Eric Schultz is entering into his second year as Eastern’s director of compliance—a job is supposed to keep Eastern athletics clean and by the book.

Each year stories of underhanded money deals can be heard, vehicles and property being given away, and then some.

The NCAA as a governing body tries to retain the integrity of college sports by keeping certain boosters, agents and fans with bad intentions from ruining the futures of student-athletes.

“For us, at our level, we don’t have to worry about it as much,” Schultz said. “We don’t have the high-profile recruits that agents and runners are trying to get in with. Our kids develop into professionals, where those kids come in at professional level already.”

Schultz and his staff monitor who athletes are associating with and who pays for what. At a school the size of Eastern, warning signs are much easier to spot, he said.

“We know all of our kids really well,” Schultz said. “If one of our student-athletes comes from a lower-income area and they start driving a Range Rover, a red flag is raised.”

Keeping track of a student-athlete’s well-being also comes into play with the NCAA rules and standards.

“We know who they are, we know where they’re supposed to be, and if they’re not there, we find out,” Schultz said. “We’re fairly lucky that the kids that we recruit want to do things the right way. They know that college is number one. They’re not looking for the first ticket to the NBA or the NFL. They know getting their education is important, and they know what they need to do to maintain that education.”

To ward off trouble from the start, recruiting also plays a role. With talent sometimes coming with baggage, monitoring can become more of a task.

“If we recruit a kid that has issues in high school, we know that those issues will probably follow them here,” Schultz said. “There are kids in general that need help redirecting their energies. We help shape young adults into adults, and make sure they’re ready to go after college, whether it be professional athletics or a professional career.”

Even though Eastern does not have as many outside influences as larger institutions, the positive ones are still welcome because they pump money into programs.

Still, care must be taken in monitoring inside and out, especially with younger athletes.

“As a freshman coming in, they’re unsure of what they need to do and how this is going to get them to where they need to be,” Schultz said. “When kids are younger, they see the academic portion as a job and the athletic portion as a fun time. Once they become a senior, they realize that academics is going to help them get a job and athletics is going to help them get a job.”

At the end of a college athlete’s career, Schultz believes that the values instilled in players will have them prepared for whatever profession they choose.

Joshua Bryant can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].