Softball dead period nears
You can pick up a reminder of the upcoming softball dead period that surrounds the annual convention of the National Fast-Pitch Coaches Association.
Archives Archive November 2008
DION is out
You can download a copy of the NCAA Division I Official Notice now, one day ahead of the scheduled deadline.
Dead period coming in cross country, track & field
You can pick up a reminder about the dead period for cross country and track & field that occurs on November 24, the day of the Division I Cross Country Championships.
Watch...then think
The NCAA has posted a video about do's and don't's when it comes to computer recruiting presentations.
It's a pretty thorough summary of the topic but it also serves to remind me that we're spending way too much time worrying about the content of these presentations (audio? dancing mascots?), how and where they can be shown (projector? TV? emailed?) and trying to educate folks about them (rules, interps, videos, and--not to be excluded--hot topics), when instead the conversation about presentation software should go something like this:
Coach: "Can I use presentation software in recruiting?"
Compliance coordinator: "Yes."
Coach: "Anything else I need to know about this?"
Compliance coordinator: "No."
Watch the video and see if you don't agree.
Field hockey dead period
The NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship is approaching and with it a dead period. You can pick up a reminder right here.
Maccabiah Games
A new staff confirmation:
Maccabiah Games (I)
Date Issued: Oct 01, 2008
Type: Staff Interpretation
The membership services staff confirmed that the Maccabiah Games are an officially recognized national multisport event excepted from the NCAA Division I outside-competition regulations. However, institutions are not permitted to provide expenses for student-athletes to participate in the Maccabiah Games or any tryouts for the Maccabiah Games. Additionally, student-athletes may participate in a tryout for the Maccabiah Games during the academic year only to the extent that the tryout is self-financed and the tryout does not involve competition. [References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 14.7.1 (outside competition -- sports other than basketball), 14.7.2 (outside competition -- basketball), 14.7.3.1 (exceptions to outside competition regulations -- all sports), and 16.8.1.3 (expenses for competition -- other competition)]
If you saw this interp yesterday when it was first posted, it's been corrected by the NCAA, so that the second sentence now begins with "However" instead of "Therefore" which makes the whole thing make sense.
Using the RSS feed on the new LSDBi
For my money, RSS is the big new feature in the LSDBi revamp. Usually, dragging/clicking the RSS link or icon to your feed reader will enable a subscription; but not on the new LSDBi (at least for now--hint, hint).
Fortunately there's a workaround.
If you're using a Mac, do this:
1. Log into LSDBi and click Announcements on the far left side of the page.
2. Check the boxes for the divisions and topics of interest to you and click Save.
3. Click the link for the RSS feed.
4. On Safari for the Mac, a window will open with various options displayed on the right hand side. At the very bottom are links to Subscribe in Mail (which will add the feed to Mac OS X's email client--very convenient) or Add Bookmark (which gives you the ability to add the feed to Mail, Safari, or both).
On the Dark Side, follow steps 1-3 above. In the window that appears, there is a "view feed properties" hyperlink on the right side of the feed window. That presents the address that you can paste into the RSS sign up screen for Outlook.
Once you have the feed's URL <feed://web1.ncaa.org/LSDBi/exec/aRss>, you can also copy and paste it into an RSS news reader, such as NetNewsWire.
Things seem a little bumpy. For instance, the feed details aren't really showing up correctly in Mail--I'm getting just dates and no details without having to click a link to see them--perhaps because the feed is behind the NCAA's password wall. But we'll see how it goes. This is a good first step that can and will get better.
In fact, we've added the feed to this site in our sidebar at left.
You'll know it when you see it
The October Board of Directors report contained this interesting action by the Board:
Used its emergency legislative authority to adopt Proposal No. 2008-78 -- Playing and Practice Seasons – General Regulations – Skill Instructions – Sports Other Than Football – Publicity. Intent: In sports other than football, to specify that skill-related instruction shall not be publicized and shall not be conducted in view of a general public audience. (Unanimous Voice Vote.)
[Note: In adopting this proposal, Board members state this practice of using two hours of skill instruction prior to the start of the season as a celebratory event for the public and potential recruits warranted the use of the Board’s emergency authority and cautioned that if this practice were allowed to continue it could harm the trust that has been built up in recent years between the coaching community and presidential leadership.]
The legislation itself added the following sentence to the end of both NCAA 17.1.6.2.2 and NCAA 17.1.6.2.3:
"Skill-related instruction shall not be publicized and shall not be conducted in view of a general public audience."
There's also a note about this on the NCAA website.
So what's going on here?
Apparently, a very limited number of basketball coaches were using skill instruction sessions to conduct public events to promote their teams (say, a MIdnight Madness event) and impress recruits—and that was not in keeping with the intent of the rule.
How are institutions supposed to comply with this rule? Let's break it down.
• Skill-related instruction shall not be publicized... That seems pretty straightforward. So no notice on websites, no posters in the gym, no press releases, etc.
• ...and shall not be conducted in view of a general public audience. So what's a public audience? A public audience is not:
∆ A few people wandering through the gym who happen to be able to see skill instruction taking place.
∆ Lunchtime joggers on the track who are working on their cardio fitness while a S-A is getting skill instruction from a throws coach.
∆ A prospect making a visit to campus.
∆ Three red-hot fanatics who sit in the stands every day to watch S-As take batting practice or work on their curve ball.
And it does not mean that you have to lock the gym doors and black out the windows, either. The rule's language was drafted specifically without the words "conducted in private."
