SoCal Recruiting News
SoCal Recruiting News
So What Does It Mean To
Be "Recruited"?--(Oct. 24, 1997)
What are the rules of "recruiting"? If you are a high school athlete, want to be a high school athlete, or have aspirations of playing college ball, pay attention. Parents and students need to know the rules. We'd like to help. So here's a small primer; it's not "complete", but merely an overview. A much more in-depth treatment of this subject can be found at the NCAA Online site.
So here's the straight poop on some of the most important Division I recruiting rules:
Am I a "recruit"?
The NCAA has several classifications of "recruits".
If you are in Ninth Grade, you are now an official "prospective student-athlete".
It's also possible to be a "prospect" before the 9th grade. It can happen if a college gives you any financial aid or "benefit" which is not generally provided to other prospective students. This is actually pretty rare and almost never happens, but watch out. If you're 14 years old, 6'-9" and have a great 3 point shot, you might want to think twice before you accept those season tickets from a booster or someone "connected" with a college program.
You become a "recruited prospective student-athlete" if any coach or representative of the college's athletics interests (and this includes any "booster" of a college program) approaches you or any member of your family about enrolling and playing at a particular college.
According to the NCAA, you become a "recruited prospective student-athlete" when a booster or coach:
"Provides you with an "official visit";
"Places more than one telephone call to you or any other member of your family; or
"Visits you or any other member of your family anywhere other than the college campus."
Basically, a player actually becomes recruited in basketball (in the real world) during the summer after the completion of his junior year, because that is the first time a college coach can actually telephone a player (prior to that a player can call a coach all he wants--see below).
What's all this stuff about "boosters"? What can they do, and what can't they do?
You may think you don't need to be concerned about this, but just consider all that's happened in college sports as a result of the misconduct of boosters and how it affects a recruit's later eligibility. In Division I, no alumni, boosters or "representative of a college's athletics interests" (i.e., anyone other than a coaching staff individual) can be involved in your recruiting. A booster is not permitted to telephone you, or write to you about your enrollment and playing at a particular school that the booster is connected to.
Of course, any alum or booster can write to you or phone you provided that they engage in the same activity on behalf of the school "as part of a college's regular admissions program for all prospective students, including nonathletes."
How Much Money Can I Accept for Signing With A College?
None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. You can't get any money. If you do, you're an idiot or just asking for trouble.
How Much Money Can My Parents Get If I Agree to Play?
Again, you're really not paying attention.
The NCAA prohibits you or your family from receiving any benefit, inducement or arrangement such as cash, clothing, cars, improper expenses, transportation, gifts or loans to encourage you to sign a National Letter of Intent or attend an NCAA college. That includes new or slightly used Broncos, large amounts of cash stuffed into envelopes bearing only the school logo which you find under your doormat, and the like. It means that if your parents cut a deal with a coach who agrees to pay them if you go to his school, that (1) you'll be declared ineligible to play and probably have to transfer to Pepperdine, (2) the school will probably get an NCAA suspension and not play in post-season play for a year, (3) the coach will likely be banned for at least 8 years from all further NCAA activity, and (4), your parents will probably still get to keep the dough, even though the school will be required to forfeit any games in which you've played and will also have to return any of the money the school earned from those games. [Note, this was not intended as a slap at Pepperdine, but a reference to Jelani Gardner's recruitment at Cal and his subsequent transfer to Pepperdine, and the NCAA's treatment of him and his parents].
Can I talk to an Agent?
Yes, but you probably have no reason to do so, and you have to be careful. You can't agree either orally or in writing to have an agent represent you while you are in either high school or college. If you do, or accept any money, you can jeopardize your status as an amatuer, and thus your eligibility.
Can I Talk to A Recruiting Service?
Yes. But be aware that while the NCAA says you can use such services to get recruited or to enhance your exposure, the NCAA rules do prohibit such scouting services from receiving any payment from you or your parents which is directly tied to or based on the monetary amount of any college scholarship you might receive. In other words, the service can charge you a flat fee, but if they charge you a fee which is a percentage of the scholarship you ultimately receive or has a sliding scale based on that financial aid, run the other way. The NCAA doesn't sanction or endorse any scouting service. Therefore, if you're going to use one, you'd better be careful that you and the service are in compliance.
If I "Verbally" Commit to Attend a School Can I Change My Mind?
