The NCAA says' NO"

The NCAA says coaches cannot send this photo to prospective recruits

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A heavily filtered picture of NCAA president Mark Emmert (US Presswire)

Hoping to take another step toward eliminating cheating in college athletics, the NCAA has banned coaches from using something that apparently provides them too great a competitive edge.

Believe it or not, the NCAA has clarified coaches are prohibited from using Instagram to apply a digital filter to a photo before sending it to a prospective recruit. The Bylaw Blog's John Infante uncovered the proof in this education column published by the NCAA:

Question: May a coach take a photo and use software (e.g., Instagram, Photoshop, Camera Awesome, Camera+,) to enhance the content of the photo (e.g., changed color of photo to sepia tones or add content to the photograph), and send it to a prospective student-athlete as an attachment it to an email or direct social media message?

Answer: No, a photograph that has been altered or staged for a recruiting purpose cannot be sent to a prospective student-athlete.

The purpose of the rule is to prevent coaches from altering a photo to put a recruit in his team's uniform, which just by itself seems like an unnecessary rule. What's the harm in a coach handing a kid a picture book with photos doctored to show him sinking the winning basket or celebrating a championship in the jersey of his prospective school?

Where the rule goes from silly to absurd, however, is when it includes Instagram among the banned software. What recruiting advantage could possibly be gained by a coach adding sepia tones or vintage effects to a photo he sends a recruit?

That the NCAA bothers to even worry about trivialities like this at a time when there are so many more serious problems facing college athletics is a sign that its priorities remain out of whack. Instead of ending our long national Instagram nightmare, maybe the NCAA could work on handing out more consistent penalties for programs guilty of major violations or bringing back a later early entry decision date for potential NBA draft prospects.

NCAA officials will often argue they receive too much criticism for what they do wrong and not enough credit for what they do right. Unfortunately with a phone book-esque rulebook chock full of inane rules like this, it's hard to see that changing anytime soon.

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MILTON HIGH SCHOOL'S FORMER HEAD COACH SPEAKS

Milton’s Boyd: ‘All I’m trying to do is help the kids’

Former Milton basketball coach David Boyd was disappointed by the Georgia High School Association’s ruling to ban his former team from competing in postseason play this season.

The GHSA ruled that Boyd used undue influence to attract a number of high-profile transfers to play for him during his prolific five-year career at Milton.

“I’m disappointed that the players who came on their own to participate aren’t going to be allowed to play in the postseason. I’m very sorry about that,” Boyd said Tuesday. “But as far as doing something illegal or unethical, all I’m trying to do is help kids.”

Boyd did not refute the findings from the investigation by Fulton County Schools, which the GHSA used to make its ruling. The investigation revealed Boyd invited players, not enrolled at Milton, to summer workouts, during which he assessed their abilities. Fulton County athletics director Dr. Steven Craft said that is an example of undue influence.

“The GHSA has no jurisdiction over summer workouts, as far as I know,” Boyd said. “Not a single player attended a workout who didn’t want to be there and attend the Milton program.

“If a kid is coming to work out, I’m going to give them an honest assessment of their abilities. If a parent is considering moving because their son wanted to be a part of a program, shouldn’t the parents have the right to know whether or not their child can play here?”

Boyd emphasized that he had at least 20 sets of parents contact him about coming to Milton.

“They all contacted me first,” he said. “All I did was simply respond to their concerns and questions. Guess that was considered undue influence. … I don’t know what you’re supposed to do. If these are the things I’m guilty of, then I know of a lot of schools around that are guilty of the same thing.”

Boyd said he has a couple of job offers, but has no intentions of coaching at another Georgia public school.

“I may look outside the state or at private schools,” he said. “I want to take some time to make a good decision. I feel like it’s been a strange scenario. If I really felt like that there was something going on, promising playing time, money exchanging hands, then that would be different.”

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Coaching Basketball

Congratulations!

As a basketball coach, you have one of the most important and exciting jobs in the world! Think about it.

Teachers would do anything to get the enthusiasm that you get from your players. Kids actually like and want to play basketball.

Your players look up to you. They listen to you. And you have the opportunity to make a POSITIVE impact on their lives.

Bottom line. You have a very important and rewarding job!

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