re: Message from LSU Compliance regarding Message Boards

quote:

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Please be aware that NO written, telephonic or in-person communication is permitted between a recruit and a booster of an NCAA institution regardless of the medium. Please note that anyone who encourages a recruit to attend LSU is automatically considered a booster. Many believe that they are not a booster because they do not contribute financially to the University. However, NCAA rules specify that any individual who assists in the recruitment of prospects is considered a "booster."

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So if a young athlete asks Mom or Dad for advice, they have to say nothing? That would make them boosters too, after all.

This kind of bureaucratic silliness deserves nothing more than a big fat 400 pound with lots of hair. Some regulations simply deserve to be broken, frequently and with great enthusiasm.

I'm not gonna read all 6 pages of this, but think about what the NCAA and schools like LSU are really saying by posting this "warning" on their message boards. Foremost -- aside from a "booster" lavishing gifts or otherwise, which is obviously the easisest way for everyone to get in trouble with the NCAA, the only other ways for a school to get into hot water with its "boosters" is through a LACK OF INSTITUTIONAL CONTROL. That is the deadly phrase that scares all schools. But when it comes to message boards, there's no way to inhibit the free flow of communication. You can't sanction any individual -- recruit or otherwise -- from exercising their rights of free speech guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. But the NCAA can sanction an athletic program. So how does a school exercise its duties to do what it can to ensure "institutional control" over recruiting activities? It posts a "warning" like the one that is on the first page of this thread. And that's the end of it. LSU has fulfilled its duty. What more can it do? But if a recruit wants to engage in a dialogue with me, you, or even Unknown, no one can prevent that -- not even the NCAA. LSU is on record of doing what it can in exercising all "institutional control" at its disposal -- and so it's off the hook. Bottom line -- no one should get their panties in a wad over this. LSU has crossed its i's and dotted its t's.

...problem is - people put up "fake" names and no way to know really who is who ? I mean - "BigGutTiger" , LSU Fan, from Bunkie, could be some 5-Star recruit with an alias - how the heck would we know ?

Chicken thanks for the post. The rest of this stuff gives me a headache.

quote:

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Please note that anyone who encourages a recruit to attend LSU is automatically considered a booster. Many believe that they are not a booster because they do not contribute financially to the University. However, NCAA rules specify that any individual who assists in the recruitment of prospects is considered a "booster."

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This isn't new to me, but its still the stupidest shite I have ever heard. Keep this in mind when you slam Bama for the Albert Means case. Several of the guys who were implicated in that weren't associated with Alabama in any way, other than being overzealous fans, yet were labeled "boosters" which implied they were alumni or were financial contributors to the University.

I just read Dandy Don's column and he talks about calling Reuben Randle. Isn't that a violation of this "policy"?