Daily Compliance Item- 8/4/14- 16.5.2.1- Calculation Error on Preseason Practice Dates

The Ocean State University (OSU) men’s soccer student-athletes reported to campus to begin their preseason on the evening of August 1st and started practice activities on August 2nd.  On August 4th, the compliance director discovered a miscalculation with the preseason start date.  The team should not have conducted its first practice until August 5th.  Because the student-athletes received expenses prior to the first permissible date, does OSU have to request reinstatement from the NCAA. No.  NCAA Bylaw 16.5.2.1 states that a violation of Bylaw 16.5.2-(b) due to a miscalculation of the permissible start date for preseason practice shall be considered an institutional violation per Constitution 2.8.1; however, the student-athlete’s eligibility shall not be affected.

Daily Compliance Item- 8/1/14- 14.4.3.1.7- Multiple Degree Programs

Student-Athletes are getting back on the field.  Let’s hope all those nagging injuries have healed.  With practices starting there will  lots of certifying to do.  So let’s get the DCI started up again too! Good luck to everyone during the 2014-15 academic year!   Lib E. Ro is a volleyball student-athlete at Ocean State University (OSU).  Lib has designated two separate degree programs [Bachelors of Science (B.S.) in Industrial Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in International Relations] and was enrolled in classes for both programs during the 2013-14 academic year.  When certifiying Lib’s eligibility for the 2014-15 academic year, can OSU use classes from both degree programs? Because these are two separate degree programs OSU will have to select one to use for certification purposes.  Credits from two separate degree programs may not be combined to meet progress-toward-degree requirements. Therefore, a student-athlete who has designated two separate degree programs must be certified on the basis of course requirements in only one of the two degree programs.  NCAA Staff Interpretation- 4/22/98-  Student-Athlete Enrolled in Two Separate Degree Programs– states that a student-athlete who has designated two separate degree programs must satisfy all applicable satisfactory-progress requirements (e.g., credit-hour requirements) in one of the two degree programs. The student-athlete may not combine credits from two separate degree programs to meet the applicable satisfactory-progress requirements. [References: NCAA Bylaw 14.4.3 (eligibility for competition — Divisions I and II) and staff minute 02/03/95, item a]       Want to follow the Ocean State Orcas on Twitter?  You can find them at @OrcasOSU Receive the Daily Compliance Item via Twitter each day by following @JumpForward and @DCI_Daily   Jennifer M. Condaras Associate Commissioner for Compliance & Governance BIG EAST Conference Cell (401) 265-6739

Summer Daily Compliance Item 5/29/14- 16.5.2(d)- New Meals Legislation

Included below is a recent statement from the NCAA regarding the application of  Division I Proposal 2013-31-B.   Now is the time to establish and share best practices for applying this permissive legislation on your campus!   Application of NCAA Division I Proposal No. 2013-31-B (Awards, Benefits and Expenses — Meals and Snacks Incidental to Participation) NCAA Division I member institutions are reminded that beginning August 1, 2014, an institution is permitted to provide meals and snacks to student-athletes as a benefit incidental to participation in intercollegiate athletics. The following information is designed to assist institutions with the application of the legislation. Since the adoption of Proposal No. 2013-31-B, the NCAA national office has received numerous questions from the membership regarding the application of the new legislation. More specifically, given that the legislation provides institutions the discretion to provide all student-athletes (scholarship and nonscholarship) with meals and snacks incidental to participation, questions have arisen concerning the impact on financial aid legislation and the meaning of “incidental to participation.” Consistent with the deregulatory nature of this rule change and recognizing the uniqueness of institutional meal plans and polices, institutions and conferences have the discretion to provide student-athletes other meals or snacks as they deem appropriate and consistent with institutional policies and financial aid regulations. As adopted, the legislation does not permit institutions to avoid applying the financial aid legislation. For example, meals and snacks provided as benefits incidental to participation in intercollegiate athletics are not intended to replace meals that would normally be provided through a dining plan or an off-campus board stipend. The Division I membership will have the opportunity to examine the various outcomes of this new legislation through the new governance model. Lastly, similar to the deregulation that occurred as part of the NCAA Working Group on Collegiate Model – Rules process in the area of student-athlete benefits, the membership should be assured that exercising the discretion described above to provide meals or snacks to student-athletes will not result in second-guessing by the NCAA staff. [References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 15.2.2.1 (off-campus room and 16.5 (housing and meals) and 16.11 (benefits, gifts and services)]

