Boise State football coach Chris Petersen, it seems, is on to something. On Wednesday, mere days after Petersen Twitter this season, New Mexico State football coach DeWayne Walker did the same thing. And Jimbo Fisher is considering following suit at Florida State. When told Seminoles were tweeting about the recent dismissal of wide receiver Jarmon Fortson for violating team policy, he told The Palm Beach Post that, "Maybe I do need to ban it."
Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez would prefer that his players not tweet - or even have a presence on Facebook - but he's not telling them they can't. Instead, Rodriguez (who has a Twitter account of his own and recently used it to announce Michigan's 2010 captains) has been educating the Wolverines about the pitfalls of social media. "We just have to … constantly remind them we monitor and follow that," the coach told AnnArbor.com's Michael Rothstein. "You've got to make sure they are representing not only themselves and their families, but also every other football player, our university, our community. ... It's there for life, and future employers could look at that."
That's the same kind of advice NFL coaches are dishing out. Cleveland Browns coach Mike Mangini lectured his team during training camp this week following a vulgar Twitter post by Browns cornerback Brandon McDonald, aimed at new Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Terrell Owens. "Social media is a great way to connect with the fans," Mangini told Cleveland.com. "[Players] have a responsibility to do that in a way that represents the organization the right way. That's their responsibility and they're accountable for it. If they don't do it, there are consequences to those actions." (McDonald apologized for what he admits was a "bad decision," but he plans to keep on tweeting.)
Meanwhile, we're waiting to see if all this sparks a Twitter trickle-down effect. Will high school coaches tweak their position on tweets in the coming weeks?
