The Compliance Corner
The Compliance Corner Summer 2016 — Volume 3, Issue 10 Texas A&M Corpus Christi Compliance Office Monthly Newsletter
Booster Edition Tip of the Month: Recruiting Responsibilities Recruiting is any solicitation of a prospective student-athlete or a prospective student-athlete’s relatives (or legal guardians) by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institution’s athletics interests for the purpose of securing the prospective student-athlete’s enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program. Please keep in mind that ONLY TAMUCC coaches who are permitted to recruit may recruit prospective student-athletes on behalf of Islanders Athletics. Boosters MAY NOT recruit prospective student-athletes; however, they may recommend prospective student-athletes to recruit to TAMUCC coaches. If you have any questions regarding recruiting or prospective student-athletes, please contact the Islanders Compliance Office.
In the News! UNC received another notice from the NCAA: Here's what happens next An Eye-Opening Survey A recent NCAA survey that was released earlier this month and commissioned by none other than the national office itself that focused on Division I athlete perceptions of athletic time demands, along with the perception of coaches and other administrators yielded some interesting, predictable and even some stunning responses. What was not surprising to me was the huge disparity between the feelings of the coaches and administrators versus the athletes. The coaches wanted to control the athletes time even more than they do now, while the athletes overall expressed a desire to have more time away from their sport to do other things, like study and you know-be an actual college student for instance. NCAA surveys like this typically get an outstanding response rate because of the semi-captive audience. The response rate is much better than most research surveys I have seen and for that they should be commended along with appropriate kudos for doing the survey in the first place. An impressive 44,000 responses from athletes alone were tabulated along with another 6000 responses from athletic directors, Senior Women’s Administrators, head coaches, Faculty Athletic Representatives, and others such as compliance officials. The NCAA has been visiting the issue of time demands more seriously the past couple of years and rightly so. While the last NCAA convention did not have any serious decisions made about lessening or altering time demands on athletes, virtually everyone was in agreement that something needs to change to benefit the athlete, ostensibly erring on the side of trying to
make the athlete appear more as a student rather than employee considering the ubiquitous legal issues surrounding this distinction going on right now. This survey is a step in the right to direction to get some clarity from the primary stakeholders, the athletes, on what it is they want and what the view is from the trenches. Contrasting the athlete view with the administrators and coaches really can give the NCAA establishment direction. 20 Hours per Week? It is hard to believe that the NCAAs so-called 20 hour a week rule to limit the time an athlete spends on athletic versus academic pursuits has been around since the 80s. I can still remember many athletes and coaches lamenting the fact that they would not be able to devote the necessary time to their sport. Case in point many athletes decided to temporarily drop out of school to focus on athletic glory without being constrained by the NCAA time demands, such as Stanford swimmer and Olympic standout Janet Evans did. It is a truism that prior to the 20 hour rule, time spent on athletic activities was hardly regulated by NCAA member institutions, but in reality the rule has not given the athlete more time to spend on other pursuits as a college student. Many athletically related activities so not count against toward the 20 hours such as voluntary workouts (mostly mandatory-voluntary as I call it), training table, practice preparation such as taping etc. Competition days, regardless of the number of actual games, counts as three hours and while there is a one mandatory day off per week, most schools were using travel days as the day or days off.
Brian Maxey, Associate Athletics Director for Compliance [email protected]/361-825-2858 Josh King, Compliance & Student-Athlete Services Coordinator [email protected]/361-825-6388 The Compliance Corner—Page 1
Compliance Quiz
7 Rules Boosters Should Know
Test your compliance knowledge!!
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO! If you are not sure, CALL the Athletics Director or the Compliance Office. Remember, “the only dumb question is the one not asked.” NCAA rules are complex and not uniformly applied. Some apply only to Division I schools. Others may be able to do things differently. Just because someone says or is doing something different, don’t assume the rule has changed. Please check with us! ACTIVE RECRUITING INVOLVEMENT is limited to coaches. Only coaches are permitted to be directly involved in the recruiting process. They are the only ones who may meet a prospect or the prospect’s parents in person; place a phone call to the prospect; or write to a prospect. BOOSTERS ARE PROHIBITED from making in-person, on or off-campus recruiting contacts, as well as written or telephone communications with a prospect or the prospect’s family. ALUMNI/BOOSTER EVENTS can violate recruiting regulations if prospects are in attendance. A coach’s appearance at an event where prospects are present could make it a “recruiting event” and everyone present would be committing a violation. If you are arranging or attending alumni or booster events, do not bring or invite prospects and explain to parents the importance of prospect-age youngsters not attending. EXTRA BENEFITS are any special arrangements by an institutional employee or booster to provide a currently enrolled student-athlete or prospect, or their parents and relatives, a benefit not expressly authorized by the NCAA or which is not available to all students in general. Boosters shall not offer, provide or arrange financial assistance, directly or indirectly, to pay (any amount) the cost of the prospect’s educational or other expenses other than summer employment. ATTENDING ATHLETICS CONTESTS at schools in your community is permitted, but contacting a prospect, prospect’s parents or prospect’s coach while you are there is prohibited. If you see or hear of a potential prospect for TAMUCC, contact the coaches with basic information (school, position, coach). OCCASIONAL FAMILY HOME MEALS may be provided to an enrolled student-athlete, or an entire team. The meal must be served at the host’s home. (It cannot be at a restaurant.) It may be catered. Such meals must be restricted to infrequent and special occasions. Only the host and school staff members may provide transportation to the function. NCAA REGULATIONS DO NOT PERMIT “SPONSOR FAMILIES”. STUDENT-ATHLETE APPEARANCES are permissible at a local church, school, charity or non-profit agency. The appearances must be carefully arranged and have prior written approval of the Athletics Director.
