Daily Compliance Item- 10/31/14- 13.6.7.9, 13.7.3- Decorating Hotel Room

TRICK OR TREAT! Ocean State University women’s basketball team has 3 prospects visiting campus this weekend on official visits.  The assistant coaches want to place Halloween decorations and candy all over the prospects’ hotel room. The Director of Compliance said this would be ok as long as the coaches do not include the prospects’ names in any of the decorations. Is this a trick or treat? IT’S A TRICK!  Bylaw 13.6.7.9 (or 13.7.3 for unofficial visits) states that an institution may not arrange miscellaneous, personalized recruiting aids (e.g., personalized jerseys, personalized audio/video scoreboard presentations) and may not permit a prospective student-athlete to engage in any game-day simulations (e.g., running onto the field with the team during pregame introductions) during an official visit. Personalized recruiting aids include any decorative items and special additions to any location the prospective student-athlete will visit (e.g., hotel room, locker room, coach’s office, conference room, arena) regardless of whether the items include the prospective student-athlete’s name or picture.  (Adopted:  8/5/04, Revised: 5/14/05) There are several secondary violations posted on LSDBi regarding personalized recruiting aids.

Daily Compliance Item- 10/30/14- Current Event

Wary Colleges Ratchet Up Scrutiny of Athletes in the Classroom

Chronicle of Higher Education

Six-figure incentive bonuses for coaches and athletic directors whose players excel on the field have long been a fixture in big-time college sports. But unless those players are also cutting it in the classroom, the University System of Maryland will no longer pay out.

Friday’s decision by the Maryland Board of Regents to tie athletic incentive bonuses to academic performance for new Division I coaches systemwide comes at a time of heightened scrutiny for athletics departments nationwide. Concerns over academic fraud are nothing new, but the intensity ramped up considerably last week with the release of a 136-page report detailing how athletes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had been steered into sham classes for nearly two decades.

The revelation that so many advisers, professors, and administrators had either gone along with the scheme or looked the other way prompted a flurry of worried calls from regents on some campuses. Experts urged college officials to watch more closely for possible signs of academic fraud, including courses that cater disproportionately to athletes and independent-study courses with vague requirements.

“As a university president, if you don’t look at this report and ask, ‘Can I be certain that we have the right checks and balances in place?’ you’ve missed the boat,” said Walter Harrison, president of the University of Hartford and head of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s academic-reform efforts over the past decade.

Reports about the apparently widespread practice of tutors’ completing assignments for athletes have prompted many college programs to reassess how they train their own tutors. They are also reassessing whether there is a sufficient firewall between coaches, who want to see athletes remain eligible to play, and academic-support staff members.

The North Carolina case provides “a great reminder of ethical boundaries,” said Brady W. Rourke, associate athletic director for student services at West Virginia University. “It challenged me, and I, in turn, challenged the staff, to think about how much is too much help.”

Troubling Incentives With the increase in the number of tutors, mentors, and graduate-student assistants for athletes, administrators need to be sure they aren’t simply “pouring information into students” or doing work for them, he said.

David E. Clough, a professor of engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has shared tracking and predictive tools with more than 100 NCAA programs to monitor how athletes are performing in the classroom. Mr. Clough, who serves as the university’s liaison between sports and academics, said Colorado had instituted an enhanced auditing system for independent-study courses, requiring students, faculty members, and department heads to sign a contract spelling out what’s expected and what is actually being done.

Maryland’s new policy, which was already in the works when the North Carolina report was released, tackles some of the troubling incentives a win-at-all-costs attitude can foster.

“This is a modest step, but we think an important one, that begins to put real teeth into the notion that student-athletes are students first,” Maryland’s chancellor, William E. (Brit) Kirwan, said in an interview on Tuesday.

While many coaching contracts include modest incentives for strong academic performance, the amounts are a small fraction of the incentives they receive if they win an NCAA tournament or have an undefeated season.

