Social Media Guidelines for Recruiting Season

With January here, football recruiting is going to get really serious really quick. It’s the backbone of any college program. If you fail at recruiting, you are going to fail on the field or court. It’s that plain and simple. Defining what a failure is in recruiting is a little more complex, but we will save that topic for another day.

I’ve said this before, but I will say it again, social media is a double edged sword when it comes to recruiting. We have much more access to recruits, and as a result, can get a solid idea for what recruits are thinking because of social media. It also means that we can do things that we shouldn’t when it comes to social media. There will be a lot of both until signing day gets here. So let’s all keep these things in mind when using social media this recruiting season.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Don’t be stupid
A little harsh? Sure. Is it necessary? Absolutely. People do a lot of dumb things when they get on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or whatever social media account you might prefer. It can normally be avoided by simply reading whatever you are about to post once or twice before hitting send or enter. People don’t do that so a lot of vile trash can be seen on these sites, and it is often directed towards recruits that have spurned their favorite school. That’s stupid. Don’t do it.

Change your opinion when a recruit changes his mind
People do it all the time, but it still drives me nuts. 4 or 5 star recruit commits to a school. Biggest fan in the world of that school thinks new recruit will lead them to a national championship. 4 or 5 star recruit decommits. Biggest fan in the world of that school now thinks that the highly coveted recruit was overrated. It’s silly every time it happens, but it happens all the time.

Don’t tweet happy thoughts to recruits
Do you really think telling a recruit that they are the best thing since sliced bread will convince them to come to your school? Do you really think random fan is going to have that much sway over an 18 year old kid? If you do, let’s talk about some ocean front property in Arizona that I have for sale.

Don’t tweet hateful crap to recruits
The recruit you were hoping would come to your school decided not to. So it makes perfect sense for a grown man or woman to run that 18 year old kid into the ground? Yeah, I didn’t think so. If you think that is a perfectly acceptable thing to do, it’s time to find something else to occupy your time besides college football.

Just don’t tweet at recruits
It’s just easier this way. It actually is a recruiting violation to do it, so there’s one reason. Other than, it’s creepy. You are sending messages to 17 and 18 year old kids that you don’t personally know. If you don’t find that creepy, I really won’t mind if you stop reading my stuff. Seriously, I will find a way to survive without you.

Remember the coaches can’t talk about any of this
When something strange happens this recruiting season, and there doesn’t seem to be a good explanation for it, please remember that the coaches can’t talk about any of this publicly. Once the recruits sign Letters of Intent, then they can talk about the process, but not until then. Hold your anger back until the coaches can talk about what happened.

Try to think about what you were like at 17 and 18
People get huffy when a player decommits from their school and get mad when it happens. Lots of things get said about what the meaning of the word commitment is. It is frustrating, but they are young. They can change their minds for really strange reasons. It has happened in the past and it will happen again.

Those are some good words to live by over the next 5 weeks or so. Thanks in advance to the 10 or 11 of you that will actually implement them.