Auburn Football: NCAA Ruling Hinders Tiger Prowl, Assistant Coaches

In yet another twist by the ruling party in Indianapolis, the NCAA has limited the number of assistant coaches that can visit high schools during the spring evaluation period.  Only two assistant coaches may visit a high school per day. 

It has been reported that this rule stems from the Big East conference as member schools registered complaints about the tactics used in their region of the country. 

The NCAA has come out to say that:

...multiple coaches are appearing at the high schools of the prospective student-athletes just as much to be seen as to actually conduct an evaluation. Many institutions are unnecessarily expending resources in order to have multiple assistant coaches attend these evaluations as a result of the perceived recruiting benefit. By permitting only two football coaches per institution to visit a prospective student-athlete's school on any given evaluation day, it would preclude institutions from sending a large number of assistant coaches to a school just for perception purposes.

The NCAA does mention about the use of limos and "extravagant buses," but does not ban them from use.

With the facts out there, there are a few questions to be asked. 

1.  What does the rule address on perception?

I don't understand the NCAA's logic behind this rule.  Sure you won't be able to witness six assistants crawling out of a stretch limo, but you can still keep the stretch limo?

Isn't the purpose of the limo to cause the perception of the arrival of a school's assistant coaches?

I fail to see what this rule actually does to prevent the perception of the coaches, if that is what the NCAA is trying to do curb with this rule.

2.  What will help control "unnecessary expenditures"?

As stated previously, a school can't have more than two assistants, but you can still have the stretch limo. 

Aren't the coaches on salary?

The stretch limo is still going have similar costs regardless if you have two or twenty assistants on board.

It will be interesting to see when, not if, they will crack down on the limos and buses as well. 

If the school has the money to implement these recruiting ploys, they should be allowed to use them.  As of now, they can still do that. 

3.  Is this actually a benefit to recruiting?

This question will have different answers.  Some of the crimson clad fans from across the state of Alabama will say there isn't one. 

The fans donning orange and blue will say it does have an effect on recruiting. 

The truth is somewhere in the middle.  These evaluation visits do have an effect on some players.  Those players are often the ones that schools will be fighting over. 

It all depends on how the recruit perceives the visits.  Some will be amazed, and some will dismiss the big stretch limo. 

But lets be honest, how many 17-18 year old recruits are not going to be impressed about a big, shiny limo rolling into their school? 

Tying it back to Auburn football, the rule will hamper some of the efforts by head coach Gene Chizik and his staff. 

The rule doesn't exactly knock down what they are currently doing, but the current practice of having more than two assistants visiting a school will have to stop.

There will be some loopholes to be found in order to achieve the goals the coaching staff has set.

The rule is supposed to bring back some meaning to the evaluation period besides showing up in stretch limos.  

Unfortunately for the NCAA, most high school football players will be concerned about which stretch limo will be arriving at their school and not about the coaches looking at their transcripts.

It is just the bait that several schools hope to use to hook blue chip recruits.