The Colorado High School Activities Association Board of Directors and the Legislative Council showed an impressive willingness to tighten down rules on student-athlete recruitment last week when they adopted critical changes to the rules.
We are impressed that CHSAA members and the organization’s CEO, Mike Krueger, are taking these steps to police their own and calm down the rampant reports of recruitment-led student transfers that The Denver Post’s Kyle Newman chronicled in a report in November. CHSAA’s board and council members stepped up to the challenge last week with several important changes that this board supported in a December editorial.
First, the group voted to add language to the bylaws that clearly states: “a school that is found to be recruiting student-athletes may be subject to penalties as determined by the Commissioner, including possible expulsion from the membership.” This short statement had been a missing part of the bylaws, which instead emphasized the punishment of students who transferred for sports rather than holding the coaches or programs that recruited them accountable.
Second, the bylaws were updated to clearly prohibit school officials, such as coaches and principals within a school district, from meeting or communicating with students who are not already enrolled or eligible for enrollment based on their current address or school attendance.
Both amendments to the bylaws are great steps forward.
We understand that coaches and athletes benefit from early communication about their school’s athletic programs. For example, Denver’s high school coaches run clinics during the summer for middle school students in the city who want to play sports like lacrosse and track and field that don’t have middle school-run teams. While some could claim that is recruiting, what it really does is ensure students who might have an interest in a sport but not have the means to play a club or private league can still be prepared to tryout their freshmen year.
The messy nature of all these interactions is why we also support the push for greater clarification about what coaches, athletic directors and principals can and cannot do.
“I would still love to see stronger language around specific types of contact from coaches,” Brandon Carlucci, the athletic director for Poudre Schools, told The Denver Post. “Can coaches make calls (to non-high school students)? Can coaches send emails? Can coaches meet with families? Can an out-of-area player attend a sport-specific meeting at a school?”
If a coach has an incredible opportunity for a middle-school student to jump onto a club team for a tournament, we want him to be able to make that phone call to the student’s parents without violating recruitment rules.
But if a coach is only offering that opportunity as part of a pressure campaign to get the student to choose his or her high school, then the rule should require the club coach to reach out to the student with the offer.
For now, the rules are clear that a high school coach cannot communicate with students who attend school outside of the district, and we think that is for the best. Protecting student athletes from the pressures, stress and ethical questions that come with recruitment should be the primary goal of these rules and regulations.
Colorado coaches can still get the word out about their programs through open-house events, and power-house teams will still develop at our state’s largest schools with the most resources and best coaches.
But we can put off — for a few more years — the professionalization of sports that a select few Colorado athletes will face during college recruitment.
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