NCAA Frown Emojis on College Coaches "Reacting" to Texts At Certain Times on New IPhone IOS

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has lots of rules to help protect the amateur status of athletes. At its heart, the association is concerned with making sure amateur athletes don't get paid any money that could instead fill the coffers of schools, but it also has had a lot of other rules throughout its history, such as "coaches can't give recruits cream cheese on bagels or make breakfast look too appetizing."

As technology has changed, the NCAA has gotten the chance to create more very dumb rules. The league monitors texting, when and where those texts can be sent, and it's expanding to other social networks.

But iPhone's new update, which allow people to "react" to texts others have sent, represents an issue for the NCAA, because "reacting" is both texting and not at the same time. The NCAA had two ways it could have responded to this:

• Let it go like normal people, it's not a big deal if coaches are reacting to texts from players before the normal texting period starts.
• FIGHT THE EMOJIS TO THE DEATH.

What do you think they picked? Yeah.

The iPhone Tapback feature is considered a return text message. Therefore, coaches may not use it until Sept. 1 of a prospect's junior year. pic.twitter.com/mmfaqhaUxf
— Tennessee Compliance (@UTCompliance) November 14, 2016

When contacted by VICE Sports, an NCAA spokesperson cited rule 13.4.1.

"'Tapbacks' in text messages fall under a rule pertaining to direct, private communication between a coach and recruit," the spokesperson wrote in an email. "In most sports, texting, emails and direct messages are not permitted prior to a student's junior year of college."

This has concluded today's session of "The NCAA is Ridiculous." Check back next week for more updates. There's never enough common sense to fight.