Carroll's a Twit(ter-er)

[Ohio Pete]

Carroll still an early adopter

 

Last year in this space, we profiled Pete Carroll's Facebook page/USC recruiting poster. Last week, the winningest coach in Division I-A during the past five years got even more techno-geeky.

 

He joined Twitter.

 

Now, recruits and dedicated USC fans can learn -- in 140 characters or less -- that USC's official visitors lunched at the ESPN Zone this past weekend and that on Sunday, the mercury hit 75 degrees in southern California. (As we learned last week from Florida State coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher, announcing a warm temperature on a January day might help land skill-position players.) NCAA rules forbid Carroll from using Twitter or Facebook to communicate with recruits, but that's beside the point. He is communicating the way his target audience communicates, and that can only help.

 

As an official Old Guy -- I'm 30 -- I'd heard of Twitter, but I usually responded to any reference to the service with a sentence that included the word "dangfangled." It seemed like a faster Facebook status update. In other words, another way for people to keep their friends current on what they ate for breakfast or how long their toddlers napped. But after seeing Carroll was updating his Facebook status via Twitter, I figured I needed to learn more. So I read this New York Times story and signed up for my own account. Now I, along with the other 691 people who follow Carroll, can find out where USC recruits are eating lunch.

 

My Twitter foray may benefit you as well. Tuesday, we'll try a little experiment. Sign up to follow andy_staples, and I'll send out a dangfangled tweet after Hampton, Va., quarterback Tajh Boyd (scheduled press conference at 5 p.m. Tuesday) announces his college choice.

[teamster]

Dan Hawkins and the crew at CU will be getting all over this. If they haven't already.

[hack]

you know who i could see twittering on nebraska staff: coach ekeler.

 

and it would be *awesome*.