First-year Boston College football coach Steve Addazio has "presided over a turnaround on the recruiting trail, seizing upon the impact of social media to disseminate his program's message," according to Michael Vega of the BOSTON GLOBE. Addazio and his staff "found new and inventive ways to use Twitter, Instagram, and Vine to market their program, and recruits bought in and began to fall in line." Addazio: "Ultimately, it’s a communication game. ... Obviously, you have to say that Twitter and Instagram and Vine is a factor. Because this is the mode of communication for kids today and you’ve got to enter into that world." He added, "Social media is a big piece of this thing and to ignore that is foolish and I ignored it for a while because I probably felt like I had other strengths." Vega notes Addazio "challenged his staff to see who could recruit the most Twitter followers." He is "currently the leader with nearly 3,000." In the staff's "attempt to have some fun," the #BeADude recruiting campaign was born, which came from defensive coordinator Don Brown’s "description of great playmakers as 'dudes.'" Addazio said, "It was just fun and it caught on with our team and it caught on in recruiting and we ran with it a little bit. At first I did a couple of Vines and a couple of Instagrams with 12-second videos of [Falcons QB] Matt Ryan and all that stuff. But it was amazing how many people saw that stuff. But the '#BeADude' thing is still going and it’s still growing." Vega writes it "enabled BC recruiters to fan out over a broader area," venturing into Florida, Virginia, Georgia, Delaware, and Michigan to find prospects (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/23).
