Monday, April 28, 2008

No Shortage of Rivals for the Zooker

Are some recruiting websites merely recruiting vehicles for certain teams? That's what Ron Zook suggested last week during his criticism of the "Saban Rule." The Zooker said that some teams had secretly allied themselves with the websites as another way to communicate with recruits. The benefit for the websites is that they get better information, more traffic and make more money while helping their teams.

The editor in chief of one of those recruiting sites has fired back. Bobby Burton of Rivals.com says the Illinois coach is out of line. Writes Burton:

"The new rule has come about because of your profession's inability to work within the rules that govern them. Simply put, the NCAA doesn't want its head coaches going out in the spring because they don't trust you and your brethren.

"This new rule has nothing to do with Rivals.com; it's not our job to recruit players, nor is any writer paid to recruit players to a school. It's our job to report about recruiting. Instead, the new rule has everything to do with your profession's inability to follow rules."

Of course, some coaches have already found a way around the Saban Rule. Namely, Nick Saban.

Thanks to Image of Sport.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just watch: Rivals will downgrade the ratings of players who commit to Illinois.

Al Bundy said...

i think zook was referring to a lot of shadow sites that copy Rivals info and are closer to the blog-type than a respected system like Rivals.