Here's the rule of thumb: If a skill instruction session was organized specifically for people to watch, then that's probably going to cross the line that this new rule draws. If coaches are conducting skill instruction in the same manner as they used to do when only four student-athletes could participate at the same time, then you're probably just fine.
Bottom line: Is it a public spectacle or a skill instruction session?
Odds are that you'll know it when you see it.
They are not the same
We covered this a while ago, but it might bear repeating...
Baseball and Softball are Separate Sports for Purposes of Amateurism and Outside Competition Legislation (I)
Date Issued: Oct 20, 2008
Type: Official Interpretation
The Legislative Council determined that baseball and softball are considered separate sports for purposes of amateurism and outside competition legislation.
October Board actions
The report of the October 30 meeting of the Board of Directors is out. Here are the highlights:
• The Board voted to sponsor at CAP's behest Proposal 2008-077 which would require a two-year college transfer to have his/her initial academic eligibility certified by the NCAA Eligibility Center prior to the end of the student-athlete’s first regular academic term of full-time enrollment at a Division I institution. (The goal here is to learn more about the high school academic profiles of 2-4 transfers to guide the development of sound policy and future legislation. The proposal has an effective date of 8/1/2010.)
• Also sponsored at the request of the Legislative Council: Proposal 2008-075 which requires institutions to submit final high school transcripts to the NCAA Eligibility Center for early qualifiers. Data collection is the driving force behind this proposal.
• The Board used its emergency authority to adopt Proposal 2008-078, which is effective immediately. The proposal's intent is to prevent skill-related instruction (which can occur in all sports except football) from being publicized and conducted in view of a general public audience. The idea, apparently, is to keep these skill-instruction sessions from looking like full-fledged practice before the first permissible date of practice and thus creating a celebrity atmosphere when prospects come to campus for visits. The legislation is in an override period until December 29, 2008.
• And Proposal 2008-079 was also sponsored by the Board. It would shorten the time frame a men's basketball student-athlete would have to decide not to enter the NBA draft.
• The Board doesn't appear to be interested in supporting Proposal 2008-048, which would shorten the baseball season from 56 games to 52. It prefers to give the recent baseball reform package a little more time to play out.
• The long-running debate about videographers seems to have sorted itself out. Though the Board defeated Proposal 2007-109 because a "workable compromise" was reached, it wants to receive updates on how well this new policy works.
SLR blanket waiver for North American Cup
SLR has issued a blanket waiver regarding a men’s and women’s fencing event scheduled to occur November 7-10, 2008. The final day of the event falls on the start of the fall NLI dead period. This blanket waiver has been posted on LSDBi and on the CLR/SLR homepage.
Here's the text of the waiver:
NCAA Division I Bylaws 30.10.10 (Dead or Quiet Periods for Other Sports) and 30.10.10.1 (National Letter of Intent Signing Date). November 3, 2008. The NCAA Division I Legislative Council Subcommittee for Legislative Relief approved with conditions a blanket waiver to permit NCAA Division I men's and women's fencing coaches to evaluate prospective student-athletes (PSAs) participating in the November 7-10, 2008, United States (US) Fencing Association's North American Cup (NAC) event. The subcommittee noted the final day of the NAC event (November 10) is scheduled to occur during the dead period for the initial week of the fall signing of the National Letter of Intent (NLI). While coaches are permitted under the legislation to attend and/or officiate at the event November 7-9, the recruiting calendar legislation does not permit coaches to attend the final day of the event November 10. The subcommittee granted the request based on the totality of circumstances. Specifically, the subcommittee noted: (1) Applicant conference filed a similar waiver for the 2007 NAC event and agreed at that time to sponsor a legislative exception; however, applicant conference subsequently forgot to submit the legislative proposal; (2) Applicant conference was notified October 24 that several Division I fencing coaches had again agreed to participate as officials during the 2008 event and discovered it would be impermissible for the coaches to officiate on the final day of the event due to the National Letter of Intent (NLI) dead period; (3) Based on the timing of discovery, the NAC organizers are not able to secure alternate officials for November 10; (4) The NAC organizers would have had to cancel the matches scheduled for November 10 if the waiver request was not granted; and (5) No recruiting advantage would be gained since the blanket waiver permits any Division I men's or women's fencing coach to attend the NAC event November 10. The subcommittee granted the blanket waiver request with the following conditions: (1) This is a one-time waiver request for any Division I fencing coach to evaluate PSAs at the 2008 United States (US) Fencing Association's North American Cup (NAC) event November 10 and future requests will be denied; (2) Applicant conference must sponsor legislation to address recruiting calendar conflicts with future NAC events and if such a proposal is defeated, future requests will be denied; (3) The Division I fencing coaches in attendance November 10 may only evaluate and may not engage in any recruiting-type conversations (e.g., contacts, recruiting presentations) with PSAs in attendance; and (4) Any Division I fencing coach in attendance November 10 must abide by all other recruiting legislation (e.g., limitations on the number of evaluations). To view this blanket waiver in its entirety, please access SLR Case No. 11396 on LSDBi.
NLI dead period approaches
The early NLI signing period--and the dead period that surrounds its initial date--will be upon us next week. So you can download the first of our dead period reminders.
Remember:
• We only publish dead period reminders for sports Pac-10 institutions sponsor, so women's ice hockey fans (among others) are out of luck.
• We'll publish the dead period reminders as a Hot Topic entry rather than via a separate page in the Tools area. So how will you know to check for new dead period reminders? You've subscribed to the RSS feed for this page, haven't you? If not, click the link Subscribe to Hot Topics just beneath the search field on this page. We've got RSS feeds for other pages on our site as well; use 'em.