Social Media and College Recruiting

Ok, I am a huge sports fan in general and like any sports fan, I
have my specific teams that I cheer for as well as the specific teams
that I despise.

Coming from Louisville and in general the state of Kentucky, we do not
have a professional sports team. So, college sports are the big dog.
It's the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville that
rule the state and in my opinion it is the greatest overall rivalry in
college sports, primarily because of the fan bases passionate hatred
for one another and passionate love for their teams.

Years ago very few fans were paying close attention to the recruiting
world and the future of the teams because those resources were just not
out there. Today social media has helped catapult high school athletes in to media outlets across the country. Twitter has been the most popular. Fans have taken it upon themselves more and more to recruit top athletes to their schools. Fans are no longer relying on just the head coach to recruit. Tony Wroten Jr. a high school senior from Seattle Washington is one of the top basketball prospects in the country. He has a Twitter account and currently has over 2,000 followers and the majority of those followers are college basketball fans of the schools Tony is considering. Those fans tweet to him attempting to recruit him to their favorite school. Tony is one of the many student athletes that plays up to the fans and eggs them on by “retweeting” what they say and always has the fans guessing on which school he likes the best.

Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook have pros and cons to them when it comes to dealing with recruiting athletes. Fans could potentially scare recruits off by basically stalking them and saying harsh words to players that do not choose their school. On the other hand it could help them get national exposure by doing things such as posting videos of their games, connecting with scouts etc. Bottom line, the recruiting world is much more involved and technological than before and coaching staffs are no longer the only ones doing the work, whether they like it or not.

Here are some links to Twitter accounts and Facebook accounts of highschool basketball players and a YouTube video of some recent University of Louisville basketball recruits that have gained national exposure they would not have otherwise received if it were not for social media today.

YouTube Quincy Miller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7GC94q1VzM

Tony Wroten’s Twitter page, littered by college fans attempting to persuade his decision: http://twitter.com/ToneTone13

Facebook: This is not a high school recruit, but a college freshman who played at Kentucky and at the time was deciding on returning to college or going pro. Here is how a college fan plays in to his decision in a negative way: http://frathousesports.com/daniel-orton-post-facebook-message-on-twitter/