NCAA relaxes on recruiting

Sometimes it’s better just to talk things over.

The NCAA announced last week it would allow coaches to have recruiting discussions during summer camps and clinics held on a college campus.

Though the change is still subject to approval by the NCAA’s Board of Directors, its passage would eliminate a rule that is nearly unenforceable and generally ignored.

“It’s probably making something legal that would be one of the most broken rules in college basketball,” said men’s assistant coach Dan Leibovitz, who has never heard of a specific NCAA team being punished for such actions.

“If you have a summer camp, and you have kids on your campus, I don’t know what would have stopped any coach from talking to a kid,” he added.

The rule shift may be seen as a minor correction, but it remains to be seen what some coaches will do with the potentially expanded freedom.

While discussions do not imply any semblance of an official visit, many coaches would relish the opportunity to talk with large numbers of potential recruits without ever leaving campus.

Another possibility is to use the new regulation as a recruiting tool in itself, and increase the number of camps that a school hosts during the summer.

Penn is scheduled to host two open camps this coming summer, a co-ed camp for players ages 7-16, and an all-boys high-school camp.

But given the nature of today’s youth competition, the regulatory change could have little effect on recruiting practices due to the established importance of Amateur Athletic Union competition.

Along with the aforementioned change, the NCAA banned certain people affiliated with recruits from attending summer camps and clinics.

“There’s all kinds of stories out there about ways people take advantage of camps,” Leibovitz said. “Hiring a high school coach and paying him an exorbitant amount of money to be your guest speaker, when really it’s all about just recruiting his kids.”

This change was implemented in an effort to curb third-party influence on recruits.

“High school coaches, legal guardians — anyone that can be tied to a prospect ­­— cannot work at your camp,” Leibovitz added.

With the opportunity to further open the Palestra to local college prospects, Allen and his coaching staff would be remiss if they didn’t take advantage of the hotbed of basketball activity in Philadelphia — a tradition from which both of them emerged in the early 1990s.

“I do think it’s important to mind your own backyard and there’s an awful lot of good talent out there,” Leibovitz said. “The regional component is very important — it’s a great asset to have Jerome and I from this area.”

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