Attention College Football Coaches: No One is Forcing You to Tweet

Butch Jones found it prudent to wade into the shark-infested waters surrounding Michigan’s spring break trip to Florida and was bitten by the most unpredictable of predators.

Jim Harbaugh did not respond to Bret Bielema, perhaps because the two are kindred spirits in a way, traveling through life without the slightest care what anyone thinks of them. He did not respond to Mark Dantonio because his in-state rival has swept off his side of the street quite ably, winning seven of the last eight against Michigan. No, the Ann Arbor Agitator singled out Jones because, like any shark, he sensed blood in the water.

While Jones’ tweet was minor compared to the criticism levied by more powerful Southern football types, one could wonder why he thought it a good idea to get involved considering the tumultuous month that’s played out in Knoxville.

One theory: he didn’t think. Instead he tweeted first and asked questions later — an unfortunate consequence of the bizarre trend of adults in positions of authority falling all over themselves to conduct their business like impulsive teenagers.

Ask anyone older than, say, 33, and they’ll universally agree that spending the wildest years of their lives without the fear of every mistake living forever online was better than the alternative. It’s odd to see college coaches, all of whom escaped the minefield of social media during their formative years, dive headlong into it in an attempt to connect with the younger generation.

Look, I understand why an active Twitter and Facebook presence is important to coaches. The make-believe digital world is yet another battlefield on which they must compete in the war of recruiting. What is less clear is if these grown-ass men realize that they have a choice in the matter or if they’re caving to younger-peer pressure.

For every success story like Tom Herman there’s a painfully boring example of a coach who alternates between hashtagging the team’s catchphrase and wishing his third-string safety a happy birthday.

Just because a digital footprint exists doesn’t mean it’s worthwhile. Or that it’s without some inherent risks.

Would Jones appreciate his players talking trash on Twitter? Is that a net-negative or net-positive activity? Again, his comment was lighthearted and miles from malicious, but it’s a weird disconnect when you see coaches doing things via social media that they’d discourage their players from doing.

Are social media slip-ups the cost of doing business? Is it possible to run a program in 2016 without installing Tweetdeck?

I’d argue yes.

Nick Saban doesn’t tweet. He seems to be doing okay. Tom Izzo despises Twitter and it hasn’t hurt his success on the court or on the recruiting trail. You can point to these two as outliers but perhaps there’s another explanation. Perhaps we need to give college-aged athletes more credit and acknowledge there’s still a faction that eschews the social media fluff in lieu of winning and more tangible rewards.

I’d argue any past Twitter-based competitive advantage has been erased thanks to the saturation of coaches on the platform. Not everyone can be Harbaugh and those who try to be something they aren’t come off as desperate.

You see this in real life when every single 60-year-old football lifer feels compelled to do the latest dance craze in front of his team. At what point does being the 29th coach to dab, whip or nae nae begin to have diminishing returns? It’s a cranky old man to point this out, but the power dynamic in the world of recruiting seems to have shifted completely from coach to player. Whereas once a 17-year-old would do anything to impress with maturity, now we have guys quadruple that age dancing like puppets for amusement. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but how far down that road are we going to go before grandfathers are going to draw a line of demarcation and stop playing court jester?

There’s nothing wrong with acting your age. There’s nothing wrong with using life lessons to avoid the pratfalls of youth. And there’s nothing wrong with considering the cost-benefit pendulum of connecting with players on every single level.