The Head Softball Coach at Ocean State University (OSU) want to go watch one of their National Letter of Intent (NLI) signees play tomorrow. Since the prospect they will be watching has already signed an NLI with OSU, does the coach have to count an evaluation day for watching this game?
Yes an evaluation day is used when observing a committed prospect in practice or competition activities. NCAA Educational Column- 4/28/15- Recruiting Activities After a Prospective Student-Athlete Commits to an Institution (I)- helps to clarify issues regarding recruiting activities for those prospects that have committed to institutions.
NCAA Division I institutions should note, pursuant to the exception after commitment legislation, after the institution has received an individual’s financial deposit in response to its offer of admission or the individual has signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) or the institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid the individual is no longer subject to the restrictions of Bylaw 13.1; however, the individual remains a prospective student-athlete for purposes of applying the remaining provisions of Bylaw 13 and other bylaw.
The following questions and answers are intended to assist the membership in applying NCAA Division I recruiting legislation after an individual has signed a National Letter of Intent or the institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid or after the institution has received his or her financial deposit in response to its offer of admission (i.e., after the individual’s commitment to the institution).
Football.
Question No. 1: In bowl subdivision football, may a coaching staff member have in-person contact, on or off campus, during the December or January dead period with a prospective student-athlete who has committed to the coaching staff member’s institution?
Answer: No. During the December or January dead period, it is not permissible to have contact with a prospective student-athlete who has committed to the institution. However, it is permissible for the institution to have contact with a prospective student-athlete who has arrived in the locale of the institution for initial full-time enrollment.
Question No. 2: In football, may a coaching staff member have contact with a committed prospective student-athlete while the prospective student-athlete is participating in an all-star contest?
Answer: No. It is not permissible for an institution to make in-person contact, on- or off-campus, with a prospective student-athlete participating in an all-star contest from the time the prospective student-athlete arrives in the locale of the contest until he returns to his home or to his educational institution.
Question No. 3: In bowl subdivision football, during the spring evaluation period, may the head coach visit the prospective student-athlete’s educational institution after he has committed to the coaching staff member’s institution?
Answer: No. It is not permissible for an institution’s head coach, or any coach who has been publicly designated to become the next head coach, to make in-person, off-campus contact with a prospective student-athlete during the April 15 through May 31 evaluation period at any location, even if the prospective student-athlete has signed the institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid or the institution has received the prospective student-athlete’s financial deposit in response to its offer of admission.
Question No. 4: May a coaching staff member have contact outside of a contact or evaluation period with a prospective student-athlete, who has committed to the coaching staff member’s institution, at the prospective student-athlete’s educational institution?
Answer: Any visit to a prospective student-athlete’s educational institution during a contact period counts as a contact for all prospective student-athletes in that sport at that educational institution.
All Sports.
Question No. 1: In sports other than bowl subdivision football, may a coaching staff member have in-person contact, on or off campus, during a dead period with a prospective student-athlete who has committed to the coaching staff member’s institution?
Answer: Yes. A prospective student-athlete is no longer subject to the application of the dead period legislation after he or she signs an NLI or the institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid, or the institution receives a financial deposit in response to the institution’s offer of admission; however, the dead period legislation still applies to all other prospective student-athletes.
Question No. 2: May a coaching staff member have contact outside of a contact or evaluation period (or a recruiting period in men’s basketball) with a prospective student-athlete who has committed to the coaching staff member’s institution, at the prospective student-athlete’s educational institution?
Answer: No. It is not permissible to have contact outside of a contact or evaluation period (or a recruiting period in men’s basketball) with a prospective student-athlete at his or her educational institution, because recruiting rules still apply to all other prospective student-athletes at the prospective student-athlete’s educational institution.
Question No. 3: May a coaching staff member have in-person contact, on- or off-campus, with a nonqualifier who is enrolled in his or her first year of college at a two-year institution after he or she commits to the coaching staff member’s institution?
Answer: Yes; however, it is not permissible to provide such a prospective student-athlete an official visit until he or she has completed an academic year at a two-year college.
Question No. 4: Is an institution required to obtain permission to contact a four-year college prospective student-athlete who has committed to the coach’s institution?
Answer: No. An institution that has received a four-year college prospective student-athlete’s signed acceptance of admission or a financial deposit in response to its offer of admission is not required to obtain written permission from another NCAA or NAIA four-year collegiate institution to make contact with the prospective student-athlete; however, the institution is required to obtain written permission from the four-year college prospective student-athlete’s previous institution to provide the student-athlete with athletically related financial assistance during the prospective student-athlete’s first year of full-time enrollment at that institution.
Further, if the four-year college student-athlete is transferring from an NCAA or NAIA member institution, the student-athlete’s previous institution must certify in writing that it has no objection to the student-athlete using the one-time transfer exception.
Question No. 5: Do the restrictions on telephone calls (e.g., one telephone call per week) and electronic correspondence apply to a prospective student-athlete once the individual commits to the coach’s institution?
Answer: No.
