The NCAA's 5 Most Beyond Ridiculous Recruiting Bylaws

The NCAA is a controlling, overbearing organization intent on taking all the fun out of college sports' recruiting sweepstakes.

Meaningless rules, endless allegations and the following scandals have put a severe damper on today's recruiting landscape. Double standards are held, coaches do not seem clear on the rules and new loopholes are found with each passing year.

This isn't good for college sports, including basketball.

I'm not saying some rules are not necessary. Recruiting anarchy is not the answer either. But some rules, regulations and bylaws just don't make sense.

Let's take a look at the five biggest issues in today's recruiting conundrum.

*The NCAA manual is available for download here. Check it out, and make your own judgment.

Beware of Twitter

Memphis head coach Josh Pastner knows firsthand about Twitter restrictions. Pastner committed a minor NCAA violation by accidentally tweeting the name of 2012 recruit Tony Parker.

The violation broke the law prohibiting coaches from publicly discussing unsigned recruits.

What is the point? Whether unsigned recruits are being publicly discussed or not, they are still being discussed.

Telling coaches they cannot talk about the future of their coveted program, just because a recruit is unsigned, is asinine. Is this bylaw supposed to protect integrity?

I suppose it is supposed to keep coaches from turning an unsigned players recruitment into a public circus, but it doesn't work. Coaches still chase blue-chip talent, and the players know it.

Whether it is happening publicly or not doesn't make much of a difference.

Buying Dinner

Rick Majerus found out about this recruiting bylaw the hard way. As head coach of Utah in 2003, Majerus bought an excessive amount of meals for his players.

In the Los Angeles Times article, Majerus claims the meals were cheap and usually doubled as counseling sessions. He claims he bought Keith Van Horn a meal after the player's father passed away.

That doesn't sound so bad too me. Don't we want our college coaches to mentor these players? If a coach didn't care about his players at all, he would be cast as insensitive and out of touch.

Buying players five-star meals and their groceries every week may be a little over the top, but a few meals should not matter.

It's food. Buying a meal or two for a player is actually helping them. Do you think it's easy to live on a college student's budget, especially without a part-time job?

Trust me, it isn't.

If a coach wants to buy his players a meal, or invite them into his home for a meal, it should be allowed. Disallowing it just doesn't make sense.

Only Coaches Can Call

Bobby Knight is a legendary college basketball coach, but he no longer roams the sidelines. That makes any phone calls he makes to recruits illegal.

Knight found this out first hand. He committed a minor violation by calling two of his son Pat's recruits on the phone.

My problem with this bylaw is portrayed perfectly here. Recruits do their homework about whichever schools they are considering. It's doubtful that these recruits were not already aware of Pat and Bobby's relationship.

I doubt either prospect said, "Oh, I didn't realize Bobby was coach's dad!" Assuming so, and punishing accordingly, is just pointless.

Disallowing popular, renowned alumni from making phone calls makes sense in some cases. But don't you think these high school kids get a certain thrill from it? Of course they do.

The NCAA loves to tell coaches and universities how to handle their business. As far as I'm concerned, unless a player is being offered money, grades, drugs or women, everything is just fine.

No Texting

Baylor knows about this rule first-hand. The Bears basketball team was recently placed on three years probation for exceeding the allowable amount of text messages.

I understand that we don't want coaches and their assistants hounding players all hours of the night. But don't you think the recruit could somehow make the coach stop? No one is forcing these players to continue correspondence.

So, what's the big deal? Coaches can text players within certain parameters, but if you exceed those limitations, your program gets hammered with allegations. Losing scholarships to these allegations can set your program back for years.

The punishment does not fit the crime.

The Ball Is in the Players' Court

I don't have a specific incident to speak of for this one, but the ball is definitely in the players' court. It probably should be, but that doesn't make the rules make sense.

Whether a player initiates the conversation or the coach did, the conversation still happened. If the NCAA is worried about deceitful recruiting tactics, then they still aren't protecting integrity. They would be naive to think the players are not as capable of things like that just as much as coaches.

The NCAA allows players to make collect calls to coaching staffs and to start text message conversations, but a coach is not allowed to do either of these things.

Standard must be set across the board. It leaves no leg to stand on when double standards are utilized to crack down on philandering coaching staffs.

Obviously, these blue-chip prospects should be protected above all else. But these rules aren't really protecting anyone. They simply create a larger hassle for everyone involved and several annoying hour-long ESPN specials about the most current scandalized school.

The end result is all the same. Recruits wind up at a handful of powerhouse schools and things remain status quo. Why create the extra red tape?