If this wasn’t an innocent mistake by Oregon State, it was really stupid.
Recruiting battles are common in college football.
What’s not common, however, is recruiting players already on a college roster.
But that’s exactly what Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich claims Oregon State is doing. On Friday morning, he tweeted out four photos showing Oregon State sent mail to current Hawaii football players. The mailings are addressed to players at a University of Hawaii building.
My apologies for our players not being able to attend your Spring game. Ours was the same day, bad timing. Quick question, in the 203 years of coaching, none of you realized you couldn’t actively recruit another school’s players? Sent to campus? #leakydam#sloppybeaverspic.twitter.com/2djcmgFbLH
— Nick Rolovich (@NickRolovich) May 4, 2018
“Accidentally”. Thank goodness, I feel so much better. https://t.co/lP72xgolAv
— Nick Rolovich (@NickRolovich) May 4, 2018
This, of course, isn’t allowed. It’s almost certainly tampering under NCAA bylaws.
NCAA Bylaw 13.1.1.3 precludes athletics staff members of member institutions from contacting student-athletes at other four-year institutions without first obtaining written permission from the director of athletics at the institution where the student-athlete is enrolled. Without that permission, institutional staff members are not allowed to encourage the student-athlete to transfer. During the time period that the violations occurred, NCAA Bylaw 13.4.1.2 prohibited institutional staff members from sending text messages to prospective student-athletes.
In his tweet, Rolovich tagged the NCAA, Oregon State compliance, Pac-12 compliance, a few media outlets, and, for some reason, Lavar Ball.
But I do wonder about Oregon State’s intent. There’s a chance this was caused by a miscommunication. Perhaps there is someone new handling mailers, and confusing lists?
In a statement from the school, an OSU spokesperson said:
“Oregon State Athletics and head coach Jonathan Smith became aware of unintentional mailings directed at a University of Hawai’i student-athlete this morning. We are committed to following NCAA rules and are looking into this matter fully.”
It’s all so dumb it almost has to be a mistake. There’s no way Oregon State would intentionally and brazenly send large envelopes with the Beavers logo on it to the University of Hawaii, as opposed to, say, a relative’s house of an off-campus apartment. Right?
SB Nation reached out to Hawaii for comment as well.