Taylor Valentine
Centre College
March 1st, 2023
The Complete Guide to NCAA Recruiting Rules and Guidelines
Recruiting
NCAA member schools have adopted rules to create an equitable recruiting environment that promotes student-athlete well-being. The regulations define who may be involved in the recruiting process, when recruiting may occur, and the conditions under which recruiting may be conducted. Recruiting rules seek, as much as possible, to control intrusions into the lives of student-athletes.
The NCAA defines recruiting as “any solicitation of prospective student-athletes or their parents by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institution’s athletics interests for the purpose of securing a prospective student-athlete’s enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program.”
What is a contact?
A contact occurs any time a college coach says more than hello during a face-to-face contact with a college-bound student-athlete or his or her parents off the college’s campus.
What is a contact period?
During a contact period, a college coach may have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents, watch student-athletes compete and visit their high schools, and write or telephone them.
What is an evaluation period?
During an evaluation period, a college coach may watch college-bound student-athletes compete, visit their high schools, and write or telephone student-athletes or their parents. However, a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents off the college’s campus during an evaluation period.
What is a quiet period?
During a quiet period, a college coach may only have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents on campus. A coach may not watch student-athletes compete (unless a competition occurs on the college’s campus) or visit their high schools. Coaches may write or telephone college-bound student-athletes or their parents during this time.
What is a dead period?
During a dead period, a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents and may not watch student-athletes compete or visit their high schools. Coaches may write and telephone student-athletes or their parents during a dead period.
What is the difference between an official visit and an unofficial visit?
Any visit to a college campus by a college-bound student-athlete or his or her parents, paid for by the college, is an official visit. Visits paid for by college-bound student-athletes or their parents are unofficial visits.
During an official visit, the college can pay for transportation to and from the college for the prospect, lodging, and three meals per day for both the candidate and the parent or guardian, as well as reasonable entertainment expenses, including three tickets to a home sports event.
The only expenses a college-bound student-athlete may receive from a college during an unofficial visit are three tickets to a home sports event.
What a National Letter of Intent?
A National Letter of Intent is signed by a college-bound student-athlete when the student-athlete agrees to attend a Division I or II college or university for one academic year. Participating institutions agree to provide financial aid for one academic year to the student-athlete as long as the student-athlete is admitted to the school and is eligible for financial assistance under NCAA rules. Other forms of financial aid do not guarantee student-athlete financial aid.
The National Letter of Intent is voluntary and not required for a student-athlete to receive financial aid or participate in sports.
Signing a National Letter of Intent ends the recruiting process since participating schools are prohibited from recruiting student-athletes who have already signed letters with other participating schools.
A student-athlete who has signed a National Letter of Intent may request a release from his or her contract with the school. If a student-athlete marks a National Letter of Intent with one school but attends a different school, he or she will lose one full year of eligibility. He or she must complete a full academic year at their new school before being eligible to compete.
What are recruiting calendars?
Recruiting calendars to help promote the well-being of prospective student-athletes and coaches and ensure competitive equity by defining specific periods in which recruiting may or may not occur in a particular sport.
New Set of NCAA Rules
In 2019, the NCAA approved a new set of rules that will change the way Division 1 college coaches can recruit athletes during camps and visits. In an effort to streamline communications and cut back on early recruiting, coaches will have to wait on giving scholarship offers to athletes until after their sophomore year of high school.
Here’s a quick breakdown of these changes:
Sports Impacted
These new rules apply to all DI sports except football, W/M basketball, softball, baseball, and W/M lacrosse. Men’s ice hockey has also changed its limitations, but the dates differ from those listed below. Get a full breakdown of the recruiting rules for all sports below.
Official Visits
Recruits can start taking official visits starting August 1, before their junior year of high school. In the past, official visits weren’t permitted until September 1 of the athlete’s junior year of high school, so this rule is bumping them up!
Camps and Clinics
Recruits and college coaches are not allowed to have any recruiting conversations during camps before June 15 after sophomore year of high school. Previously, there weren’t any rules that prevented coaches from talking about recruiting underclassmen during camps. It had become standard practice for college coaches to extend verbal scholarship offers to top recruits during camps.
Unofficial Visits
College athletic departments—this includes college coaches—are not allowed to be involved in a recruit’s unofficial visits before August 1 of a prospect’s junior year. Quick refresher: Unofficial visits are any campus visits paid for by the recruit’s family.
Before the rule change, unofficial visits were an easy way for underclassmen to visit college camps, meet with the coach and get an early verbal offer. However, if athletes want to take unofficial visits now, they cannot schedule them with the coach—they should treat the unofficial visit just like any other student would. If the recruit happens to bump into the coach on campus, they can’t have any recruiting conversations at that time.
The recruiting rules can be tricky and hard to understand, but the best thing that you can do is do your research, so you know how the process works when it comes time to sign on that dotted line. It’s a huge decision, and your journey to becoming an NCAA athlete is a special one. It is NCAA DI, DIII, or DIII be proud of where you’re going to school because the level doesn’t matter.