Summer Daily Compliance Item 5/27/14- 13.02.12 and all-star games

PLEASE NOTE:  This week begins the summer DCI schedule, so over the next couple of months there will only be one or two items a week or when timely information presents itself.  Daily service will resume in August.   Ocean State University has two incoming basketball student-athletes that will be enrolling in summer school on June 1st. Both of these individuals have been invited to participate in all-star games in the month of July.  Since they will be considered student-athletes as of June 1st (summer school enrollment date), can they participate in the all-star games?   Yes with the approval of the blanket waiver by the Division I Legislative Counciul Subcommittee for Legislative Relief.   The NCAA Division I Legislative Council Subcommittee for Legislative Relief approved a blanket waiver to allow incoming student-athletes whom, per NCAA Bylaw 13.02.12, are no longer considered prospective student-athletes as a result of attending classes during the summer term to participate in a high school or two-year college all-star contest.  In issuing this waiver, the subcommittee noted the celebratory nature of all-star contests as a culmination of a high school or two-year college athletics career. Additionally, the subcommittee noted the minimal competitive advantage gained as a result of participation in a high school or two-year college all-star contest.  Given the timing of these all-star events, incoming student-athletes would potentially be otherwise required to forego the opportunity to participate in an all-star contest or delay summer school enrollment in order to participate in the event.   See Case No. 675651 in Requests/Self-Reports Online (RSRO) via the search tab.

Daily Compliance Item 5/23/14- Current Event

NCAA asks that O’Bannon trial be moved to February 2015 USAToday.com   The NCAA on Tuesday asked that the impending trial of an anti-trust case relating to the use of college athletes’ names and likenesses and the association’s limits on what major-college football and men’s basketball players can receive for playing sports be delayed until February 2015, when it can be tried at same time as a related case concerning use of college sports themed video games.   However, its request to U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken is largely based on a legal argument that Wilken seemed to reject during a hearing last Thursday.   It is unclear whether the NCAA’s latest argument will be enough to persuade Wilken to change her mind and delay the anti-trust trial from in its scheduled start date of June 9. Indeed, earlier Tuesday, lawyers for the anti-trust plaintiffs filed a proposed pre-trial schedule built around a June 9 trial date. In doing so, they wrote that they had discussed the proposed schedule with the NCAA’s attorneys and: “The NCAA does not object to the schedule proposed … while reserving all rights and objections to the scheduled June 9 trial.”   The NCAA’s expression of those objections revolves around what the association argues are overlapping issues between the anti-trust case, in which the lead plaintiff is former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon, and the video-game case, in which the lead plaintiff is former Arizona State and Nebraska football player Sam Keller.   Although currently joined with the O’Bannon case, the Keller case – as a practical matter – is a separate proceeding. The Keller case involves a different legal theory: personalities’ right to control the use of their names, images and likenesses, also known as the right of publicity. It also is focused almost entirely on video games, while the O’Bannon case involves video games and an array of other ways in which athletes’ names and likenesses are used in college sports marketing, merchandising and broadcasting.   Most critically for the purpose of Tuesday’s filing, the Keller case involves a monetary damages claim and would involve a jury while the O’Bannon case has been narrowed to a bid for an injunction that will be decided Wilken. The NCAA is arguing that elements of the O’Bannon case related to video games will have to be heard by the jury in the Keller case, so a ruling that Wilken makes in the O’Bannon case could affect how a jury rules in Keller case. That, claims the NCAA, would result in a violation of its Seventh Amendment right to an un-encumbered jury hearing of its case. The NCAA is pursuing this line of argument so vigorously that its Tuesday filing did not even address its prior request that Wilken either sever all evidence and claims related to video games from the O’Bannon case or delay it.   Tuesday, the NCAA wrote, in part, “even severance of the videogame claims will be insufficient to avoid Seventh Amendment violations.”   But, according to a transcript of last Thursday’s hearing – which occurred without arguments as detailed as those in the NCAA’s filing Tuesday – Wilken said in response to NCAA lawyer Glenn Pomerantz: “Well, here’s the thing. I just don’t see a Seventh Amendment issue here. … In terms of a separate case, just because there happens to be some overlap in issues, that just doesn’t raise the Seventh Amendment in any way.”   This article was selected for educational purposes only.

