Rules, Rules, Rules

Rule, Rules, Rules. There are plenty of them to consider when going to college and even more to consider when you are a student athlete.

First, there is the recruiting. We are now in what is considered a contact period. What’s a contact period you ask? The NCAA web site has all of the following on their web site, but we thought we would explain in a little more detail about how these rules are interpreted by the schools and the organizations that run the showcases and camps. The NCAA definition from their web site is in regular type and ours and additional info we gathered from scouring through the rules and regulations manuals is in (parentheses and italics.)

Contact- A contact occurs any time a coach has any face-to-face
contact with you or your parents off the college's campus and says
more than hello. A contact also occurs if a coach has any contact
with you or your parents at your high school or any location where
you are competing or practicing.

Contact Period - permissible for authorized athletic department staff members to make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations. (The coach may also watch you play or visit your high school. You and your parents may visit a college campus and the coach may write and telephone you during this period. Schools can have face-to-face off-campus contact with prospects and parents...usually at showcases and camps...and prospects can take part in activities designed for evaluating athletic and academic abilities.)

Dead period - not permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on- or off-campus or permit official or unofficial visits. (Seems self explanatory, but schools may write or telephone prospects during this period.)

Evaluation- An evaluation is an activity by a coach to evaluate
your academic or athletics ability. This would include visiting your
high school or watching you practice. (Or compete in a camp, showcase or other major national tournament event such as the WWBA, BCS, Junior Olympics, etc.)

Evaluation period - permissible for authorized athletics department staff to be involved in off-campus activities to assess academic qualifications and playing abilities. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts with a prospect are permitted. (These are usually showcases and camps as well, but the schools may not have face-to-face contact with prospects and parents at all. A coach may write and telephone you or your parents during this time.)

Quiet period - permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts only on the member institution's campus. (The coach may not watch you play or visit your high school during this period. You and your parents may visit a college campus during this time however. No contact or evaluation may be made off campus.)

Official visit- Any visit to a college campus by you and your parents paid for by the college. The college may pay the following
expenses:
• Your transportation to and from the college;
• Room and meals (three per day) while you are visiting the college; and
• Reasonable entertainment expenses, including three complimentary admissions to a home athletics contest.

Before a college may invite you on an official visit, you will have
to provide the college with a copy of your high school transcript
(Division I only) and SAT, ACT or PLAN score and register with the
NCAA Eligibility Center

Detailed information about recruiting is available in the online edition of the NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete.