re: Alabama and Deboer accused of tampering with Arizona qb

Is it considered tampering to contact someone associated with the player and not directly contacting the player (in this case contacting a family member)?

It's obviously tampering either way, but I'm asking because I'm not sure what the rules say about this and if this is a loophole that coaches use. Who are coaches prevented from talking to other than the player himself? I'm not sure