Sure. You can change your mind as often as you change your underwear. Sometimes more often. Just be sure to do it before you sign a National Letter of Intent, because it's next to impossible to get out of that.
Just as an aside, you probably should choose pretty carefully, and avoid changing your mind if you can help it. That's why a lot of guys wait until the spring "signing" period to make up their minds. On the other hand, if you've been given a committment for a scholarship, and it may not be available in the spring, then go for it.
[Note, there are many other articles about the National Letter of Intent, and the rules applicable to the LOI, here at SoCalHoops and elsewhere; just remember, the LOI is a contract, and it definitely favors the school and binds the athlete to attend that institution and only that institution; there are penalties assessed if a student-athlete changes his mind and an appeal process which must be followed to avoid a serious waiting period penalty--which is different from the NCAA's own transfer-eligibility rule. Check the National Letter of Intent website for specific rules applicable to the LOI].
Can I Do Drugs?
Are you kidding? If you have to ask, you're not going to make it in D-I, D-II, D-III, NAIA, JUCO, or anywhere else. Actually once you enroll, you'll be subject to some pretty stringent drug testing requirements and will have to sign a bunch of forms every year. Don't do drugs, and don't lie about it either, because if you do lie, that's a separate offense which could jeopardize your eligibility. [Just ask Jelani McCoy].
When Can a Coach Write to Me?
When you become a high school junior, any coach, student or faculty member (but not a booster) can write to you, so long as it's after September 1. The rules are pretty clear on printed materials:
A Division I college that is recruiting you may provide to you only the following printed materials on or after September 1 of your junior year:
Official academic, admissions and student services publications and videotapes published by the college;
General correspondence, including letters and college note cards (attachments to correspondence may include materials printed on plain white paper with black ink);
Game programs (a college may only give you a program on an official or unofficial visit; colleges may not mail you a program);
A media guide or recruiting brochure (but not both) in each sport;
Any necessary preenrollment information about orientation, conditioning, academics, practice activities, as long as you have signed a National Letter of Intent or have been accepted for enrollment;
One student-athlete handbook. (A college may only give you a handbook on an official or unofficial visit. Effective August 1, 1997, a college may mail you a handbook once you've signed a National Letter of Intent or been accepted for enrollment.)
One wallet-size playing schedule card in each sport.
In addition, a Division I college may show you a highlight film/videotape, but may not send it to or leave it with you or your coach.
Just remember, it's not a violation to receive a simple questionnaire, camp brochure and educational information published by the NCAA (such as this guide) before September 15 of your junior season. In fact they can send a questionaire at any time and in fact it's a great recruiting tool for coaches to communicate with you and you with them. Many coaches use a questionaire to determine whether you are interested in their school, and if so, they will likely include you in their recruiting database and also likely follow your progress before the summer preceding your senior season, i.e., when you can actually become a "recruited" athlete.
When Can a Coach Call Me?
If you are a basketball player (and you probably are, or you would most likely not be reading this), you can start taking calls from a coach or faculty member during the summer after your Junior year (i.e., the year before you become a senior), but only so long as it's after July 1st. [Note, the actual date has changed several times over the years; check with the NCAA Recruiting Calendar for Division I to get the exact date].
How Many Calls Can I Get from a College?
So long as it's after July 1st [Note, again the dates have been changed, so check the recruiting calendar], the summer before your senior year starts, you or your parents can, as a general rule, get one call a week from a coach or faculty member.
There are a few exceptions:
You can get unlimited calls
1. During the five days immediately before your official visit;
2. On the day of a coach's "off-campus contact" with you by the coach;
3. On the initial date for signing the "National Letter of Intent" in your sport, and for two days thereafter; and
4. On the fifth Tuesday in February of a non-leap year, but only during a full-moon (just checking to see if you're paying attention)..
There are a couple more exceptions, but they only apply to football and ice hockey, so we won't talk about them here. If you really care, go to the NCAA Online.
How Often Can I Call the College?
Basically, as many times as you want. You or your parents may telephone a coach at your expense as often as you wish.
If you can convince someone to accept the charges, a coach is also allowed to accept collect calls from you, and can give you a toll-free (1-800) number to call him, but only after July 1st immediately before you become a senior.
What about Students from the College? Can they Call Me?
That all depends.
