Dr. Amanda L. Paule, Bowling Green State University

M. Ryan Flett & Kelly Mattran, Michigan State University

Rule breaking in Division I athletics: Why does it occur?

Breaking the Rules

Jim Aiken, head football coach of the University of Oregon during the 1950’s, was quoted as saying, “If you have to choose between breaking the rules and losing games, wouldn’t it be better to break the rules?”

He followed that statement up with “If you lose your games you’re certain to be fired. If you break the rules, you have to get caught to be fired” (quoted in Davies, 1994, p. 27).

This mentality can still be seen in athletics today.

Division I Athletic Recruitment Process

Constant competition to recruit and sign the best athletes in order to have success on the playing field

Filled with rules and regulations NCAA constructed different recruiting guidelines for

Division I men’s basketball, Division I women’s basketball, Division I football, and Division I other sports

NCAA dictates when and how often coaches can contact athletes, visit athletes, the number of contacts with a recruit, send recruiting materials, etc.

When athletes are allowed to visit campus on official visits

Rules can change year to year

Rule Breaking in Division I

Rule breaking among NCAA Division I coaches has received coverage and discussion in the popular media.

The NCAA rule breaking scandal involving Kelvin Sampson’s recruiting violations at the University of Oklahoma and Indiana University brought this issue to light for many people (NCAA, 2008; O’Toole & Marot, 2006).

Most recently, Jim Calhoun at the University of Connecticut

Ethics and RulesThe importance of recruiting talented athletes

cannot be understated.

Coaches spend countless hours identifying and recruiting athletes and it is necessary to be aware of the NCAA recruiting rules.

Any deviation from the rules set forth by the NCAA can land the institution, the program, and the coach in trouble and sanctions could be given.

The trouble with these rules is that coaches can struggle with following the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law.

Purpose and Research QuestionsThe purpose of this study was to examine the

recruiting practices of NCAA Division I coachesThere has been little empirical research

examining coaches’ motives for bending or breaking the rules

Research QuestionsHow do college coaches describe the context of

the recruiting process?How does the pressure to win impact the

recruitment process?How do ethical issues and dilemmas impact the

recruitment process?

MethodQualitative Methodology

Grounded Theoretical Approach was utilized

25 Semi-Structured Interviews were conducted

Purposive SampleThe coaches were either nationally known

coaches or coaches whose team was highly ranked within their conference

Participants25 Division I head and assistant coaches

The coaches were from 19 universities10 athletic conferences and 12 sports

21 male coaches and 4 female coaches

23 Caucasian and 2 African American coaches

Years of experience ranged from 6 to 34 years as a collegiate coach.

Data Analysis Procedures

Interviews transcribed immediately

Triangulation of the data

Inductive analysis

Formed the main themes

Context of the Recruitment ProcessCompetitionFilled with pressureRecruiting is the lifeblood of the program

Wrestling Coach 1, whose team has been highly successful, did not just enjoy having athletes commit to the school. He loved the competition involved in recruiting. He stated:If it's a kid no one thought you had no chance of

getting and everybody thought he was going one place then you really hit it off with this kid and you get him to come.

Pressure to WinAll 25 of the coaches discussed the pressure that

surrounds them in their job as either a head or assistant Division I coach.

Women’s Basketball Coach 4, a coach of a “mid-major” university, felt that there was a significant amount of pressure to win because he and his staff were responsible for creating a winning program. He stated that:I think there is a considerable amount of pressure

because we built the program. I've been here for X years and we built the program from the bottom up and there is an expectation. We've been very successful and there's an expectation from year to year that we're going to continue to be successful. So, I'd say there is a lot of pressure on us.

Pressure to RecruitMost of the coaches interviewed in this study

chose to speak about the importance of recruiting to the program.

For example, Women’s Basketball Coach 5, a coach of a “mid-major” program, felt that recruiting is the most important part of an athletic program. He stated that:Well, I think that's where successful teams it all

begins. I think that without question good players make good teams and that's where the pressure is. It's hard for college coaches. We realize that it's an arms race out there to get the best players and if you get those players then you have the ability to win championships.

Pressure to Recruit

Gymnastics Coach 1, a coach of a “Big-Time” program, felt that recruiting was a process that had to be dealt with on a daily basis. She said:Something is done basically everyday that

you are in the office. Or should be done if not you are behind. I would say that it is probably, behind actually coaching your gymnast in the gym, it is the most important aspect of the job.

Sources of PressureAdministration

Alumni and boosters

Current players

Fans

The coaches also stated that a great deal of the pressure they felt was the pressure they placed upon themselves.

