New NCAA Rule Regarding Video

Before going into this, I don’t want to scare readers to think that they are not able to send video highlights off to college coaches anymore. This rule is something that pertains to coaches or players that are trying to find ways to make large sums of money during the recruiting process. If you are spending time reading the articles on a site like this, then I can promise you that this rule does not effect you in anyway. Here is the rule and the information behind it:

Purchase of Video from a Prospective Student-Athlete’s Educational Institution; The committee confirmed that it is not permissible for an institution to purchase film or video (e.g., game film that includes prospective student-athletes) from a prospective student-athlete’s educational institution at a cost that exceeds the value of a blank videotape or DVD (or other medium) and the cost of postage to receive the video. [References: Division I Bylaws 13.14.3.1 (published recruiting services), 13.14.3.2 (video services) and 13.15.1 (prohibited expenses)]

What they are saying basically is that some coaches, either high school or junior college, are not doing the correct thing by sending out video highlights to college coaches and paying for the bill themselves. What this is saying is that the school of the high school prospect has been charging more than the cost of a DVD and postage to send the highlights to a college coach.

This shows once again the dark side of recruiting and what the NCAA has to do to stop it. It may not seem like much when first reading the rule but I can guarantee that someone was abusing it. In the past, I had never heard stories about a school selling a highlight DVD for a large sum of money but it does not surprise me.

Say for example that Tom Jones, the top wide receiver recruit in the country, is playing at East High School. This is not the first Division I athlete that East High School has produced so they finally want to make some money off of it. The coaches put together a highlight video of Jones and the team. When the college coaches come knocking for the tape, the coaching staff at the high school will only sell them the tape for $5,000.

If the college coaches don’t buy it, the high school coach will not let any information from that college go through to the prospective athlete. This is an extremely shady way to make money and is illegal by NCAA standards. My guess is that something similar to this happened (Probably with larger sums of money) so this rule had to be put in. Again, I am not sure what level this happened at but the NCAA usually reacts to things that happen.

There are also similar stories out there regarding AAU basketball coaches that charge large amounts of money for a recruiting newsletter. The coaches are not subscribing to the newsletter for the information. They are doing it so the AAU coach does not black ball the school in the recruiting process. It said that a college coach would have to but the newsletter for thousands of dollars per year to be even considered in the recruiting process.

This is definitely the shady side of the recruiting process but it does happen. There may be feel good stories about receiving athletic scholarships during the football recruiting process and basketball recruiting process but there is also an ugly side that many don’t see. But trust me, it does happen.