Q1. You may attend a public event, such as a picnic or high school banquet, if prospects are also in attendance. A. True B. False Q2. Which of the following is true concerning student-athlete scholarships and financial aid? A. Boosters may give student-athletes money towards books and essential school supplies. B. Boosters may donate money for scholarships and name the scholarship after a current student-athlete. C. Boosters may pay for a PSA’s summer school classes at a local community college. D. Boosters may not do ANY of the above. Q3. Which of the following may a booster provide to TAMUCC student-athletes? A. Airline Ticket B. Vehicle on Loan C. Bus Ticket D. None of the Above Q4. Former TAMUCC student-athletes may provide extra benefits to current TAMUCC studentathletes, even if they played together in the past and were teammates. A. True B. False
Quiz Answers: 1. A. 2. D 3. D 4. B
What can you do for TAMUCC student-athletes? Contact a current student-athlete regarding employment opportunities in which the student-athlete will be paid the going rate for work performed. Student-athletes are to be hired based on their qualifications and not on their status as a student-athlete. Provide a student-athlete an occasional meal in your home or on TAMUCC’s campus. Occasional meals must be ap-
proved in advance by Compliance. Please refrain from offering current student-athletes, their families, and friends anything that is not available to the general public or the TAMUCC student body. This includes any benefit or special arrangement such as free or reduced cost lodging, meals or services.
ASK BEFORE YOU ACT! The Compliance Corner—Page 2
Booster Edition Tip of the Month: Recruiting Responsibilities Recruiting is any solicitation of a prospective student-athlete or a prospective student-athlete’s relatives (or legal guardians) by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institution’s athletics interests for the purpose of securing the prospective student-athlete’s enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program. Please keep in mind that ONLY TAMUCC coaches who are permitted to recruit may recruit prospective student-athletes on behalf of Islanders Athletics. Boosters MAY NOT recruit prospective student-athletes; however, they may recommend prospective student-athletes to recruit to TAMUCC coaches. If you have any questions regarding recruiting or prospective student-athletes, please contact the Islanders Compliance Office.
In the News! UNC received another notice from the NCAA: Here's what happens next An Eye-Opening Survey A recent NCAA survey that was released earlier this month and commissioned by none other than the national office itself that focused on Division I athlete perceptions of athletic time demands, along with the perception of coaches and other administrators yielded some interesting, predictable and even some stunning responses. What was not surprising to me was the huge disparity between the feelings of the coaches and administrators versus the athletes. The coaches wanted to control the athletes time even more than they do now, while the athletes overall expressed a desire to have more time away from their sport to do other things, like study and you know-be an actual college student for instance. NCAA surveys like this typically get an outstanding response rate because of the semi-captive audience. The response rate is much better than most research surveys I have seen and for that they should be commended along with appropriate kudos for doing the survey in the first place. An impressive 44,000 responses from athletes alone were tabulated along with another 6000 responses from athletic directors, Senior Women’s Administrators, head coaches, Faculty Athletic Representatives, and others such as compliance officials. The NCAA has been visiting the issue of time demands more seriously the past couple of years and rightly so. While the last NCAA convention did not have any serious decisions made about lessening or altering time demands on athletes, virtually everyone was in agreement that something needs to change to benefit the athlete, ostensibly erring on the side of trying to
make the athlete appear more as a student rather than employee considering the ubiquitous legal issues surrounding this distinction going on right now. This survey is a step in the right to direction to get some clarity from the primary stakeholders, the athletes, on what it is they want and what the view is from the trenches. Contrasting the athlete view with the administrators and coaches really can give the NCAA establishment direction. 20 Hours per Week? It is hard to believe that the NCAAs so-called 20 hour a week rule to limit the time an athlete spends on athletic versus academic pursuits has been around since the 80s. I can still remember many athletes and coaches lamenting the fact that they would not be able to devote the necessary time to their sport. Case in point many athletes decided to temporarily drop out of school to focus on athletic glory without being constrained by the NCAA time demands, such as Stanford swimmer and Olympic standout Janet Evans did. It is a truism that prior to the 20 hour rule, time spent on athletic activities was hardly regulated by NCAA member institutions, but in reality the rule has not given the athlete more time to spend on other pursuits as a college student. Many athletically related activities so not count against toward the 20 hours such as voluntary workouts (mostly mandatory-voluntary as I call it), training table, practice preparation such as taping etc. Competition days, regardless of the number of actual games, counts as three hours and while there is a one mandatory day off per week, most schools were using travel days as the day or days off.