Daily Compliance Item 5/21/14- 11.4.1.1.1.4, 11.7.1.1.1- Outside Consultants During Out of Season Segment

Some of the coaches at Ocean State University would like their student-athletes to work with a sports psychologist during their out-of-season segment.  Is this permissible?   Yes with conditions.  NCAA Staff Interpretation- 5/15/14-  Meeting with a Sports Psychologist Outside the Playing Season (I) – states that  an institution may require a student-athlete to meet with a sports psychologist as a permissible out-of-season conditioning activity, provided the time engaged in the sessions are included in the maximum limit of eight hours per week for countable athletically related activities outside the playing season.   In addition, in bowl subdivision football, the sports psychologist would not have to count as one of the five strength and conditioning coaches permitted to work with the football program in any capacity.   [References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 11.7.1.1.1 (countable coach); 11.7.1.1.1.1 (noncoaching activities); 11.4.1.1.1.4 (use of outside consultants); 11.7.2.1.1 (weight or strength coach); 17.02.1 (countable related activities); 17.1.6.2 (weekly hour limitations — outside the playing season); and a staff interpretation (7/2/03, Item No. 1a)]

Daily Compliance Item 5/20/14- 17.28.1.4- Summer Foreign Tour Eligibility

Ree Bound is a basketball student-athlete at Ocean State University (OSU).  Ree competed for OSU during the fall 2013 semester but became academically ineligible for the spring 2014 semester.  OSU is participating in a foreign tour this summer.  Even though Ree was not eligible during the spring semester, could he be eligible to compete in the summer foreign tour?   Yes.  NCAA Staff Interpretation- 5/15/14-  Eligibility for Foreign Tour If Ineligible During a Term of the Previous Academic Year (I) – states that a student-athlete who is eligible for any term during the previous academic year at the certifying institution would be eligible to compete in the institution’s foreign tour taken during the summer immediately following that same academic year. For example, if a student-athlete is eligible in the fall term at the certifying institution, but not eligible in the spring term of the same academic year, the student-athlete would be eligible to compete in the institution’s summer foreign tour taken during the summer after the conclusion of the preceding academic year.   [References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 14.5.1 (residence requirement — general principle); 17.28.1.4 (eligibility of student-athletes) and a staff interpretation (4/2/08 Item No. a) that has been archived]

Daily Compliance Item 5/19/14- 17.1.6.2.1.5.3.1- Graduate Transfer

Hash Mark is a football student-athlete that just graduated from Bay State College.  Hash is transferring to Ocean State University (OSU) and wants to participate in summer activities with his new teammates.  Does Hash have to enroll in summer school at OSU in order to participate?   No.  NCAA Staff Interpretation- 5/15/14-  Graduate Transfer Student-Athlete’s Participation in Summer Athletic Activities (I) – states that an incoming four-year transfer student-athlete may participate in summer athletic activities without being enrolled in summer school prior to initial full-time enrollment at the certifying institution, provided:   (a) The individual has graduated from his or her previous institution;   (b) The individual has been accepted for enrollment as a graduate student at the certifying institution; and   (c) The individual has signed the certifying institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid or the institution has received the individual’s financial deposit in response to the institution’s offer of admission.   [References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 13.02.12 (prospective student-athlete); 13.02.12.1 (exception — after commitment) 14.1.6.1 (admission); 17.1.6.2.1.5 (summer athletic activities) 17.1.6.2.1.5.1 (basketball); 17.1.6.2.1.5.2 (football); 17.1.6.2.1.5.3 (exception to summer school enrollment — academic requirements — basketball and football); and 17.1.6.2.1.5.3.1 (application to transfer student-athletes) and a staff interpretation (3/15/13, Item No. a)]

Daily Compliance Item 5/15/14- 16.02.3, 16.11.2.1- Gift to Parents

Ocean State University (OSU) women’s tennis team participated in the NCAA championships.  One of the student-athlete’s parents lives in the locale of where the regional was conducted, so the team stayed at the parent’s house.  As a thank you for their hospitality, the coaches would like to send an edible fruit basket to the parents.  Is this permissible?   Yes.  NCAA Staff Interpretation- 7/11/90-  Providing a gift to parents of a student-athlete for services rendered    – states that  in regard to a member institution that wishes to give the parents of a student-athlete a gift for providing the team lodging at their home during an away-from-home contest; determined that such an arrangement would not be considered an extra benefit, provided the gift is of nominal value (e.g., a meal, flowers) and is in exchange for services the parents rendered.

Daily Compliance Item 5/13/14- 13.12.2.3.1- Coaching Clinic

The assistant women’s basketball coaches at Ocean State University (OSU) have been asked to speak at a coaches clinic that is being conducted by a recruiting service.  If there are not any prospects in attendance, is it permissible for the OSU coaches to be employed at this clinic?   No.  NCAA Official Interpretation- 5/9/14-  Coaching Clinic Sponsored by a Recruiting or Scouting Service (I) – states that  an athletics department staff member may not be employed (either on a salaried or a volunteer basis) in any capacity by a coaches clinic established, sponsored or conducted by an individual or organization that provides recruiting or scouting services concerning prospective student-athletes, even if prospective student athletes are not involved in the coaches clinic.   [References: NCAA Division I Bylaw 13.12.2.3.1 (camp/clinic providing recruiting or scouting service) and staff interpretation (04/01/11, Item No. a)]