Source of PressureWomen’s Basketball Coach 1 felt that the pressure on him

was self-imposed and from the fans, media, and so forth. He believed that there is an expectation on his program to win and if the team loses a few games, the chatter about firing him emerges from external sources. He stated:

A lot of coaches would tell you that there is a lot of pressure that comes from within you know from yourself and it’s always been there with me. And you know with this era of chat rooms and radio call in shows and the internet and all of these things these bring more and more external pressure onto a coach and onto the team because there are just more ways for opinions to be thrown out. When a coach loses three or four in a row people there are people saying he or she should be fired or things like that. In actuality, the only people I have to please are my superiors, the people above me, the athletic director number one.

Importance of RecruitingRecruiting quality athletes to the program is

crucial in order to win. Winning is necessary in order to attract new

recruits and to keep one’s job.

Football Coach 1 believed that recruiting is essential to the program and has to be done diligently in order to be successful. He even offered an interesting example to describe the frequency of recruiting. He remarked that: The old saying that a lot of people have up at

schools across the country recruiting is like shaving, if you don't do it every day you will look like a bum. Uh, you do it everyday.

People want you to win but you know you just got to do it the right way.-Men’s Basketball Coach 1

Coaches thoughts on the Recruitment Rules

Volleyball Coach 1, a highly successful coach from a “Big-Time” conference, discussed the rules when he was asked what he thought about the recruitment process. He stated it was:Governed by lots and lots of rules, most of

which I think are good rules. Some of them you roll your eyes and wonder, where did this come from? What's the real point of this? But most of them are good because they are intended to help people not attempt to take advantage of student athletes.

Letter of the Law vs. The Spirit of the LawMen’s Basketball Coach 5 discussed innocent

mistakes that were not meant maliciously but could happen due to miscommunication between coaches concerning things like phone calls to recruits.

He believed something such as one extra call made to a recruit due to a miscommunication should not be treated as rule breaking since it was not done purposefully.

Minor InfractionsPressure to push the limits or break minor rules because

“everyone else is doing it.” Volleyball Coach 2 was one of the coaches who felt pressure

to push the limits of the rules in order to stay competitive with the other coaches she was recruiting against. She commented that:I had this father called me and the one that was a freshmen again

and he goes oh yeah coach, I know you talked to our coach about our daughter blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah well and then we’re getting a bunch of letters…some of them I’ve gotten 3 or 4 letters from and well that's illegal you're only supposed to get one letter. He goes so I'm not even paying attention to the ones who have only written us once, and I go, you do know it's illegal don't you, to get that second, third, fourth letter don't you, they're not supposed to. So basically you're saying that you're going to pay attention to the people who are cheating and you’re not going to pay attention to the people who are not cheating. So now this father thinks that the person who wrote once is not interested in his daughter and he is going to go with the one who writes three or four times because he doesn't know the rules.

Breaking the Rules (on purpose)

While sometimes coaches feel forced into bending the rules of pushing limits, one coach believed that some coaches disregard the rules on purpose. Football Coach 1 believed that:Some of the rules are stupid. And I think a lot of

people think they are stupid and probably just choose not to abide by them. Is that right? No, I mean it’s probably wrong but I think that there are…the NCAA has a book literally that big, you can't know every rule. Now the basic rules, certainly you have the ideas. Are you allowed to talk to a player? No. Are you allowed to have a conversation with them in the school? No. Do most coaches abide by the rule? No, they don't.

Ethics and Recruiting

Volleyball Coach 2 felt that there were ethical issues that needed to be addressed in the recruitment process. She commented:Like I said, the lying and it might be minor

recruiting infractions, but there are so many of them that it is really infuriating because you see people talking to parents across the way there's the thing called previous relationship, and everyone claims to have previous relationships with these people but they don't. And then how are you supposed to go around and track people down and turn them in and when you turn them in and nothing happens to them anyway.

Discussion

The NCAA has rules for a reason. These rules are in place to protect coaches from

taking advantage of the young recruits. Recruitment process is extremely complicated

and constantly changing. Difficult to keep up with changes

There are coaches who circumvent the rules and engage in minor or major infractions.

Most coaches felt that when other coaches broke the rules it was not done maliciously but in order to keep up with all of the other coaches who were perceived to be breaking rules.

Discussion

Coaches who choose to bend or push the limits of the rules have to deal with the potential consequences. Kelvin SampsonJim Calhoun

In essence, each coach must answer the question, is pushing the limits or breaking the rules ethically okay when it comes to recruiting an athlete?

Questions?