Brian Maxey, Associate Athletics Director for Compliance [email protected]/361-825-2858 Josh King, Compliance & Student-Athlete Services Coordinator [email protected]/361-825-6388 The Compliance Corner—Page 1
Compliance Quiz
7 Rules Boosters Should Know
Test your compliance knowledge!!
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO! If you are not sure, CALL the Athletics Director or the Compliance Office. Remember, “the only dumb question is the one not asked.” NCAA rules are complex and not uniformly applied. Some apply only to Division I schools. Others may be able to do things differently. Just because someone says or is doing something different, don’t assume the rule has changed. Please check with us! ACTIVE RECRUITING INVOLVEMENT is limited to coaches. Only coaches are permitted to be directly involved in the recruiting process. They are the only ones who may meet a prospect or the prospect’s parents in person; place a phone call to the prospect; or write to a prospect. BOOSTERS ARE PROHIBITED from making in-person, on or off-campus recruiting contacts, as well as written or telephone communications with a prospect or the prospect’s family. ALUMNI/BOOSTER EVENTS can violate recruiting regulations if prospects are in attendance. A coach’s appearance at an event where prospects are present could make it a “recruiting event” and everyone present would be committing a violation. If you are arranging or attending alumni or booster events, do not bring or invite prospects and explain to parents the importance of prospect-age youngsters not attending. EXTRA BENEFITS are any special arrangements by an institutional employee or booster to provide a currently enrolled student-athlete or prospect, or their parents and relatives, a benefit not expressly authorized by the NCAA or which is not available to all students in general. Boosters shall not offer, provide or arrange financial assistance, directly or indirectly, to pay (any amount) the cost of the prospect’s educational or other expenses other than summer employment. ATTENDING ATHLETICS CONTESTS at schools in your community is permitted, but contacting a prospect, prospect’s parents or prospect’s coach while you are there is prohibited. If you see or hear of a potential prospect for TAMUCC, contact the coaches with basic information (school, position, coach). OCCASIONAL FAMILY HOME MEALS may be provided to an enrolled student-athlete, or an entire team. The meal must be served at the host’s home. (It cannot be at a restaurant.) It may be catered. Such meals must be restricted to infrequent and special occasions. Only the host and school staff members may provide transportation to the function. NCAA REGULATIONS DO NOT PERMIT “SPONSOR FAMILIES”. STUDENT-ATHLETE APPEARANCES are permissible at a local church, school, charity or non-profit agency. The appearances must be carefully arranged and have prior written approval of the Athletics Director.
Q1. You may attend a public event, such as a picnic or high school banquet, if prospects are also in attendance. A. True B. False Q2. Which of the following is true concerning student-athlete scholarships and financial aid? A. Boosters may give student-athletes money towards books and essential school supplies. B. Boosters may donate money for scholarships and name the scholarship after a current student-athlete. C. Boosters may pay for a PSA’s summer school classes at a local community college. D. Boosters may not do ANY of the above. Q3. Which of the following may a booster provide to TAMUCC student-athletes? A. Airline Ticket B. Vehicle on Loan C. Bus Ticket D. None of the Above Q4. Former TAMUCC student-athletes may provide extra benefits to current TAMUCC studentathletes, even if they played together in the past and were teammates. A. True B. False
Quiz Answers: 1. A. 2. D 3. D 4. B
What can you do for TAMUCC student-athletes? Contact a current student-athlete regarding employment opportunities in which the student-athlete will be paid the going rate for work performed. Student-athletes are to be hired based on their qualifications and not on their status as a student-athlete. Provide a student-athlete an occasional meal in your home or on TAMUCC’s campus. Occasional meals must be ap-
proved in advance by Compliance. Please refrain from offering current student-athletes, their families, and friends anything that is not available to the general public or the TAMUCC student body. This includes any benefit or special arrangement such as free or reduced cost lodging, meals or services.
ASK BEFORE YOU ACT! The Compliance Corner—Page 2