Question No. 6: Do the restrictions on the number of contacts apply to a prospective student-athlete who has committed to the coach’s institution?
Answer: No.
Question No. 7: Do the restrictions on the number of evaluations apply to a prospective student-athlete who has committed to the coach’s institution?
Answer: Although the institution does not use an evaluation for the prospective student-athlete who has commited to the institution, a visit (without contact) to a prospective student-athlete’s educational institution counts as an evaluation for all prospective student-athletes in that sport at that educational institution.
In addition, in team sports, the institution uses an evaluation for all prospective student-athletes participating in the practice or competition in which the committed prospective student-athlete participates. In football, an observation that occurs during a permissible contact period counts only as a contact.
Question No. 8: In sports with evaluation days (i.e., football, softball, women’s volleyball and women’s sand volleyball), does the institution use an evaluation day for observing a prospective student-athlete who has committed to the coach’s institution?
Answer: If the prospective student-athlete who has commited to the coach’s institution participates in a team sport that has evaluation days (e.g., football), then an evaluation day is used when the coach engages in an evaluation of the committed prospective student-athlete participating in practice or competition in the team sport.
For example, a committed prospective student-athlete participates in both softball and golf. The institution’s softball coach observes the committed prospective student-athlete participating in a softball tournament. In this scenario, an evaluation day is used.
However, if the institution’s softball coach observes the committed prospective student-athlete participating in golf, an evaluation day is not used.
Question No. 9: Do the restrictions on the number of recruiting opportunities apply to a prospective student-athlete who has committed to the coach’s institution?
Answer: No.
Question No. 10: Is a coaching staff member permitted to have contact with a prospective student-athlete who has committed to the coach’s institution after the prospective student-athlete has reported on call and before she has been released by the appropriate authority?
Answer: Yes. However, recruiting regulations still apply to all other prospective student-athletes participating in the practice or competition.
Question No. 11: In men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football, is a coaching staff member permitted to visit a prospective student-athlete’s educational institution more than once per week after the prospective student-athlete commits to the coach’s institution?
Answer: No. While a prospective student-athlete is no longer subject to the restrictions of Bylaw 13.1 after commitment, recruiting regulations still apply to all other prospective student-athletes at the prospective student athlete’s educational institution.
Question No. 12: In women’s basketball, during the July evaluation period, may a coaching staff member have communication with a prospective student-athlete who has committed to the coach’s institution?
Answer: Yes. During the July evaluation period in women’s basketball, a coaching staff member may have communication with a prospective student-athlete, her relatives or legal guardians, her coach or any individual associated with her as a result of her participation in basketball, provided she has committed to the coach’s institution. However, because the recruiting regulations still apply to all other prospective student-athletes, it is not permissible for a coaching staff member to have communication with a prospective student-athlete’s coach or any other individual associated with the prospective student-athlete if the individual has not committed to the coach’s institution.
[References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 13.02.5.5.2 (exception — after commitment), 13.02.12.1 (exception — after commitment), 13.1.1.2 (two-year college prospective student-athletes), 13.1.1.3 (four-year college prospective student-athletes), 13.1.2.6.3 (spring evaluation period — football bowl subdivision), 13.1.3.1 (time period for telephone calls — general rule), 13.1.3.1.1 (exception — swimming and diving), 13.1.3.1.1 (exception — baseball, cross country/track and field, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, women’s sand volleyball, softball and women’s volleyball), 13.1.3.1.2 (exception — football), 13.1.3.1.3 (exception — men’s basketball), 13.1.3.1.4 (exception — women’s basketball), 13.1.3.1.4.1 (additional restrictions — July evaluation periods), 13.1.3.1.7 (application of telephone call limitations), 13.1.3.2.1 (during conduct of athletics contest), 13.1.4.1 (men’s basketball), 13.1.4.2 (football and women’s basketball), 13.1.4.2.1 (visit during contact period — football), 13.1.4.2.3 (visit during evaluation period — women’s basketball), 13.1.5.1 (sports other than football, basketball and men’s ice hockey), 13.1.5.2 (football), 13.1.5.3 (men’s basketball), 13.1.5.4 (women’s basketball), 13.1.5.4.2 (additional restrictions — July evaluation periods), 13.1.5.5 (men’s ice hockey), 13.1.6.2 (practice or competition site), 13.1.6.2.1 (additional restrictions — basketball), 13.1.6.2.3 (athletics events outside contact period — football and basketball), 13.1.6.3 (all-star contests — football), 13.6.2.3.1 (nonqualifier in first year) and staff interpretations (8/30/13, Item No. b), (12/12/13, Item No. a), (12/12/13, Item No. b), (3/6/14, Item No. b) and (6/12/14, Item No. a)]
Jennifer M. Condaras
Deputy Commissioner, NCAA Relations & Administration
Colonial Athletic Association
The opinions expressed in the Daily Compliance Item are the author’s and the author’s alone, and are not endorsed by The COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION or JumpForward. The Daily Compliance Item is not a substitute for a compliance office, case specific research, or the NCAA Bylaws. Do some homework, ask around, and get it right.
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