Here's what's brewing....
Hot Topics
Dead periods around the Final Four™
Yes, the Final Fours™ are approaching, and with them dead periods. You can pick up reminders for men's basketball and women's basketball.
Speaking of the exam
The practice test for the 2010-11 NCAA Coaches Recruiting Certification Exam will be available beginning Wednesday, March 24. The new test will be available beginning Monday, May 3.
Off to Override-Land
The final tally is in, according to LSDBi. Proposal 2009-51-B received 82 override requests; Proposal 2009-22 garnered 61. So the Legislative Council will review its position on them in April and they'll remain in effect for now.
The 60-day override/comment/amendment period ended yesterday for the following proposals:
Adopted (asterisked items are effective immediately): 2009-9*, 2009-11, 2009-14-B, 2009-15*, 2009-16-B, 2009-18, 2009-20, 2009-22 (skiing excluded from the proposal; Part E pertaining to tennis effective 8/1/2011), 2009-23*, 2009-24*, 2009-26, 2009-27, 2009-30-A*, 2009-31*, 2009-33*, 2009-37*, 2009-38, 2009-43, 2009-44*, 2009-48, 2009-49 (FBS), 2009-51-B*, 2009-52*, 2009-54-A* (FBS), 2009-55, 2009-56*, 2009-57*, 2009-60, 2009-63, 2009-64, 2009-66, 2009-68, 2009-69, 2009-72*, 2009-76*, 2009-81*, 2009-82*, 2009-85, 2009-86*, 2009-96, 2009-99*.
Defeated: 2009-12-B, 2009-13, 2009-17, 2009-28-A, 2009-28-B, 2009-32-A, 2009-34, 2009-35 (FCS), 2009-45, 2009-47-A (FBS), 2009-75-A, 2009-80, 2009-84.
Yes, it is that important
A new wrinkle for the upcoming 2010-11 NCAA Coaches' Recruiting Certification Exam: Men's basketball coaches may have to answer questions about the November 2009 Board of Directors interps pertaining to basketball recruiting issues. They'll be able to use the February 8, 2010, Ed Column as a reference and, we presume, the interps themselves.
EdCol FAQ on men's basketball Tier I interps
Conferences were sent (and hopefully distributed) the FAQ created by the Basketball Focus Group a few days ago. Now it's been published as an EdCol.
Helpful memos from AGA
Over the years, the NCAA's Agent, Gambling, and Amateurism Activities group has issued helpful memos for student-athletes who have an eye on going pro in various sports.
Here are links to the five latest memos:
Updated incidental-expense waiver list
There's a new EdCol today that summarizes circumstances in which an institution can self-process an incidental expense waiver.
In lots of ways, this list reads like the APBA Baseball Game Rare Play boards. This one might be my favorite: To reimburse a student-athlete for a pair of sunglasses inadvertently broken during a compliance meeting by a staff member.
With less than 24 hours to go
Here's where we are with the override process and Proposals 2009-22 and 2009-51-B:
The NCAA has instructions for submitting an override request. Think either will crack 100?
Bye-bye Bylaw 30
This little nugget showed up in correspondence from the NCAA the other day:
"After a year-long, extensive review of each division's manual, the NCAA staff has identified improvements to the manuals that will be phased in over the next two to three years, beginning with the 2010-11 manual. The changes will emphasize improved user efficiency and consistency among bylaws. The first roll out will include the elimination of NCAA Bylaw 30 and existing bylaws relocated to other areas of the manual, such as recruiting calendars shifted to Bylaw 13. Resources, educational materials and timely updates will be provided throughout this process to assist the membership with the transition."
For those of us who live in this book every day, this is probably a welcome development, particularly when it comes to Bylaw 13 issues.
If you're wondering why the recruiting calendars are in Bylaw 30, it was to allow them (along with anything else in Bylaw 30) to be changed more easily and more rapidly by a committee/council action rather than through a formal legislative proposal. The Division I governance model has changed quite a bit (twice) since the 1989-90 NCAA Manual rewrite that moved recruiting calendars to Bylaw 30 to begin with.
So we'll see what mechanism develops to deal with this change. But it might not be all bad if the pace of rules changes is slowed down a bit by this re-org.
Same song, different verse
LSDBi reports this morning that Proposal 2009-22 has received 30 override requests, triggering a Legislative Council review in April.
If this sounds familiar, you're right.
Proposal 2009-22 allows most prospects to receive actual and necessary expenses to play on pro teams prior to enrollment and adds the existing grace period rule for delayed enrollment in tennis and swimming to almost all sports.
Separately, the Amateurism Cabinet wants the Legislative Council to delay the effective date of the delayed enrollment piece of this proposal for a year (8/1/2012 for tennis; 8/1/2011 for all other sports) so that prospects who graduated prior to 2009 and haven't yet enrolled in college won't be adversely affected. And it favors doing this rather than excluding sports from the legislation. You can read the details.
The plot thickens.