Maryland’s policy (Item 5e) would withhold those larger incentive bonuses if players fell below the minimum “academic-progress rate” set by the NCAA. For athletics directors, the threshold, which equates to a 50-percent graduation rate, would apply to the average of all of the campus’s intercollegiate sports.

“People need to be accountable,” said C. Thomas McMillen, a former member of Congress and secretary of the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents. Mr. McMillen, a former college and professional basketball player, was a key proponent of the new policy. (His sister, Liz McMillen, is the editor of The Chronicle.)

“Why should a coach get hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses if a team is failing academically?” Mr. McMillen said.

Trust, but Verify Some coaches have resisted the change, saying they shouldn’t be held accountable for a player’s academic performance. “They are responsible for the kinds of kids they recruit,” Mr. McMillen responded, adding that it would be “antithetical” to the goals of a university to reward coaches whose players were flunking out.

Mr. Harrison, the Hartford president, suggested a mix of techniques to keep athletics and academics in proper proportion.

“I look for clustering in courses and ask for periodic reports from the athletic director,” he said. “I want to be sure our student-athletes’ courses look like everyone else’s.”

Like independent-study courses, online courses are popular with athletes because of the flexibility they offer when teams are on the road. If not carefully monitored, both can lead to abuse, said Philip R. Hughes, who heads academic-success programs for athletes at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Mr. Hughes, who reports to the provost even though his office is housed in the athletics department, said reporting lines like his are becoming more popular as academic leaders try to get a better handle on how their athletes are faring in the classroom.

“The whole story at North Carolina has been simmering for so long that a lot of institutions had already strengthened their procedures and protocols and expanded transparency requirements,” Mr. Hughes said. Faculty oversight committees are among “a myriad of systems that make sure a lot of people are looking at it from a lot of different angles,” he said.

“You can try to legislate integrity, but the people in the university, from students to faculty members to department chairs to deans—you have to rely on them to do their jobs,” he said. Still, good intentions aren’t enough. Independent verification is the buzzword in athletics departments these day, Mr. Hughes added.

This article was selected for educational purposes only.

Daily Compliance Item- 10/29/14- 16.02.3, 16.11.1.1- Providing Items to Visiting Teams

Ocean State University (OSU) women’s soccer team is hosting Bay State College friday evening.  Since it is Halloween, the coaches would like to provide each member of the visiting team with a small bag of candy.

Is this permissible?

Yes.   NCAA Staff Interpretation- 8/26/13- Providing Goodwill Packages to Visiting Teams (I)- states that it is permissible to provide all teams participating in an institutionally sponsored competition with a goodwill package containing various mementos (e.g., coffee mugs, candy packets) of nominal value.

[References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 16.02.3 (extra benefit), 16.11.1.1 (general rule), 16.11.2.1 (general rule) and official interpretation (12/16/87, Item No. 3) which has been archived]

Daily Compliance Item- 10/28/14- 13.1.2.2, 13.1.5.8- Parent Who is a Coach Going to Child’s NLI Signing Event

Men’s Basketball Coach at Ocean State University (OSU) has a daughter that is a senior in high school and is going to sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI) next month to play basketball at another Division I institution.  There are three other seniors at the daughter’s high school that will be signing NLIs to participate in various sports at the Division I level.  This is the first year ever that this high school has had students sign NLIs, so the athletic director and principal want to conduct a small event for the families while the students sign their paperwork.

Is it permissible for the OSU coach to attend his daughter’s signing event?

Yes with conditions.  NCAA Staff Interpretation- 2/27/08- Coach Who Is A Prospective Student-Athlete’s Parent or Legal Guardian Attending Letter-of-Intent-Signing (I/II)- states that a coach who is a prospective-student-athlete’s parent or legal guardian may attend and observe a letter-of-intent signing activity that involves the coach’s son or daughter (or individual for which the coach is a legal guardian) in addition to other prospective-student-athletes,provided the attendance does not involve any personal contact with any other prospective-student-athletes.

