A storm started brewing in the triangle last fall when several players at UNC-Chapel Hill were investigated for earning illegal benefits by NCAA standards. All of this stemmed from Marvin Austin’s tweets about his shopping sprees and VIP treatment at clubs.
Meanwhile, N.C . State’s compliance department has been watching and changing the face of the Wolfpack athletic programs to make sure nothing like this happens at the University.
Senior wide receiver T.J . Graham said since the investigation began in Chapel Hill, the compliance department has changed the way they treat social media for the players.
“Compliance has certainly gotten a lot tougher on social media since what happened last fall,” Graham said. “Obviously, if we did anything here the NCAA is still investigating right in our backyard in Chapel Hill. It’s made a lot of guys more cautious about what they do and say on Twitter and Facebook.”
The main problem with student-athletes and social media outlets is a lack of forethought when posting to the sites. While some of Austin’s tweets may have been funny to his friends or himself, NCAA investigators weren’t laughing.
Graham said the compliance department has a big hand in the way players’ social media is controlled at State, but in the end it’s the players who decide what to post.
“Our support staff at compliance watches over what we do,” Graham said. “They want to make sure we don’t do anything to put the school or our program in danger like some people down the road might have done.
“Selfish acts like the ones that happened at UNC don’t happen here because we are a team, and we know that one person can take down a program.”
Graham shied away from having a Twitter account throughout most of his tenure at State, but he has had a Facebook account for the past few years. During a class on social media, Graham said he was required to have a Twitter account, but he did not post a lot of personal thoughts to the site.
“I have a Twitter account because I had to create one in class,” Graham said. “But I only post things like articles that may have been written on me and look at what other people say on Twitter.
“You can control what you do on Twitter; you just can’t let your emotions get the best of you.”
C.J . Williams, a senior guard, has also recently starting tweeting and said he is well aware of the implications that social media can have when used improperly.
“They tell us honestly to be careful what we say,” Williams said. “Regardless of whether you delete something after you say it, it’s still out there and people can still see it. So they tell us to watch what we say and to understand that people are always reading and watching.”
While he does not talk to a lot of his friends online, Graham said he knows people are watching him when he posts things to social media sites.
“When [ESPN ACC reporter] Heather Dinich came in to see me, she wanted to know where she could follow on me Twitter,” Graham said. “They just want to follow you and try to get news that way in some cases. She could watch and see if I tweet something about my leg being hurt or see a picture where I’ve got a cup in my hand. It could be Kool-aid in that cup, but it would be twisted however they want it to look.”
Many new players coming to State, such as transfer point guard Alex Johnson or incoming freshman forward Tyler Harris, already have Twitter accounts.
Williams said he feels responsible for helping the new players learn how to use social media properly.
“I have a Facebook and a Twitter, so I try to talk with some of the newer players about how to be responsible on both,” Williams said. “I talked with Tyler Harris recently about his account on Twitter as soon as I found out he committed. I assume that responsibility as a leader on this team.”
While he does not consider himself a Twitter or Facebook expert, Graham said he feels that players need to be well aware of what they post because it runs the risk of tearing down an entire program.
“A lot of players try to cut corners when it comes to social media,” Graham said. “But you’ve got to obey the rules or you run the risk of getting caught. All it takes is getting caught once, and they’ll backtrack you for the last few years and reveal everything.”
