The head coaches of Big 12 men's basketball programs recently came together to approve recent NCAA rule changesthat will increase their ability to communicate with recruits as well as come together over the summer for practice times. Each coach seemed pleased with the results that should allow a coach into the lives of their players (or potential players) even more. Among the changes:
1. Starting Friday, coaches can send unlimited text messages and make unlimited phone calls to recruits that have completed their sophomore year in high school.
2. In April, coaches were allowed an evaluation period to check out high school recruits. That will allow coaches to better evaluate those high school players during the July evaluation period.
3. Summer practices are allowed for up to two hours per week.
"Anytime you can put yourself in a situation where there's more communication with a recruit and with families, that's a positive," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "It will be more work for coaches."
The summer practice times should also help teams make the transition after players graduate before coming in several months later to start all over.