It is guys like Saban and Meyer who make the NCAA do ridiculous ****......

[Goat Holder]

I just found out that because the "Saban Rule" about coaches not being able to visit high schools during spring practice is in place this year, Saban is having assistants go to the high schools and set up video conferencing with him. Not to mention Meyer blatant bending of the rules against Auburn last season with the timeout before the field goal.

Are these guys loop-hole finding geniuses or rule bending ********? I'm not sure, but I know I am very grateful Croom doesn't stoop to those type levels. Or maybe I am mad because he doesn't. Either way, it's very controversial.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

just adding a web cam, which most high school students have anyways these days. I haven't heard about coaches using Yahoo messenger or Google Talk, but I bet some do.

 

[Goat Holder]

depending on how you look at it. It's still face to face contact, just not literally. But it's definitely taking the rule to extremes.</p>

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

that would be face to face contact too. I think the rule says in person visits or something like that.

I'll give Saban credit though, that's pretty genius.

 

[RebelBruiser]

There is a reason those guys have had success in their coaching careers, and it's because they are good at manipulating the rules to their advantage. For those that don't have coaches that find loopholes, it's frustrating, but in reality it just angers you because you wish your coach would stay on the cutting edge.

With technology the way it is, there are loopholes to be exploited and will continue to be. The NCAA is very reactionary, hence you have probably 2-3 years to get away with loopholes before they close them. For instance, text messaging was a huge advantage for those that used it until the NCAA closed the loophole. Those that used it though got a jump on the competition. Guys like Meyer and Saban are always looking for ways to get ahead, which is why they get ahead and stay ahead.

 

[Goat Holder]

it wouldn't take but one steep *** probation to be thrown out and it would teach the lesson.

 

[Todd4State]

And I agree with pretty much everything that you said, but I'll tell you what pisses me off is that if MSU did that, Bama and UF would go running to the NCAA and we would probably lose scholarships and have to stop recruiting whoever.

When Bama and UF do it, they just say "Oh, don't do that anymore."

Maybe an AD with some balls will help at least a llittle bit.</p>

 

[RebelBruiser]

And I agree with pretty much everything that you said, but I'll tell you what pisses me off is that if MSU did that, Bama and UF would go running to the
NCAA and we would probably lose scholarships and have to stop recruiting whoever.

When Bama and UF do it, they just say "Oh, don't do that anymore."

Maybe an AD with some balls will help at least a llittle bit.</p>

</p>

You may be right, but Orgeron sure seemed to play a lot of the loopholes at Ole Miss, especially with academics, and the NCAA seemed to let it go.

I think if you find a true loophole that isn't technically against the rules, there isn't much the NCAA can do about it retroactively. The only thing they can do is make a change to their policies and hit you on it if you don't stop doing it. That's why most schools have compliance offices. That way, when Nick Saban says he wants to consider setting up video conferences, all he has to do is go to his compliance guy, and the compliance guy can figure out if the NCAA would have any grounds to say it wasn't legal.

It's a bunch of lawyer BS, but that's the way it works. It's like when Orgeron had his staff take camcorders on recruiting trips to tape players at practice or tape players playing a pick up game of basketball. He ran it through our compliance department. They couldn't find anything in the NCAA laws that said you couldn't tape players while on a recruiting trip, and so they went about getting personal video of the athletes. It's a little bit on the sketchy side, but the NCAA can't do anything about it.

This is also the reason why a lot of the older coaches get outrecruited. Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden for example have lost some of that edge, and they aren't on top of the technology front. Hence they are losing players they used to be able to get. Same can be said for Steve Spurrier as well. He doesn't have the same fire to go out and work at recruiting the same way Saban, Meyer, Zook, Carroll and others do, so he's lost some ground in that area.

 

[Todd4State]

that last time the NCAA came, they docked us for Kevin Fant twice. Once when the original incident occurred and then once in their report. Yeah, I know that was against the rules, but my point is the NCAA has screwed us so many times with BS rules, we really can't afford to take any chances. We're the perfect school for the NCAA to make an example out of.

Plus, as you said, you have a lot more alumni who are lawyers who can fight the NCAA. We just don't have that.</p>

 

[Goat Holder]

you see we are to Bama what Southern is to us. We have to "keep them in their place" by any means possible EXCEPT on the field.</p>

 

[RebelBruiser]

you see we are to Bama what Southern is to us. We have to "keep them in their place" by any means possible EXCEPT on the field.</p>

</p>

I see your point, and we probably would've seen a lot more allegations thrown our way had he actually started winning. Granted, we were getting plenty thrown our way anyway by a lot of SEC coaches solely because they were still having to compete with him on the recruiting trail and were occasionally losing a player or two that they normally wouldn't lose.

You may be right that the NCAA would find a way to come down on an Ole Miss or MSU if we were to use a lot of loopholes, but I still think that if all you are doing is using loopholes and not ever actually crossing that line, you won't end up in trouble.

The problem comes when you rile up the big boys by beating them or stealing their recruits, and you overstep the line just a touch. They can get away with it, but if we overstep the lines a little bit and tick them off by competing with them, they will get the NCAA to bring us down.

 

[vhdawg]

...that they're loophole-finding ********. Especially Saban.