College Coaches Encouraged to use Twitter?

I've come across several coaches who are using Twitter, and I've signed up to receive many of their feeds.  A couple of my favorites so far are John Calipari of Kentucky and Tom Crean of Indiana.  The two actually have a contest going to see who can get the most followers.  Right now, Coach Cal is romping this one - perhaps similar to how their teams would fair on the court.  He's pulled in over 52,000 followers to Crean's 5,000. 

A couple other notable coaches in College Hoops using Twitter are Jeff Capel of Oklahoma, Josh Pastner of Memphis, and Steve Wojciechowski of Duke.

The NCAA released a statement on Twitter, saying "We view Twitter as a blog.  As long as coaches are on there talking about what they did with their day and how their practice went or things like that, that's fine..."

So what's all this mean?  I stumbled across a coach sales site (not where you buy a coach but where coaches get tips on how to recruit better) that is urging all coaches to get out there on Twitter NOW.  And to me it makes sense for a few reasons.

1. It lets your fan base (and your donor base) get to know you better.  What makes you tick?  What are your feelings about the season, what is your life like away from the court?  Making that emotional connection is key and is one of the things I'm really feeling with Coach Calipari.
2. It lets your recruits (and their parents) get to know you better.  What is your personality like?  From one side of what you value to a lighter side of what movies or TV shows are you into?  It's the way of letting people know about your program at a glance.
3. Maybe most importantly, coaches have high demands on their time.  They are on the road often but with that comes the inevitable down time in an airport terminal or two.  By posting from their blackberry/iPhone, they can reach everyone at once.

Needless to say I'm going to follow this closely.  It's fascinating.