitter accounts to literally "blow the minds" of the high school fantasy four and five star recruits... ; 0 )

The concept of attracting "followers" is the success formula that inspired American Idol and some of those other "cute" shows and keeps them going. The "twitter" has become quite a critter and will last until someone realizes that there is a way to even minimize the length of twitter messages probably down to a series of one to five numbers that will communicate everything that people have the patience and attention span to "follow...and care about..." So: UKrecruit@bighead can just twitter 3, 7, 2, 4 and his/her "followers" will really feel as though they are current and up to date with this particular 4 or 5 star high school fantasy recruitment process.

As long as there are followers we know that eventually twitter will be replaced with a still less cumbersome way to draw a crowd... Thank God for smart-phones and mobile communications devices... Recruiting beyond twitter will REALLY be exciting!

; 0 )

imthewalrus said:

Blah, blah, blah...regurgitated wren crap

Click to expand...

And how is your job at the buggy whip manufacturing plant going?

BleedGopher said:

If you ask Kentucky wide receivers coach Tommy Mainord...I can't tell you how many letters I write, how many phone calls I make...

Click to expand...

Uhm...isn't this supposed to be specifically tracked? Aren't there rules on the number of "contacts" you are allowed to make with recruits? I know there has been talk of lifting that restriction, but I was under the impression that it still existed.

Twitter can't be controlled the NCAA would have to punish every major d1 school if it wanted to handout violations. Every school's fan base finds out who their top prospects are and follows these kids and promotes their school and demonizes the competitor. Pantherhawk I am guessing has committed thousands of recuiting violations just by bashing the U on UNI/ Iowa's behalf

dpodoll68 said:

Yes, I'm sure that having your fans commit recruiting violations for you does in fact make it easier to recruit. This is some real groundbreaking stuff here.

Click to expand...

With the social media landscape this violation is virtually unenforcable. Maybe if it was a big time major booster communicating with the recruits over twitter, but the average fan doing this is never going to be looked into by the NCAA.

For an NCAA violation to come out of a twitter post, I assume it would have to be something that could be verified - for example, a fan tweets recruit A that "come to our school and I'll buy you a new car" - and the recruit chooses the school based on that promise.

Someone who knows more about NCAA rules will have to weigh in on the whole improper benefits angle. I know a coach or a booster can't buy a car for a recruit - but I don't know if that extends to a "regular" fan.