[References:  NCAA Divisions I and II Bylaws 13.1.2.2 (permissible recruiters-general exceptions), Division I Bylaw 13.1.6.7 (letter-of-intent signing), and Division II Bylaw 13.1.6.2 (letter-of-intent signing)]

 

Daily Compliance Item- 10/27/14- 13.4.1.3.1- Mailing Documents Along with NLI

Ocean State University (OSU) compliance office is preparing for the upcoming National Letter of Intent (NLI) early signing period.  Each packet sent to prospects will include the NLI, NLI instructions and the OSU financial grant-in-aid.  The coaches will send these priority overnight using an express mailing service.  Trying to get a jump start on information for these potential signees, the Associate AD for Communications asks if he can include a questionnaire in the packet. Is it permissible to include a questionnaire in the packet? No.  NCAA Bylaw 13.4.1.3.1 states that an institution is not permitted to use express mail delivery services and may only use first-class mail or a lesser rate of service (e.g., parcel post) with no extra services (e.g., certified mail, delivery confirmation) to provide permissible printed recruiting materials to prospective student-athletes, their parents or legal guardians, their coaches or any other individual responsible for teaching or directing an activity in which a prospective student-athlete is involved, who resides within the 50 United States, other than the National Letter of Intent or other written admissions and/or financial aid commitment to attend the institution. [D] (Adopted: 4/28/05 effective 8/1/05, Revised: 5/12/05, 1/14/08, 4/15/08, 1/18/14 effective 8/1/14) This is an actual fact pattern for a secondary violation posted on LSDBi.  Penalty was a letter of admonishment.

Daily Compliance Item- 10/24/14- Current Event

SU basketball, football focus of NCAA ESPN.com Syracuse University’s men’s basketball and football programs are under NCAA investigation for allegations, including providing extra benefits and academic issues, that date back at least 10 years, a source said Thursday. Syracuse will go before the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions in Indianapolis on Oct. 30-31, sources said. The majority of the allegations — and the most serious — involve the men’s basketball program. Among the allegations facing the men’s basketball team are receiving extra benefits and academic issues, a source said. Those allegations go back about 10 years and are as current as the 2013 season, a source said. “There were things going on consistently (with the men’s basketball program) for a long time,” a source said. Jim Boeheim has been Syracuse’s head basketball coach since 1976. The football team is also facing allegations involving extra benefits, but only for a two-or-three-year stretch around 2004 or 2005, a source said. From 1991-2004, Paul Pasqualoni was Syracuse’s football coach, followed by Greg Robinson from 2005-08. Pasqualoni is now a defensive line coach with the Chicago Bears, while Robinson is defensive coordinator at San Jose State. None of the football allegations occurred since Doug Marrone took over in 2009, a source said. Marrone left for the Buffalo Bills in 2013 and was replaced by Scott Shafer. Syracuse.com reported part of the basketball investigation focuses on the academic record of Fab Melo, who was suspended in 2012. Also, former teammate James Southerland was suspended briefly for academics in the 2013 season but eventually returned to the team. Syracuse.com also reported Southerland’s suspension was the result of an NCAA investigation into the basketball program’s academic records. Since the NCAA’s inquiry began, Syracuse restructured the athletic department’s academic services department, which is responsible for keeping athletes academically eligible. The restructuring included at least three employees changing jobs, Syracuse.com reported. CBSSports.com first reported in March the NCAA’s investigation into the men’s basketball program. When investigations require hearings before the Committee on Infractions, it involves the more serious Level I violations and/or Level II violations. NCAA officials will not comment on pending cases. This article was selected for educational purposes only.

Daily Compliance Item- 10/23/14- 14.2.1.6- Former Student-Athlete Practicing with Team

Man Up is a former basketball student-athlete at Ocean State University (OSU).  Man exhausted his eligibility five years ago and has been playing in the NBA.  Man is in town visiting with the coaches this week and would like to participate in a few practices with the team.  Is it permissible for Man to practice?

