Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins spoke out Thursday against the NCAA’s decision to uphold a ruling banning coaches from using text messages in their contact with recruits.
The NCAA board of directors decided not to overrule a text- messaging ban it approved in April. Instead, the board sent the ruling back to its membership for another vote at January’s annual NCAA convention. In the meantime, the rule banning text messages, which went into effect Aug. 1, will remain in place.
“If the boss says ‘no,’ it means no,” Hawkins said. When asked if he was upset about the ruling, Hawkins said: “I’m not necessarily surprised. … But the reality is, it’s the same as phone calls. Once you sit down and discuss the rationale, I think it will be a little more feasible.”
Hawkins also pointed to a financial disparity in the text-messaging ban.
“What I don’t like is, you have people with money and they’re all going to get their phone to have e-mail, and that’s legal. So coaches are going to send something to their e-mail on their phone.
“Now the kid who can’t afford to get e-mail off his phone is going to get shortchanged.”
Hawkins, a proponent of text messaging, has likely used that vehicle as much as any coach to keep in contact with recruits.
“I keep saying, it’s like ‘Jurassic Park,’ when the guy says you can’t stop nature,” Hawkins said. “To some degree, you can’t stop technology. To me, if you want to ban text messaging, ban phone calls.”
At least 30 schools must request an appeal in writing to force the committee to reconsider the ban.
It takes a simple majority to overturn the ruling, but the committee took no vote and sent it to the full membership.
There is precedent for overturning board rulings at the convention. It has happened twice since 2006, when the NCAA adopted a new appeals process. But schools also voted four times not to change the rules.
When the ban was approved in April, the board uncharacteristically indicated it was willing to reconsider the issue, possibly next year.
Many football coaches and assistant basketball coaches balked at the original decision.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