If they are "enrolled student-athletes" they can't make "recruiting" telephone calls to you. That means if you're a senior and your best buddy is an "enrolled student-athlete" you should probably be careful, because somebody will probably accuse your buddy of trying to recruit you. Have your conversations on a speaker phone and tape record them to make a record; you never can be too careful. . . Just kidding. Don't get paranoid. But do be careful, especially if you are rated as the top point guard in the country, because everyone will be looking over your shoulder. If you're just a good player, then just use common sense, because no one will probably care anyway. . . Again, just kidding. Read the rules and follow them. Better yet, call your buddy yourself, because you can do that (but only after July 1 after you finish your junior year). You'll have to pay for the call, so don't call collect (see below).
Other students enrolled at the college, i.e, nonathletes, can call you "as part of a college's regular admissions program directed at all prospective students. "
As mentioned, you can call either non-athletes and athletes at the college as many times as you want but only after July 1 following the completion of your junior year. (July 1 after your junior year is a pretty important date. Remember it.)
What's a "Contact", and When Can It Happen?
A "contact" is very broad, and includes visits and meetings.
According to the NCAA, "Any face-to-face meeting between a college coach and you or your parents, during which any of you say more than "hello" is a "contact." Also, any face-to-face meeting that is prearranged or that occurs at your high school or competition or practice site is a "contact", no matter what you talk about. These latter "contacts are called "bumps, " and are not allowed.
"Contacts" can only occur (yeah, this is getting repetitive), on or after July 1st following the completion of your junior year.
So How Many Contacts Can I Have?
You can only have three off-campus "contacts" from a coach. In addition to these three "contacts" a college coach is allowed one more: He can visit your high school once, but only if your high school principal says its ok, and this can only happen during a "contact period".
There are different rules for football and ice hockey, so be careful not to completely rely on the above if you're in those sports.
What's an Evaluation and When Can I Be Evaluated?
An evaluation is any off-campus activity used to assess your academic qualifications or athletics ability, including a visit to your high school (during which no "contact" occurs) or watching you practice or compete at any site.
Basketball coaches are currently allowed five "recruiting opportunities" to utilize on you during any year. In using those five opportunities, a basketball coach may use any combination of contacts and/or evaluations that equal five; however, not more than three of the opportunities may be in-person contacts. Competition on consecutive days within a tournament (and normally at the same site) or that involves a tier of a tournament (e.g., regional) counts as a single evaluation.
Basically after you've committed and
signed a National Letter of Intent (which has a defined meaning which will be set out
later), you can be "evaluated" an unlimited number of times by the college to
which you've committed.
So When are the Contact/Evaluation Periods?
This is real technical stuff, so we won't fool around.
[Note: The info below was originally printed when this article was posted in 1997, and it's a bit out of date by now. . . For current information, go to this link at the NCAA's website, for the Division I recruiting calendar. ]
1997-98 Contact Periods
Men's Basketball: September 9 through September 26, 1997; March 16 through March 22, 1998; April 1 (8 a.m.) through April 5, 1998; April 10 through April 15, 1998.
Women's Basketball: September 10 through September 29, 1997; March 1 through March 24, 1998 (a college has eight contact days to use at its discretion); March 30 (noon) through April 5, 1998.
1997-98 Evaluation Periods
Men's Basketball: During any contact period; July 8 through July 31, 1997; November 20, 1997, through March 15, 1998 (40 evaluation days selected by the college); July 8 through July 31, 1998.
Women's Basketball: During any contact period; July 8 through July 31, 1997; October 8, 1997, through February 28, 1998 (40 evaluation days selected by the college); July 8 through July 31, 1998; during the National Junior College Athletic Association and Amateur Athletic Union national championships; during official tryouts for the USA Basketball Olympic Festival [Note: For states that play high-school basketball in the spring, April 8 through April 28 and July 8 through July 31; for Hawaii, March 1 through May 31 and July 8 through July 31].
Are there any Dead Periods? You bet!
There's a "dead" period (when coaches have to pretend that either you're dead, or that they are) in every sport for 48 hours before and 48 hours after 7 a.m. on the day of National Letter of Intent signing .
Can I "Tryout" for a Division I Team?
No.
Remember, a "tryout" is defined as "any physical activity (e.g., practice session or test) conducted by or arranged on behalf of the college, at which you display your athletics ability."
This is different than being a "walk-on". If you're a recruit, you can't "tryout". If you're a student at the school, then go ahead and do it.
