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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nick Saban normally spends this time of year on the road evaluating prep prospects and visiting with high school coaches.

The Alabama coach is doing a different kind of networking these days — all from the comfort of his office. Saban is among a handful of college head coaches using video conferences to chat with recruits because they can't meet in person.

A new NCAA regulation — dubbed the "Saban Rule" — is keeping coaches from making those traditional visits to high school campuses during the spring evaluation period that runs through May.

Web cams have hardly replaced telephones or text messages as the preferred mode of talking to recruits. But, said LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette, they are without a doubt the wave of the future in long-distance communicating with high school players.

Saban and Southeastern Conference rivals Les Miles of LSU and Phillip Fulmer of Tennessee are using the Internet tool. Others among several dozen schools contacted by The Associated Press are considering or have considered it.

"We've got the technology in place, and most of the high schools we're finding have the technology that allows it, so it makes sense," Bonnette said. "Once again, it's one of the perks of being on the forefront when it comes to technology, so we're going to use it to our advantage."

Even before the new rule, coaches weren't allowed to have more than brief, inadvertent contact with recruits during the spring, a rule Saban was accused of breaking last year in Miami. He has called the new restrictions against visits to high schools "ridiculous."

When they went into effect, he turned to Plan B: Web cams, which are permitted by the NCAA.

Saban said he speaks to "four or five" recruits a day on the Web when he's in the office. He had previously used the technology with LSU, the NFL's Miami Dolphins and at Alabama for things like giving players a chance to talk to doctors or sports psychiatrists.

"I just think it's a better way to communicate," said Saban, who estimates he visited some 100 high schools last spring. "It's great to communicate over the phone, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable with this conversation right now if I could see the person I was talking to.

"In business meetings, they wouldn't use the technology if it wasn't a more effective way to communicate, would they?"

It may be the new, new thing. But not everyone seems likely to embrace the technology.

Florida State's 78-year-old Bobby Bowden is more at home with face-to-face chats in recruits' living rooms. What about screen to screen?

"I can guarantee you Coach Bowden is not on a Web cam," Florida State football sports information director Elliott Finebloom said.

Auburn's Tommy Tuberville said he plans to stick to his strategy of assembling the Tigers' coaching staff at his home on the first day of permitted contact to take turns chatting with each targeted player. Web cams aren't in the game plan.

"I wouldn't be interested in doing it," Tuberville said.

He said personal contact is the method he prefers.

"I've talked to them, their parents, they've been on our campus. I think that's what's important."

Besides, he added, "I've been recruiting these kids since the eighth grade. Hopefully, they know what I look like."

Oklahoma State coaches have approached compliance director Scott Williams about the possibility of using Web cams. Williams said the latest high-tech tool definitely merits consideration for recruiting.

"It's constantly evolving," Williams said, pointing to text messaging and MySpace pages.

The NCAA rules count "all electronically transmitted human voice exchange" as phone calls, specifically mentioning videoconferencing and videophones.

"We have a rule, and it's been in place for awhile, that Web cams and video conferences are considered telephone calls," NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said. "We don't see it as a violation. It would just be subject to rules we have regarding recruiting and telephone contact.

Different takes

A look at some major colleges football programs' takes on the new technique of head coaches using Web cams to talk to recruits, which is allowed by the NCAA:

LSU's Les Miles, Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer and Alabama's Nick Saban have begun using Web cams following a new NCAA rule that keeps head coaches from visiting high school campuses during the spring.

Southern California's Pete Carroll, a top recruiter, is sticking to cell phones and landlines this spring. "We haven't been doing it. We're aware of it," USC spokesman Tim Tessalone said.

Arizona's Tom Duddleston said coaches tried video conferences a few years ago but no longer use them.

Auburn's Tommy Tuberville said he's not interested. "Hopefully (Auburn recruits) know what I look like."

Oklahoma officials have recently been made aware of the NCAA interpretation, but won't buy more equipment to use the technology, athletic director Joe Castiglione said.

Virginia Tech sports information director Dave Smith said the school hasn't used Web cams at this point, but would "be surprised if they didn't at least discuss it."

Illinois' Ron Zook, Colorado's Dan Hawkins, Saban and others are spending more time traveling around to talk to donors and fans.

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