Recruiting intensifies because of websites

On Feb. 7, when most high school football stars signed a Division I national letter of internet, more than 70 million people logged onto Rivals.com.

It was a single-day record for the website, which covers all levels of sports but focuses on football and basketball recruiting.

Thousands of people subscribe to networks such as Rivals.com and Scout.com, which have team-specific websites that cater to fans of each school or professional team. Most have a tandem print publication that comes out weekly or monthly. Fees are about $10 per month.

Despite their popularity, they are increasingly coming under attack by coaches and administrators who argue they heap too much attention on young, impressionable student-athletes.

Bobby Burton, editor-in-chief for Rivals.com, recently sat on a panel sponsored by the Knight Foundation on Intercollegiate Athletics that examined outside influences on recruiting. He defended his business as no different from any other media outlet.

“All we’ve done is bring to light something that’s been going on forever,” he said.

Recruiting coverage took off in the early 1990s, after a book called “The Courting of Marcus Dupree.” A Mississippi high school legend, Dupree had offers from every big-name program and eventually settled on Oklahoma.

But Dupree’s college career was a bust and his professional career short-lived.

“The thing that’s perhaps more intriguing today is it’s been more focus on players than the teams, and their wants for the players,” Burton said.

That’s why recruiting sites have developed exhaustive databases that include photographs, video clips, frequent stories and updated measurables on thousands of prospects -- even those who won’t graduate for two or three more years.

Rivals.com has its own radio network on Sirius satellite radio, and an online system allows subscribers to watch streaming video content. Fox Media Interactive acquired Scout.com in 2005.

Each company has a team of several hundred writers, although only a few are designated to call recruits. And despite websites that cater to specific programs, they also adhere to a code of ethics that prohibits employees from lobbying for their team.

“Most major media use our rankings,” said Patrick Crumb, senior vice president of Fox Media Interactive. “Even in this last signing day, [Florida Coach] Urban Meyer was quotes in a newspaper article saying he spent his whole day on Scout.com tracking where everyone is going.”

Not every coach fancies what Rivals.com and Scout.com are doing.

Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt takes particular exception to the subjective rankings of prospects and recruiting classes that the websites roll out regularly.

“You have to wait three to four years to see what kind of class you’ve got,” Nutt said.

Tennessee had the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation in 2002, according to Rivals.com. Four years later, the Volunteers went 5-6. Arizona, Mississippi State and Kansas State also had top 25 recruiting classes. None of them had a winning record four years later.

“The expectation level can become very unrealistic,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “There’s an awful lot of development and transition and adjustment that goes on.”

Burton said a series of camps sponsored by Rivals.com helps to educate prospects. Scout.com has a similar series of combines.

“There’s an education process there that goes on,” Burton said. “If you aren’t aware of the world, you will be sooner rather than later.”