You can "tryout" in Division III and for NAIA though.
What about Visits? Do I Ever Get to See the School Before I Commit?
You should visit, but you aren't required to do so. The NCAA permits both "official" and "unofficial" visits.
You can make as many "unofficial" visits as you want.
When you do visit at your own expense (an "unofficial"), you can be given three complimentary admission tickets to a game on campus, you can get a tour of any off-campus practice sites, and can get a tour of the arena where regular competition occurs (either on or off campus). You can, of course, also visit any other college facilities within 30 miles of the campus.
As for "official visits", you can have only one all-expenses paid trip to any one school, and you can only have a total of five "official" visits during your senior year.
Remember, that unless you give the college your transcripts and test scores, you can't have an official visit. And, as though Schea Cotton won't remember this, the test scores have to have been taken under "national testing conditions" and the school can use the " Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse" to validate you, but even if the NTS thinks you've done your best, the NCAA can apparently overrule it. Just ask Schea. [And DeShawn Stevenson, and Brandon Brooks, and . . . .]
How Long Can My Official Visit Last and What Can I Expect to Receive?
An "official visit" can't be longer than 48 hours. For those of you who can't figure this out, that's two days.
You can be given round-trip transportation between your home or your high school and the campus. Your parents will have to pay their own cab fare or car rental, and their own air fare, but yours is on the house.
Your food and lodging, and your parents' can be "comped" during your visit, and you get to eat either on or off campus. By all means, eat off campus. Go for the steak and lobster, and be sure to order a big bottle of really expensive wine. You'll be eating dorm food for four years, so go for broke during your official visit. Oh, yeah, just make sure that you don't go to Monty's with more than one enrolled student-athlete per recruit, because if you do, the prospective coach will be fired later if he denies that it happened. Oh yeah, and you'll end up at Stanford instead of UCLA. Really.
You can also get free tickets to any campus games going on during your visit, but the NCAA is pretty picky about where you'll be sitting. You can only sit in the "general seating" area. That means you can't sit on the bench or in the press box, or in any luxury sky boxes. By the way, if the school has luxury sky boxes, enroll immediately, because that means that even if you never make it to the NBA, they've got some really rich alumni who'll give you a great job when you do graduate. Just kidding. . .
During your official visit, a coach can only ride with you in a car (not on a bus), and then only during the two days of your visit. Presumably this means no bikes or skateboards, but just in a car.
You and your parents get to have a "student host" during your "official visit". This host can spend $30 per day to cover all costs of entertaining you, your parents, legal guardians or your spouse (I guess you'll be eating hotdogs, not steak and lobster). Oh yeah, the $30, can't be used to buy you souvenir T-shirts or other college "mementos"
You do get to have a "student-athlete handbook" free of charge. Finally, if you find any money stuffed between pages 31 and 32 of the aforementioned "student-athlete handbook" you'd better not take it or you'll be ineligible. Seriously.
What Kind of Stuff Can the School Give Me?
This is a bit repetitive, but since most people don't understand when a coach can send printed materials this is probably worth repeating (see "When Can A Coach Write To Me" above).
Basically they can give or send you a bunch of booklets, but only on or after September 1 of your junior year:
1. Any "official" academic, admissions and student services publication and videotape published by the college;
2. General correspondence, including letters and college note cards-- anything enclosed or stapled to the letter can only be printed on plain white paper with black ink--(note, just remember though, college coaches still can't call you until after June 15 of your junior season, basically starting in the summer when you become a "rising senior").
3. Game programs, but only during an official or unofficial visit. You can't get these in the mail. If you do, panic and then throw it away. Better yet, burn or shred it.
4. A media guide or recruiting brochure (but not both) in any sport you're being recruited;
5. Any "necessary preenrollment information about orientation, conditioning, academics, practice activities", but only if you've singed a National Letter of Intent or you've been accepted for enrollment;
6. One "student-athlete handbook", preferably the one with the money in it. A college can also mail you a handbook once you've signed a National Letter of Intent or you've been accepted for enrollment, in addition to the one they can give you when you visit
7. One wallet-size playing schedule card in each sport. Whee!.
8. In addition, a Division I college can show you a highlight film or videotape, but can't send it to you or leave it with you or your coach.
Again, remember that a Division I college can send you a questionnaire, camp brochure and educational information published by the NCAA at any time.
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