As of Today, NCAA Is Giving Collegiate Boosters the Boot

As of today, it’s against National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rules for USC to ask O.J. Simpson to make a phone call to an athlete the Trojans are recruiting.

The new rule is so sweeping that now it’s illegal for John Wooden to walk the length of Pauley Pavilion to shake hands with a prospect watching a UCLA basketball game.

The idea, when the legislation passed at the annual NCAA convention in San Diego last January, was to eliminate the cheating by boosters by taking them out of the recruiting process altogether.

The new rule says: “All contact in person with a prospective student-athlete . . . for purposes of recruitment shall be made by institutional staff members. Such contact, as well as correspondence and telephone calls, by representatives of an institution’s athletics interests is prohibited.”

Some people think that’s overkill.

But as long as it’s the rule, schools are concerned about getting the word out. Most schools, including USC and UCLA, are alerting anyone who might possibly be categorized as a “booster” by sending out mass mailings.

Letters went out from the offices of USC President James Zumberge and UCLA Chancellor Charles Young, letting season ticket-holders, contributors, faculty--practically everyone--know not only about the new NCAA rule, but about a state law that was signed into effect by the governor last September.

It will come as news to a lot of people that there is a state law against payoffs to student-athletes.

That law prohibits anyone from offering, promising or giving money or any other thing of value to a student-athlete to induce him to attend a school. It’s also a crime to pay an athlete performance bonuses. And it’s a crime for the athlete to take such payoffs.

Common sense would tell boosters that payoffs are a no-no. But how many would guess that they could get their school in trouble with a letter or a phone call offering nothing more than a friendly suggestion? Or simply by approaching a high school star at a ballgame and saying, “You’d like my school because . . . “

No contact means no contact.

USC basketball Coach George Raveling said: “I understand the intent of the rule, but who is better able to tell a recruit what it’s like to attend a school than a graduate?”

Bill Rees, recruiting coordinator for UCLA, made the same point. “I don’t think it is beneficial to a serious student-athlete not to be able to talk to, for example, a lawyer who went to UCLA if that student-athlete wants to study law.

“The people we had used to help us recruit was a small, select group that met with the prospects only on campus on their official visits, and they were always briefed on the NCAA rules. We were accountable for anything they did or said. I don’t understand why that shouldn’t be allowed.”

But Rees said UCLA would not be as widely affected by the rule as some schools.

“We have never, in football, used a large group of alumni to help us recruit, not the way Michigan and Notre Dame do, on a national scale,” Rees said. “They’ll use alums to make calls, even go pick up film. Our biggest problem with it will be that we can’t have people like Mark Harmon, Tom Ramsey, Irv Eatman, Kenny Easley, make contact for us.

“What we felt would be a good alternative rule would be to have a list of people who would be allowed to make contact, only on campus, and the coaching staff would be held accountable for those people. We’d be willing to take that risk.”

Raveling also pointed out that by eliminating everyone other than staff members, a lot more work and responsibility falls back on the staff.

“Coaches are going to have to be a lot more organized and make good use of time,” Raveling said. “We’ll find out who the really good recruiters are, now that they can’t have others do their calling for them.

“I think it will be interesting to see how recruiting changes.”

THE RULE

Bylaw 1-2-b.

All contact in person with a prospective student-athlete or the prospect’s relatives or legal guardian for purposes of recruitment shall be made by institutional staff members. Such contact, as well as correspondence and telephone calls, by representatives of an institution’s athletics interests, is prohibited.