Compliance Corner

Some holiday gifts from the NCAA:

Official Interpretation
Student-Athlete Performing Required Field or Facility Preparation or Maintenance (I)
The committee determined that field or facility preparation or maintenance that is performed by a student-athlete, related to practice or competition and required, supervised or monitored by a coaching staff member is not a countable athletically related activity. [References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 17.02.1 (countable athletically related activities), 17.1.6.1 (daily and weekly hour limitations -- playing season), 17.1.6.2 (weekly hour limitations -- outside the playing season); and a staff interpretation (10/20/11, Item No. a), which has been archived]

Staff Interpretation
Credits Earned from Another Institution During an Interim Term -- Football (I)
The academic and membership affairs staff confirmed that credits taken at another institution during the regular academic year in an interim term (e.g., J-term, mini-term) completed before the beginning of the following term (spring semester or winter quarter) may not be used to satisfy the six-hour requirement or the nine-semester/eight-quarter hour requirement. However, these credits may be used to satisfy the 27/40-hour requirement, 18/27-hour and the percentage-toward degree requirements, provided the credits are acceptable for degree-credit at the certifying institution. [References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 14.4.3.1 (fulfillment of credit-hour requirements), 14.4.3.1.6 (additional requirements -- football), 14.4.3.1.6.1 (regaining eligibility for two contests), 14.4.3.1.6.2 (regaining full eligibility -- one-time exception), 14.4.3.4.7 (credit from other institutions), and an official interpretation (12/20/06, Item No. 1)

There are coaches conventions in baseball and football in the early days of 2012. That means there are also dead periods. We have reminders for baseball and football. 

And in other news, the five-day voting window to override Proposal 2009-100-A closed Friday and the proposal failed to receive enough override votes by the Division I membership and therefore remains in effect.

(The legislation--NCAA 13.11.1.8 and NCAA 13.11.1.9--prevents an institution from hosting, sponsoring or conducting a nonscholastic basketball practice or game in which  men’s basketball prospects participate on its campus or at an off-campus facility it uses regularly.)

The final tally was 116 in support of the override and 82 opposed. That works out to 58.6% in support, short of the 62.5% needed to override the proposal.

Interestingly, 150 institutions did not cast a vote despite the fact that the on-line voting process was designed to make voting easier. Best guess here is that most of those non-voting institutions thought that by not voting they were casting a vote against the override. Not true.

By not voting, the total pool of voters is reduced--which at least in theory could provide an advantage to an energized group of override proponents.

We have a reminder about the dead period in basketball that surrounds Christmas Day.

As the December 26 deadline for override requests for Proposals 2011-96 and 2011-97 approaches, the latter has been revised slightly.

One of the goals of the proposal was to allow former student-athletes to have "ready access to financial aid in order to complete their degrees". So the five-years-of-aid-in-a-six-year-period restriction was removed from NCAA 15.01.5 and NCAA 15.3.1.

But similar language wasn't taken out of NCAA 15.3.1.4, which pertains to aid for a professional athlete.

Until now.

Also gone, in its entirety: NCAA 15.3.1.4.1, which pertained to aid provided to former professional athletes.

Given the "complete their degrees goal", it shouldn't matter whether or not the recipient of the aid is a professional athlete.

The changes are effective immediately. And we've updated our Pro Chart, which maps out the permutations of agents, drafts, eligibility, financial aid, and more.

It's a 24-page document that covers Proposals 2011-69, 2011-70, 2011-94, 2011-95, and the Academic Performance Program.

An advisory from the Basketball Focus Group popped up on LSDBi the other day. The money quote:

"It has come to the attention of the NCAA enforcement staff that there is confusion in the membership regarding the application of Bylaw 11.4.2 to college coaches. By definition, an NCAA, a two-year college or an NAIA coach could trigger IAWP status by performing coaching-related responsibilities relative to any prospective student-athlete with whom the coach has been associated as a result of the following:

  • Currently enrolled student-athletes coached at a previous institution;

  • Prospective student-athletes recruited by the coach to his previous institution; and

  • Associations with pre- and post-secondary scholastic entities.

"As a result, please be advised that the legislation set forth in Bylaw 11.4.2 has been and is applicable to the employment of such individuals. Therefore, if an institution hires a former NCAA, two-year college or NAIA coach in a noncoaching staff position or as a strength and conditioning coach within the specified two-year window, all prospective student-athletes that trigger IAWP status for the individual are permanently ineligible for competition at the institution."

Worlds collided earlier this week when somebody noticed that NCAA 17.9.6.1.1-(a) suddenly required that the eight weeks of required student-athlete discretionary time in FBS football was limited to the period of time between January 1 and the end of the academic year.

Cooler heads prevailed when ER-2011-17 was issued, reversing the part of ER-2011-16 and setting the earth back on its proper axis.

So, to summarize: The eight weeks of required student-athlete discretionary time in FBS football may still occur between January 1 and the start of pre-season practice in the fall.

All this also gave us a chance to update our Manual Updates page with references to ER-2011-15, ER-2011-16, and ER-2011-17.