Are there ethics in football recruiting or basketball recruiting?

I recently had a chance to speak with a Division I basketball coach about the on going recruiting process.  With a player that he hopes to land with a scholarship in the Class of 2009, the coach would do a lot to land this player.  He even told me one of the wildest and most questionably ethical thing that he recently had seen another coach do during the recruiting process.

As with any field, it is important for coaches to network to be able to get another job in the future.  Many of these coaches become friends and later on down the line help one another out.  And because of those connections, this is where the ethics get blurry.  It all starts with an athlete going on an official visit during the fall.

Because this athlete is very talented, there are multiple schools offering him scholarship offers.  He has some mid major Division I basketball offers but nothing major as of yet.  There are some major programs keeping a close eye on him but they plan to evaluate him into the future as well.

The first mid major school that offered this athlete is bringing him on campus for an official visit this fall.  They are also trying to get an AAU teammate of his who has less scholarship offers and may be more of a mid major player in hoops.  With the familiarity there between the two, they may decide that they love the school and want to both commit there that weekend.

But because the coach I spoke to doesn’t want this to happen, he may throw a wrench into the situation.  This coach may have a friend in the business from a bigger school call the higher rated recruited and tell them that this powerful program is interested in him and that he needs to take his time during the recruiting process.  If the call comes, it could delay the decision of this recruit and put an end to a possible commitment that weekend.

While this may not end up happening, the coach told me that he knows coaches who have done this before.  While I do find it crafty in one way, I also find it extremely unethical in another.  If a school is not interested in a prospect, they should not be calling him or her.  That is plain and simple.

But the call from the major program may push the decision from this athlete until the spring and leave the burden of a college choice hanging over his head because a school is being questionably ethical during the process.  The scary thing is that I am willing to bet this happens in football recruiting and basketball recruiting all of the time.  Coaches want to help out their friends and will do that if they are at a larger school.  Technically, there are no rules being broken.  I however don’t like it one bit.