Any coaches planning to host an elite camp for top recruits this summer can expect an uninvited guest or two to drop by the gym.
LuAnn Humphrey, the NCAA's basketball enforcement director, told USA Today on Thursday that her staffers will be making more unannounced "strategic" visits to elite camps this summer to ensure schools are following the rules. Enforcement staff members intend to specifically target programs they suspect of flouting rule changes that went into effect in Oct. 2009.
"We want to instill some deterrence and show we are really serious about this camp issue," Humphrey told USA Today.
Elite camps have long been an invitation-only recruiting tool designed to enable coaches to showcase their campus, interact with top prospects and evaluate players up close, but two years ago the NCAA began a crackdown on perceived abuses in the system.
It prohibited high school and AAU coaches from working college camps for a fee if the college intends to recruit players associated with them. Previously schools had used this loophole as a legal means of influencing coaches across the nation to pay for their top players to come to the camps on unofficial visits.
The NCAA also required all summer camps to be run more uniformly. That rule change was designed to eliminate special treatment of elite players, such as higher quality meals or accommodations.
Humphrey told USA Today that her staff made a few unannounced visits last summer, but the year was mostly about educating coaches regarding the new rules. She described 2011 as a "monitoring year," emphasizing that her staff intends to visit many more camps in an effort to start "cracking down" on rule breakers.
Kylie Bax Diora Baird Laura Prepon Ashley Scott Michelle Behennah
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