I was looking throught the book the other day of all the rules that are included in our state's by-laws for high school athletics. It is a rather lengthy book with many rules. So many rules that I would bet that many coaches/athletic directors have broken multiple rules during their times of leadership. You cannot have contact with student athletes on Sunday, you cannot drive student athletes to open gyms during the summer, and numerous others.However, I believe that many of the rules violations have been done more out of ignorance than just to break them. I know that my first year, we played a few kids without physicals on file in the office and were put on probation after self-reporting, but that was out of ignorance. They had played fall athletics and figured if they were eligible there, they must have been for us, that hasn't happened again since that first year.
But, some people do break the rules...on purpose. Schools openly recruit players for their programs. Sometimes it is as blatant as a coach speaking with the player and/or the parents and sometimes it is subtle has having your current players speak with the player/or parents about attending their school. There is a clear rule that players from other schools may not attend open gyms of your school while school is in session, but it happens often. Is that ignorance? Is it that they don't care? Are they trying to get better players?
If I were going to recruit players, they would be foreign players. Guys that I could bring here to better their lives and to better our program and school. They would be players who might help us, but would better our school from a cultural standpoint. It would give them the opportunity to play college basketball here, an opportunity they would not have living abroad. But, if they end up here, it would be because of their own accord and through an approved exchange program.
It is a competitive game we play and you must have good players to compete at a higher level. Will I ever recruit? I guess the definition of "recruiting" should be defined. We openly recruit our players from birth to graduation at HHS in many different ways. I am constantly trying to get those players to stay here, but once they leave, if they come back, it will be under their own accord.
