Text messaging invites scrutiny.

Byline: Rob Moseley / The Register-Guard

When Mike Bellotti was a young Oregon assistant coach, one of his first recruiting targets was a defensive lineman from Fresno, Calif., named Gary Williams.

In anticipation of signing day, Bellotti checked into a Fresno hotel room. Unable to call or visit Williams, Bellotti did the next best thing - he sent the recruit a telegram every day for a week.

Today, such measures are unthinkable. Now coaches increasingly use their thumbs to punch out text messages that are sent to recruits' cell phones. Considered by the NCAA to be more like a piece of written correspondence than a phone call - and thus nearly unregulated - text messages have become an important aspect of recruiting the past two years.

"I'm in favor of it, because it really saves you time," Bellotti said. "In the old days before text messaging, you could try to call and you'd get one phone call a week. Well, you could spend three or four days a week trying to get in touch with that guy. Now, every young man has a cell phone for the most part, and you can say, `Hey, call me' or `I'll call you in 10 minutes, how's that sound?' ...

"It's just instantaneous communication that doesn't cost you a phone call."

Steve Greatwood, the UO offensive line coach, said text messages are particularly important for a program such as Oregon, which is geographically distant from many of its recruiting targets.

"I'll be honest, I fought it for a while, but it's the way this generation communicates," Greatwood said. "With the restrictions we have on phone calls, I can still have the ability to communicate with a kid, if he chooses to communicate with me. I think it's been advantageous to us, particularly since we're up in an area where kids don't have easy access to us. We can at least still stay in contact with them."

But as text messaging has become more prevalent, it has drawn NCAA scrutiny. Bellotti said he expects increased regulation to be put in place in the next year.

Among the concerns are the financial impact on recruits, who can bear the monetary burden of receiving text messages under some cell phone plans, and the intrusiveness on recruits who may find their text messages inbox flooded during class hours.

According to a recent production of the series "Outside the Lines" by ESPN, an NCAA subcommittee will meet later this month to consider legislation that could be in place as early as January.

Bellotti expects some limits to be put in place, although he noted it will essentially be left to individual schools to monitor their own conduct.