Yes with conditions.  NCAA Bylaw 14.2.1.6 states that a former student at the certifying institution (e.g., former student-athlete) may participate in an organized practice session on an occasional basis, provided the institution does not publicize the participation of the former student at any time before the practice session.  (Adopted:  3/3/11)

 

Daily Compliance Item- 10/22/14- 12.5.3- Conference Media Day Expenses for Parents

The Ocean State University (OSU) men’s and women’s basketball programs will be participating in its conference media day this week.  The men’s preseason pick for player of the year is an OSU student-athlete, so the coaches have asked Ocean Eleven, the Conference office, to provide expenses for his father to attend.  Is it permissible for Ocean Eleven to provide such expenses to the parent?   No.  NCAA Staff Interpretation- 10/8/13-  Expenses for a Student Athlete’s Parents to Attend A Media Activity (I)–  states that it is not permissible for a conference to provide actual and necessary expenses to the parents of student-athletes to attend a media activity (e.g., conference “media day”). [References: NCAA Bylaws 12.5.3 (media activities), 16.02.3 (extra benefit) and 16.1.7 (expenses to receive noninstitutional awards); and staff interpretation (7/26/90, Item No. a), which has been archived]

Daily Compliance Item- 10/21/14- 13.9.2.2- Signing a Financial Aid Agreement

Bank Shot is a senior in high school.  Bank is going to graduate in December and will enroll at Ocean State University (OSU) in January and join the basketball team.  OSU would like to provide Bank an athletic scholarship, so last week the coaches sent him a financial aid agreement to sign. 

  Is it permissible for Bank to sign a financial aid agreement with OSU now?

 

Yes with conditions.  NCAA Staff Interpretation- 10/17/13- Awarding Athletics Aid to a Senior Prospective Student-Athlete who will Graduate and Enroll Midyear (I)– states that  a prospective student-athlete who intends to graduate from high school midyear and enroll at a member institution midyear during the same academic year (e.g., spring semester) may sign an institutional financial aid agreement on or after August 1 of his or her senior year, provided the institution issuing the financial aid agreement establishes, prior to issuing the agreement, that the prospective student-athlete is enrolled in all coursework necessary to graduate from high school at midyear.

[References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 13.9.2 (letter of intent restriction) and 13.9.2.2 (written offer of aid before signing date); and a staff interpretation (12/15/04, Item No. 1a), which has been archived]

 

Daily Compliance Item- 10/20/14- 12.7.5- Male Practice Players

The women’s basketball coaches at Ocean State University would like to have a few male students practice with the team this year on a regular basis.  Do these male students have to meet NCAA eligibility requirements for practice?     Yes.  NCAA Bylaw 12.7.5 states that male students may engage in practice sessions with women’s teams under the following conditions:  (Revised: 5/12/05, 5/29/08, 7/31/14) (a)  Male students who practice with an institution’s women’s team on an occasional basis must be verified as eligible for practice in accordance with Bylaw14.2.1 and must have eligibility remaining under the five-year rule (see Bylaw12.8.1); (b)  Male students who practice with an institution’s women’s teams on a regular basis must be certified  as eligible for practice in accordance with all applicable NCAA eligibility regulations (e.g., must be enrolled in a minimum full-time program of studies, must sign a drug-testing consent form, must be included on the institution’s squad list); (c)  It is not permissible for an institution to provide male students financial assistance (room and board, tuition and fees, and books) in return for practicing with a women’s team.  A male student who is receiving financial aid or any compensation for serving in any position in the athletics department may not practice with a women’s team.  A male student-athlete who is a counter in a men’s sport may not engage in practice sessions with an institution’s women’s team in any sport; (d)  It is not permissible for an institution to provide male students room and board to remain on campus during a vacation period to participate in practice sessions with a women’s team; (e)  It is not permissible for a male student-athlete who is serving an academic year of residence as a nonqualifier to participate in practice sessions with a women’s team; and (f)  It is permissible for an institution to provide practice apparel to male students for the purpose of practicing with a women’s team.