Texas Tech Football Recruiting: What ‘Dead Period’ means

Like the rest of NCAA schools, Texas Tech recruiting is now on a Dead Period. So what exactly does that mean? Here’s how it works.

Texas Tech Football is now in a “Dead Period,” meaning several things for recruiting. For starters, there are no unofficial visits, or face-to-face contact between recruits and coaches. Dead Period dates run from June 26 – July 7, 2017, and while the title might seem intimidating, recruits can still contact coaches via telephone, or text message.

Back in 2011, Texas Tech was put on a two-year probation for recruiting violations in several sports, including football. The program was found guilty of sending illegal 234 illegal text messages to recruits, which occurred between August 2007, and February 2009.

Led by former head coach Mike Leach, the time in which the violations occurred was arguably Texas Tech’s most prominent era in football.

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The staff at the time self reported the violations, after an internal investigation, however, according to the Lubbock Online article cited above, “In football, Tech docked itself one scholarship and reduced paid campus visits for recruits in the year leading up to the 2010 national signing day.”

For a school like Texas Tech, which presents geographic logistical issues for some recruits, if another violation occurred in the modern era of recruiting, reduced paid visits could be particularly detrimental.

USA Today High School Sports published an article last year, explaining the different nuances of the recruiting process. For those new to recruiting, or die hards trying to decipher rules updates, we found a few very useful tips we wanted to pass on to Texas Tech fans.

"“If an athlete has any in-person contact with a coach during a dead period then the coach could subject himself to a penalty, and the NCAA may prohibit the athlete from being recruited to that university.”"

Yes. That’s correct. Fans might not understand why teams could come off a scalding hot two or so weeks of recruiting, only to find the trail growing colder and colder. It’s frustrating because you think the luck has worn out, but what many don’t realize, is that this “reset” period is actually beneficial to both recruits, and coaches.

Think of recruiting as buying a car, where the players are the customers, and the coaches are the salesmen. When you arrive on the lot, they swarm, and it can be pretty intimidating. You typically just say, “I’m just going to take a look around,” and casually browse the lot. It’s not until you see something that catches your eye, that you locate a salesman and make a deal.

Think of “Dead Period” as the recruit browsing, or making small talk with the salesman, and the Letter of Intent as the “sign and drive” portion of the transaction.

This period allows recruits to ask questions as they see fit, and coaches to review needs depending on who they received verbals from in the weeks, or months prior.

Dead Period can certainly be an opportunity for recruits and teams to reflect and evaluate, however, the NCAA has three other distinct periods that are equally beneficial and critical. Since we aim to deliver factual, informative content, we went straight to the source to explain how the bylaws work.

Directly from the NCAA Division I Bylaws on recruiting:

• Contact Period: “Six (6) in-person, off-campus contacts per prospective student-athlete shall be permitted during this time period with not more than one permitted in any one calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) or partial calendar week.”
• Quiet Period:  “Forty-two evaluation days… selected at the discretion of the institution and designated in writing in the office of the director of athletics; authorized off-campus recruiters shall not visit a prospective student-athlete’s educational institution on more than one calendar day during this period.”
• Evaluation Period: “An authorized off-campus recruiter may use one evaluation to assess the prospective student-athlete’s athletics ability and one evaluation to assess the prospective student-athlete’s academic qualifications during this evaluation period. If an institution’s coaching staff member conducts both an athletics and an academic evaluation of the prospective student-athlete on the same day during this evaluation period, the institution shall be charged with the use of an academic evaluation only and shall be permitted to conduct a second athletics evaluation of the prospective student- athlete on a separate day during this evaluation period.”

The full NCAA Division I Bowl Subdivision Football Recruiting Calendar can be found by clicking here.