Lorenzo Romar decided to get a twitter. This isn’t news in and of itself, honestly it feels trivial even using that as my opening line. However, the fact is that many didn’t think he would ever get twitter. It isn’t his “thing”. But there is a reason he did.
Many joked about Romar getting a twitter long before he decided to get one and then after he did. Tweets similar to this one by Dave Mahler “Softy”:
Always was a tight race. What happens first? Human Cloning or Lorenzo Romar on twitter. Coach wins. Follow @CoachRomar
— Dave “Softy” Mahler (@Softykjr) June 20, 2012
Romar may still not be a fan of twitter but the NCAA has now allowed twitter to be a part of recruiting and UW is aiming for a once in a lifetime class for 2013. Thus twitter needs to be a part of their recruiting now.
The NCAA decided to eliminate restrictions on messaging recruits after their sophomore year of high school. There used to be a cap on it and twitter and facebook were not acknowledged by the NCAA. However, they had to do something about it, they decided to pull the plug on messaging restrictions.
Coaches can now send unlimited amounts of texts, emails, direct-messages on twitter, and private messages on facebook to a recruit.
The Associated Press said it this way:
"It all means that sending a recruit an LOL (laugh out loud) will no longer get you a TTYL (talk to you later) from the NCAA.The NCAA is allowing coaches to text, tweet and talk to their hearts’ content because, as Missouri athletic director Mike Alden put it, the organization “recognized the evolving nature of communication with students.”In essence, coaches finally can get with the times without getting into trouble."
A few months ago there wasn’t a single coach from the UW Basketball staff on twitter. Now there are three; with Romar joining yesterday, Raphael Chillious joining today, and Paul Fortier has had one for a couple months. Is Jim Shaw next?
The social media world we live in now has made it so coaches who may or may not have saw twitter as a hassle before, now see it as a tool to help them land that prized recruit. Oh yeah and Aaron Gordon also joined twitter today, Fortier made sure to follow him.
UW Basketball Twitter Handles:
Romar- @CoachRomar
Chillious- @CoachChills
Fortier- @CoachFortier