With only a week until the late signing period for college basketball ends, Wolfpack fans are still making last-minute efforts to convince No. 1 point guard John Wall to sign with N.C. State.
Tyler Groce, a senior in zoology, joined the Facebook group “John Wall PLEASE come to NC STATE!!!” hoping to influence the Word of God player’s college decision. However, upon joining the group, Groce unknowingly committed an NCAA secondary recruiting violation.
According to NCAA regulations created in 2006, “… communication via message boards, chat rooms, walls, comments, blogs, IM, etc. is not permissible.” And, as a student, the NCAA considers Groce a representative of the University.
“That’s kind of stupid and ridiculous,” Groce said. “Most students don’t even know about the regulation.”
In addition to Groce, the 703 other students who joined the group are also guilty of the violation due to the NCAA’s loose definition of representatives of the University, which can include coaches, Athletics staff, boosters, alumni, donors, ticketholders and current students.
School representatives can initiate contact with a recruit a limited number of times, and Facebook messages may undermine these opportunities. Such violations are rarely enforced by the NCAA, but are more often enforced by the host school.
In 2007, Penn State forced students Nathan Hazi and Chris Baradziej to shut down their Facebook group, “Terrelle Pryor, Come be a Nittany Lion!!!” when Penn State’s compliance coordinator became worried about recruiting violations with the 1000-plus member group.
Groce notes that the Facebook groups are merely meant to offer the athlete a unique perspective of the school, not to cause problems with recruiting.
“In case [Wall] saw, he could just see that the fan base was pretty excited and hopeful, really involved and caring about basketball.”
Christopher Pope, a sophomore in physics, has yet to join the John Wall Facebook group, but admits he has attempted to sway Wall to enroll at N.C. State.
When several potential recruits, including both Wall and former potential five-star recruit Derrick Favors, were in attendance at the annual Red & White game in 2008, Pope had a poster with pictures of both Wall and Favors with the words “Wall-Favors ‘08” in large text.
“I was definitely trying to influence their decision at the time,” Pope said. “I was trying to show them a little N.C. State pride so they’ll understand that the fans are some of the best there is and that no player should ever not want to play for us.”
Pope said he had no qualms with the rule, citing the necessity of limiting how far coaches can communicate with recruits.
“The rules are there for a reason. The NCAA is doing what’s best for the sport,” he said. “Obviously the coaches are going to get the players that they want even with the rules in place.”
Brant Ruben, a sophomore in business administration, noticed a link to the group when surfing through a forum on http://northcarolinastate.scout.com/. Ruben said he believes restrictions should be enforced on a case-by-case basis when dealing with recruits.
“Some rules are a little over the top, but any kind of bribes offered to recruits are definitely wrong,” Ruben said. “Just taking them to a basketball game … I’m really against that, but telling them about the school should be permitted.”
Despite all of the controversy surrounding the regulations, Groce said he believes Facebook groups are relatively harmless to the recruiting process.
“I think [John Wall is] actually a member of the group. So I believe he has seen it,” Groce said. “But it definitely won’t make or break his decision. But, it can’t hurt either.”
