BYU Takes Recruiting to a Whole New Level

[bleedbluegold03]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story/_/id/8667156/brigham-young-cougars-fans-print-6300-t-shirts-recruit-jabari-parker

Sounds like I should start accepting donations and creation ideas for a recruit in the 2015 class

[ValiantSailor]

No doubt the NCAA has a rule...with no way of enforcing....

VS

[unclejohn]

Here is the crazy thing. BYU can give out thousands of t-shirts, but they cannot arrange a religious service for Parker while he is in town.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865567312/Devotional-featuring-Jabari-Parker-and-his-family-has-been-canceled.html

Actually, I have little problem with either one. Parker does not benefit directly from somebody pissing away lots of money on t-shirts. Only an idiot would fail to realize that the Mormons are going to put on a full-court press to sign one of their own, and probably the best Mormon player ever. And in this instance, BYU really does offer something that no other school in the country can match. It reminds me of a situation a few years back where a player Marquette was recruiting was considering a number of prominent basketball schools, and Oral Roberts. Neither BYU or ORU are exactly my cup of sacramental wine, but each one provides a religious atmosphere that other universities would find hard or impossible to match for a recruit who would find that a persuasive selling point.

But it does strike me as ridiculous that schools can provide all kinds of benefits to recruits, have somebody print up thousands of t-shirts, or hire a plane to spell out his name in skywriting and fireworks, but they must take care not to organize a religious service for his benefit. I am no expert on how Mormons go about these things, but it seems that the folks in Provo spend a lot of time with that sort of thing, no doubt while the rest of us are standing in line at Starbucks, and it is no mystery that BYU will be pitching the religious angle pretty hard.

Of course, the NCAA is not likely to crack down too hard on other - ahem! - benefits customarily provided to recruits at many universities, of a variety BYU, Marquette, and many other religiously based institutions would find morally objectionable. But look out for those prayer services!

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

So BYU students and alumni can spend thousands of dollars and all wear shirts encouraging JP to go to their school, but it's a violation if a recruit receives a tweet? Right...

[MUBasketball]

So BYU students and alumni can spend thousands of dollars and all wear shirts encouraging JP to go to their school, but it's a violation if a recruit receives a tweet? Right...

No kidding

[IWB]

Don't know what happened here, I was in Iowa all week with limited access and was sure i responded to this thread and don't see any post from me.

Anyway, no was this is legal. For example - MU hosts recruits at Marquette Madness. If fans hold up signs that read "Johnny Walker come to MU!!", technically, according to the NCAA the MU staff is supposed to identify them and remove them.

Above it someone says, "BYU is printing up shirts"..... I am sure that is wrong, I am sure it is an alum that is doing it because schools can't even print up a uniform for the kid or put his name on a scoreboard during his recruiting visit. (teams used to take them into the empty arena and have their name introduced in the starting lineup)

Now if an alum spends his own cash printing up t-shirts, there is nothing you can do to stop him, but you are supposed to have those removed if they show up at a game, but if there are thousands of them at a game, that would be impossible to enforce.

Either way, with them making this much news, the NCAA and BYU need to 'try' to do something to stop it.

[bleedbluegold03]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:8672038

[IWB]

Wow - don't see anyway, anyhow that can be deemed acceptable by the NCAA. They used campus facilities to shoot the video, and obvious students are involved asking Jabari to come to Provo. Unreal.

Also, is there a line in that song where they say, "We have Sweet 16s and wives by the mile"?