OU staff keeps tabs on players' Web presence

By Jake Trotter

Published: September 28, 2007

NORMAN — Oklahoma's Joe Jon Finley and Brody Eldrige have an ongoing showdown, and neither yet has blinked.

No, they're not feuding over playing time at tight end, a position they share.

Instead, their quarrel is who will be the first to ask the other to be his friend on Facebook.

The social-networking Web sites Facebook and MySpace are increasingly being used by college students, including college football players — prompting universities to keep a close eye on the Web pages.

"I get on Facebook when I get bored, and check it out,” Finley said. "It's a good way to keep in touch with all my friends that go to different colleges all over the country. I think just about everybody on the team has a Facebook page.

"The only one I'm not friends with on the team is Brody.”

But Facebook and MySpace aren't just personal Web pages. They can also be viewed as reflections of an individual and of a team.

James Henry, the third Texas Longhorn cited in connection with a July robbery, was arrested last week on third-degree felony charges of retaliating against robbery victims on behalf of two teammates.

A day later, images of suggested drug use and gang signs were found by coaches and the media on Henry's MySpace, raising questions why his page didn't raise red flags about Henry's character to Texas coaches.

Longhorn assistant coach Bruce Chambers called Henry's MySpace "a great embarrassment,” but reassured fans that the Texas football staff monitors players' pages.

In Norman, the OU compliance office also monitors the Facebook and MySpace pages of the almost 500 Sooner student-athletes to ensure that an incident like Henry's doesn't occur at OU.

Compliance executive director Jason Leonard said the office randomly checks the pages of 5 to 10 athletes a week with a dummy account that has been invited as a friend to the pages of most of the athletes — a user has to be a friend to access Facebook and private MySpace sites.

"A lot of the content is private, but we have an obligation to protect the university,” Leonard said. "OU has high standards.”

The office looks for signs of compliance-related and character-related issues.

"If we find something on those, something compliance is interested in, we call the athletes in, then have them take it down,” said Leonard, who implemented a regular check since he began working at OU last December. "If we find something character-related, we forward it to (OU associate athletic director) Greg Phillips, who then decides if he wants to address it with the coaches.”

Leonard, however, said it's impossible to consistently monitor everyone's pages. Ultimately, he said, coaches and players must share in the responsibility.

"Coaches tell us be mindful about what people will see on there,” Finley said. "If you put a lot of negative things, that's what people are going to see.

"It's not just that, when you get down the road trying to get a job, people are going to look on there to see what kind of a person you are.”

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