Think Wells doesn’t check Twitter? Think again

In January, I retweeted a post from a ‘Common White Girl’ Twitter account about Troy Bolton from Disney’s High School Musical. I never would have thought the Aggies’ head football coach would be the one to make me reconsider the retweet, but that’s exactly what he did on Tuesday.

After being asked about how social media has affected Utah State recruitment, Coach Matt Wells explained his views as a coach, recruiter and parent.

“It’s not those kids’ fault that they were born when they were born and that social media’s so prevalent in their society,” Wells said. His response continued as he motioned to me and — having known about my Snapchat story from earlier that day — explained that my high exposure to social media is really different from what he experienced at my age. Wells continued by explaining that it’s just a fact of our society and it takes responsibility to deal with.

“My daughter has an Instagram and I tell her to use it responsibly,” Wells said. “It’s the same with recruiting.”

Wells and the recruiting staff check the Twitter and various social media accounts for the athletes they recruit. Specifically, Wells explained how retweets can affect the recruiting process — even more than direct tweets in some cases.

“It’s the retweet,” Wells said. “I tell our players and I tell my daughter, when you retweet something, you say ‘I wholeheartedly approve’ … so I think that is a direct reflection on the kid and on his character and his choices. Sometimes that can tell a story that we need to see as a coach and we say ‘you need to make better choices on Twitter and if you can’t do that, then maybe I need to go a different direction and not recruit you.”

I was surprised that Coach Wells had such a strong opinion about retweets, but he makes a good point. Just imagine if your boss saw everything you retweeted, or if your future in-laws followed you on Twitter. Does the thought make you cringe a little? Same.

I am far from being recruited by the USU football team, but I’ll think twice the next time I go to retweet a post that comes from an offensive account or might reveal my secret obsession with Disney Channel movie stars.