Ambrose on Twitter: Players don't realize how many people are watching

sees the prohibition as temporary. He said he’s opened several team meetings – which start at 5 a.m. – by discussing the proper use of social media, and that an expert on the matter will address the team later this week.

Towson, like every school in the area, offers some level of instruction to its student-athletes on how to use Twitter and Facebook at the beginning of the year. The school even had athletes sign a form acknowledging that they’d read over a sheet that ends with this phrase in large, bold letters: “REMEMBER DO NOT POST ANYTHING ON YOUR PROFILE IF YOU WOULD NOT WANT THAT INFORMATION ON THE FRONT PAGE OF A NEWSPAPER.”

So the question is: how did the situation at Towson deteriorate to the point that Ambrose, in the weeks following the season, decided to ban his players from Twitter completely? They’d already been warned of the dangers of social media, and had that message reinforced when a Lehigh player who’d caught 13 passes against them was suspended for his next game – which Lehigh would lose – because he’d tweeted a racial slur prior to playing the Tigers.

With more time to think about something other than football, Ambrose checked in on his players’ feeds more frequently. The players also had more time to tweet, as well as both some newfound popularity around campus – winning does that – and the sting from a close, season-ending loss. And what many players ended up saying over twitter sounded more like conversation between teammates, not that sort of thing that should be broadcast to the public.

“There was nothing as blatantly derogatory as what the Lehigh player said,” Ambrose said, “nothing as extensively concerning. But I did end up calling two mothers just to say, ‘This isn’t good.’”

And he also decided that he’d tell his players to stop tweeting until he’d had time to talk to them.

Towson athletics director Mike Waddell makes it his policy to not interfere when a coach sets a team rule. And while he understood the concerns over freedom of speech, he pointed out that plenty of college coaches ban players from drinking, even if they are of age.

Ambrose anticipates restoring his players’ Twitter rights in the near future. And if his decision created a bit of a ruckus, he says that was his plan all along.

“Hey, I’m glad people are talking about it,” he said. “It’s a freedom, no doubt, but these kids aren’t at the point where they realize how many people they’re reaching, how many people – future employers – are watching.”