For athletes, coaches, and athletic directors, nowhere was the message more apparent than in the standards and relationships established in recruitment. Coaches recommended high school visits and not recruiting trouble or anyone with a troubled history. All groups believe that solid personal relationships at every level between players and coaches, coaches and athletic departments, athletic departments and student affairs, and administrators and the president are all key to preventing hazing. Good communication at each link helps catch behaviors in one arena that might signal trouble in another arena. You stop it for four years and it will stop for good.
Tradition is a strong motivator both positive and negative.
Still, the most important factor is the awareness, concern and role modeling of coaches and team captains, and the support they get from their department to create an environment with safety, leadership, trust, and respect. If a coach claims otherwise, he or she is denying the truth. The best way to eliminate or reduce hazing is to encourage the coach to crack down on those who do it. Coaches and athletes add a concern for the relationships between upper- and underclassmen in which they actively share and explore a wide range of issues concerning life skills, substance abuse, and so forth. A coach found that more and more student athletes every year find a genuine interest in this type of program.