Big Ten football coaches issue joint statement to NCAA in opposition of recruiting deregulation

Here we go again, the Big Ten isn't happy with something to do with recruiting.

After a regularly scheduled meeting of football coaches and athletic directors at the conference's headquarters in Park Ridge, Ill., on Monday, the Big Ten released a statement outlining its "serious concerns" with the NCAA's recent deregulation of recruiting, which now allows for virtually unlimited contact with recruits.?

Furthermore, the conference has asked that three proposals -- which were adopted last year and take effect this summer -- be tabled until they've been further studied.?

These proposals, designed to lessen the compliance burden on universities, would, most notably, allow for unlimited contact between coaches and players via social media and text messaging, as well as remove the limits on marketing materials.

Yet, while the NCAA is attempting to shift its enforcement efforts away from minor offenses -- which are almost impossible to regulate -- and towards major violations, it may have created a few unintended consequences in the process. ?

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At a time when most universities are slashing athletic budgets, those for recruiting will likely soar, with each institution forced to keep up with the Jones by spending considerably more on marketing materials and mailers. ??Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer recently criticized the Big Ten, saying last week that the conference has to step up its recruiting efforts if it wants to compete with the likes of the SEC.?Many SEC schools have built, or are building on-campus recruiting centers, setting off a facilities arms race around college football, with programs dedicating millions to having the biggest and best.?

"It's not only important, it's essential (for the Big Ten to improve its recruiting against the SEC)," he said during last Wednesday's National Signing Day press conference. "We do need to, as a conference, keep pushing that envelope to be better.... When you see 11 of the SEC teams are in the Top 25 in recruiting, that is something that we need to continue to work on and improve."

So how does Meyer intend to "push the envelope," if not how the NCAA has proposed? He didn't say.?

"I?m putting together a personal letter to all the coaches in America that I disagree with most of it," Meyer announced during the same Wednesday press conference. "I would imagine not many people who have recruited wrote those (rules)."

And with the SEC already the nation's premiere recruiting conference, by a considerable margin, it's clear that the Big Ten believes the only way to level the playing field, is to play on the one that currently exists.?

Read the Big Ten's full release here.?

Lyons Yellin can be reached at Lyellin@nola.com or 504.826.3410.?

Source: http://www.nola.com/recruiting/index.ssf/2013/02/big_ten_football_coaches_issue.html

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