(as told by Jim Cavanaugh, Tech’s whips and rovers coach who also doubles as the Hokies’ recruiting coordinator)
1. THE NCAA PLACES STRICT LIMITATIONS ON COACHES.
“I don’t think people understand the rules governing phone calls and contact periods versus evaluation periods, things like that. Basically, when you can talk to someone in person and when you can talk to someone on the phone is governed by the NCAA.
“Unless it’s a contact period, when the NCAA allows unlimited calls, you only get one phone call a week. And if something comes up … let’s say something comes up as far as a kid coming to a game and you’ve already used your one phone call for the week. Well, you can’t call that kid back. So that makes it tough.
“Now, you could e-mail the kid, but kids don’t check e-mail. They check Facebook. Now, if you e-mail off Facebook, you’ve got a chance.”
2. FACEBOOK IS BEING USED MORE AND MORE BY COACHES.
“A lot of coaches use the e-mail part of Facebook, but you cannot write on that young man’s wall. That’s not allowed by the NCAA. One head coach in our state made that mistake.
“The NCAA outlawed texting, but when you could text, that helped with logistics. Facebook became popular, I believe, when you couldn’t text. We have staff members who use Facebook as a medium to e-mail recruits.
“Coaches have to adapt in recruiting. We have to adapt to the vehicles kids use. How do they communicate? Cell phones and Facebook.”
3. CELL PHONES AREN’T NECESSARILY A GREAT THING.
“From my point of view, what cell phones have done is eliminate contact with the parents. You used to call the home phone, and when the mom or dad picked it up, you talked to them before they went and got their son. That doesn’t happen anymore. I think that’s a bad thing because I love talking to both. You don’t get a chance to fill the parents in on what’s going on with the recruiting process. Then you could have a more informed parent. But once you’ve talked to the young man on his cell phone, you’ve used your hit for the week. Now, during a contact period, when there are unlimited calls, then you can do both.”
4. THE MOM MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE RECRUITING PROCESS.
“If you asked coaches, the answer you’re going to get in most cases is mom. I think every recruit has someone he’s talking to. He’s telling one person what’s going on. In most cases, that’s the mom, but not 100 percent. I always try to find out who the kid talks to. Now, sometimes, there isn’t a person, but that’s rare.”
5. LOSING RECRUITS HANGS WITH YOU FOR A WHILE.
“Sometimes, it has to do with you knowing a kid has made a decision for the wrong reason. That’s what bothers me. You know a kid is going to a school because of a certain factor that will not exist a year later.
“The one that gets me is when they’ve been guaranteed to play a certain position, and then once the kid signs, they move him. That’s usually the most common, and that bugs me to death. We let the kids know. Chris Hall is a good example. He knew the whole deal. He knew we were recruiting him as a tight end.
“Another thing kids don’t realize is ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ In other words, kids go away to school, and those coaches can mess with you and move you to another position because they may never set foot at your high school again. The in-state coaches are the fairest. I’m held to a higher degree of honor. If I take a kid from the city of Richmond and say he’s going to play a certain position, and if I don’t live up to it, I’m going to hear about it from the people at his high school. Not only is it not fair to the kid, but it makes it harder to get kids from that school in the future.”
