Athletes warned about social media postings By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff Aug. 15, 2014 1:00 AM In this Aug. 5, 2013, file photo, Duke coach David Cutcliffe chats with players as they stretch during an NCAA college football practice in Durham, North Carolina. A growing number of college coaches, including Cutcliffe, are watching the social media behavior of student athletes. STATE COLLEGE, Pa. College football coaches are paying attention to what high school players are saying on Twitter these days. Some players are even losing out on scholarship offers. Coaches say they drop these recruits for bad online behavior. At St. Paul s Episcopal School in Alabama, football players have a new preseason task: the social media talk. It s about more than minding their manners. Coach Steve Mask warns players not to post about injuries. That can scare away recruiters. Players are also told not to announce on Twitter what college they ll play for. One recent former player posted that he would play for four different schools. He came across as being not reliable, Mask said. He gets a little joy out of the attention, but it s not worth it. 1
Be Careful With Your Comments This season, Mask is taking his players online personalities very seriously. He even assigned an assistant to monitor their accounts. College programs are increasingly using social media accounts to make decisions about a player s character. One wrong comment can cost a scholarship offer. That was the case recently at Penn State University. One of the coaches, Herb Hand, tweeted his frustration about a player. He tweeted that he had dropped another player because of his behavior on social media. College teams want guys with strong character, he tweeted. Hand and other coaches say they can usually tell if a post should worry them. The coach said posting bad things about women or messages about drug use are worrying. So is online bullying. There s certain things you don t want to be part of your program, Hand said. Players And Their Online Manners Hand is not alone in cutting off a player because of the player s use of social media. Duke coach David Cutcliffe said he did the same this year. It s just insane what some of them think is OK, he said. NCAA rules have made it tougher for coaches to contact a high school player in recent years. Coaches cannot text players and there are fewer chances to meet face to face. Social media have helped coaches fill the information gap in recruiting. Bret Bielema is the football coach at Arkansas. Social media are now part of what he looks at with high school players. He puts it up there with grades and test scores. Bielema said he was interested in one player, but the player s Twitter name was something I can t repeat here. I just kind of said, what are we doing here? This is about as obvious as it gets about what kind of thing we re dealing with here, so we backed out altogether. Hand said he tries to educate high school coaches. He also tells players how to avoid social media missteps. A player who does not change his social media activity when you talk to him about it can be a problem, he said. If they re not going to take coaching on this, will they listen to coaching about playing football? 2
Some Things Are Just Not Cool To Say Bruce Rollinson is starting his 26th season as coach of Southern California powerhouse Mater Dei High School. He said he started giving the social media talk to players three years ago. He borrowed some of the dos and don ts the University of Southern California gives its athletes. Some of the don ts are bringing up race, religion and physical conditions, he said. Freshman football player Chris Lammons said he got the message in high school. He cleaned up his Twitter act, even if his friends did not. He said it was part of becoming a man. When you re growing up, you probably want to get a big time job somewhere, he said. They look back at your Twitter account and they see the things you re putting out. 3
Quiz 1. According to the article, which of the following made one player look unreliable? (a) posting about drug use (b) posting about an injury (c) posting about other players (d) posting about playing for four colleges 2. Which of the following coaches expressed his annoyance on a social media site? (a) Steve Mask (b) Herb Hand (c) Bret Bielema (d) David Cutcliffe 3. Select the paragraph from the section Be Careful With Your Comments that describes what coach Steve Mask is doing to check his players social media activities. 4. What changes have been made to the college sports rules? (a) Players can no longer send coaches phone messgaes. (b) Coaches can no longer send players phone messages. (c) Players need to mind their manners on social media. (d) Coaches need to check players activities on social media. 4
Answer Key 1. According to the article, which of the following made one player look unreliable? (a) posting about drug use (b) posting about an injury (c) posting about other players (d) posting about playing for four colleges 2. Which of the following coaches expressed his annoyance on a social media site? (a) Steve Mask (b) Herb Hand (c) Bret Bielema (d) David Cutcliffe 3. Select the paragraph from the section Be Careful With Your Comments that describes what coach Steve Mask is doing to check his players social media activities. 6 This season, Mask is taking his players online personalities very seriously. He even assigned an assistant to monitor their accounts. College programs are increasingly using social media accounts to make decisions about a player s character. One wrong comment can cost a scholarship offer. 4. What changes have been made to the college sports rules? (a) Players can no longer send coaches phone messgaes. (b) Coaches can no longer send players phone messages. (c) Players need to mind their manners on social media. (d) Coaches need to check players activities on social media. 5