Casual recruit meetings could mean trouble for college coaches

Outside Kinnick Stadium hang posters of former Iowa football players who made it big in the NFL after their days in Iowa City. Inside the stadium, many of those players return to support their former team.

This year, former Hawkeyes Shonn Greene and Chad Greenway were honorary Iowa captains the weekends their NFL teams didn't play. They were honored before the game, stood on the sidelines and joined the team postgame in the locker room.

But prospective student-athletes also enjoy postgame locker rooms moments. Even the most innocent of introductions between a recruit and a former player could result in an NCAA violation. For coaches it's a fine line between sharing a program's success stories with a recruit and avoiding an introduction.

“I'm not going to forbid our players from coming in the locker room, our former guys,” Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I'm not going to tell an honorary captain he can't come in. We typically bring recruits in the locker room, too. It's just one of those deals. We try to keep them separate.

“There's reasons they have rules and all that. I guess it could happen. ... You have to make sure they have the code of silence. But you just have to be careful. That's all you can do.”

Iowa's basketball program was hit with a secondary NCAA recruiting violation this week after two potential recruits met briefly with two former players after a Sept. 11 scrimmage, then spoke with two celebrities during their visit.

Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery described the encounter as “innocent.” According to a report sent to the NCAA Oct. 1, Fred Mims, associate athletics director for compliance, wrote that former players Reggie Evans and Dean Oliver introduced themselves to the recruits. Later, when the prospective recruits toured Kinnick Stadium's luxury area at halftime, they ran into actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. The recruits had a picture taken with Moore and Kutcher, and the conversation lasted about four minutes, McCaffery said.

Four days after the encounter, NCAA officials informed Athletics Director Gary Barta that the incident was a potential recruiting violation based on published reports from a recruiting website. Iowa later reported the violation but not until subsequent reports gave the program a public embarrassment.

Fred Mims, associated athletics director for compliance, said the incident can become a teachable moment for Iowa's coaching staff.

“We oftentimes will throw out a caution, a different situation and sometimes it's not taken as seriously as it should be because it's assumed to be something minor,” Mims said. “Hopefully, everyone understands that even the little things can be viewed differently by those who want to view it as something major. We have to be very, very diligent in doing things the correct way, and we'll be better for it.”

Iowa's athletes receive a pamphlet of guidelines when they chaperon potential recruits on official visits. The athletes are given $30 per day for entertainment expenses. Guidelines include avoiding situations that could “jeopardize their safety or would be against NCAA, University or local laws, rules or regulations.”

Other guidelines include a 1 a.m. curfew, staying in the Iowa City-Coralville area, no use of drugs or sex as recruiting devices and avoiding underage drinking.

Junior safety Tyler Sash hosted sophomore quarterback James Vandenberg on his visit to Iowa three years ago.

“I think the coaches do a good job of letting you know what you can and can't do, and they'll put you in a lot of positions where we're with them,” Sash said. “Obviously, they're on top of their game. It's their job to know all the rules of recruiting.”

But sometimes life steps in front of NCAA rules. One of the recruits ran into a third former men's basketball player, Jeff Horner, on the way back to his hotel in September. It was innocuous, yet was still mentioned in the NCAA report.

“The rules preclude us from doing it intentionally,” McCaffery said. “Everybody knows that at various places you might bump into somebody. It might be accidental. You try to make sure it doesn't happen at all. You try to make sure if it does, it's on a limited basis. That's just the way the rules are.

“We all know that it happens a lot more at some places than others ... there is a fine line. What's beneficial and what makes sense and what's against the rules? The bottom line is you have to follow the rules. We can debate them.”

In his report to the NCAA, Mims labeled the problem as the result of “sloppy management” by the basketball staff. But Mims doesn't think the situation is a recurring problem for any Iowa coaches.

“You always worry about inadvertent things occurring,” Mims said. “As long as everybody is aware of the limitations, you've got to trust in people to make the right decision. Especially when we have an official visit, it behooves the sport in question to make sure we don't have inadvertent situations. So they need to pay close attention to what's going on.

“I'm not overly concerned with our coaches doing anything wrong here, it's just a matter of paying closer attention to the detail.”