SLR blanket waiver for Post-9/11 GI Bill
The NCAA Division I Legislative Council Subcommittee for Legislative Relief approved a blanket waiver of the government grants legislation for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years to permit institutions to exempt the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill funds from counting toward a student-athlete's cost of attendance calculation. The subcommittee agreed a blanket waiver was appropriate based on similarity to other armed forces related grants and the intent of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill to replace Montgomery G.I. Bill benefits for members of the armed services and their dependents. The subcommittee noted this blanket waiver does not apply to the Yellow Ribbon G.I. Education Enhancement Program (Yellow Ribbon Program). Thus, financial aid a student-athlete receives from the Yellow Ribbon Program must count against a student-athlete's cost of attendance calculation and, if the student-athlete receives athletics aid, the institutional financial aid contributed towards the Yellow Ribbon Program must be counted against the maximum financial aid limit in the student-athlete's sport (i.e., team limit). The NCAA Division I Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet will re-examine the Yellow Ribbon Program during its June 2010 meeting. Waiver requests involving the Yellow Ribbon Program may be submitted through the formal waiver application process and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. To view this blanket waiver in its entirety, please access Subcommittee for Legislative Relief Case No. 12868 on LSDBi.
New hardware
We moved the Compliance Corner to new hardware over the weekend. If you notice anything is amiss (links to nowhere, for instance), please let me know.
Trigger pulled
With about two weeks left in the override period, Proposal 2009-51-B has amassed 33 override requests. Once 30 override requests were received, it triggered an April 2010 Legislative Committee review of its decision to adopt the proposal in the first place.
The proposal would require, in sports other than football, that an institution's camp or clinic be conducted on the institution's campus or within a 100-mile radius of the institution's campus.
Volleyball is volleyball
Time to catch up with sand volleyball.
1. The override vote.
The attempt to override Proposal 2008-59 failed in a Convention vote in January. Sand volleyball will become an emerging sport for women, but one year later than originally intended. Following the failed override attempt, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors adopted emergency legislation to establish August 1, 2011, as the effective date of the proposal.
2. The pending volleyball proposals.
Because of the change in the effective date for the establishment of sand volleyball as an emerging sport for women, the pending proposals related to sand volleyball…
• 2009-19-A and B (number of coaches and off-campus recruiters)
• 2009-39 (evaluation days)
• 2009-70 (financial aid limits)
• 2009-83 (defining the playing season parameters)
….may be tabled by the Legislative Council in April (at the suggestion of the NCAA staff) to permit further development of the framework for the sport.
3. What rules apply now?
It's possible that institutions are beginning to make plans to add sand volleyball on a gradual basis as the August 2011 starting point draws closer. For instance, institutions may with to start recruiting in advance of the 2011-12 academic year.
So we asked the NCAA staff how to treat sand volleyball under NCAA rules until August 2011 rolls around.
The response we received is that until August 1, 2011 (when the sport is officially recognized as in the emerging category and associated regulations have been adopted), institutions must apply current NCAA rules. Prior to the discussion and ultimate adoption of sand volleyball as an emerging sport, sand volleyball and volleyball have been treated as the same for purposes of applying NCAA rules…so that will be the case until the effective date in 2011.
In short: volleyball is volleyball until we have the regulations in place that dictate how the discipline of sand volleyball is treated under our regulations.
So, for example:
• If an indoor volleyball coach is designated as a sand volleyball coach, s/he could not have face-to-face contact with high school sophomores while recruiting for the sand volleyball team.
• A student-athlete who is provided financial aid for sand volleyball in 2010-11 would count toward the indoor volleyball limits.
Sand volleyball and its coaches and student-athletes would continue to be bound by all NCAA rules that currently apply to indoor volleyball.
Madness lurks
As we draw closer to the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, this might be a good time to refresh everyone on NCAA 10.02 and 10.3 which, among other things, precludes sports wagering in pools or betting with bookmakers.
Dead period coming soon
There's a track and field/cross country dead period coming that overlaps the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships. You can pick up a reminder.
Perception means a lot
A new staff interp about camps and clinics, which has been a hot legislative/interpretative area this year.
Sports Camp or Clinic that Bears the Name of an Institution or Athletics Department Staff Member (I)
Date Published: February 26, 2010
Type: Staff Interpretation
The academic and membership affairs staff determined that a camp or clinic in which prospective student-athletes participate and that bears the name of a member institution or a current athletics department staff member (e.g., coach) is considered to be an institutional camp or clinic. [References: NCAA Division I Bylaw 13.12.1.1 (definition of institutional camp or clinic) and official interpretation (02/01/90, Item No. 12)]
Recruiting publicity staff interp
Recruiting Publicity -- Prospective Student-Athlete Who Has No Reasonable Expectation to Participate (I)
Date Published: February 25, 2010
Type: Staff Interpretation
The academic and membership affairs staff confirmed that recruiting publicity restrictions do not apply to activities for a prospect-aged individual who has no reasonable expectation of participating in intercollegiate athletics as a result of a disability or terminal illness, provided the individual is not a relative of a prospect being recruited by that institution. [References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 13.10.5 (prospective student-athlete's visit) and 13.10.6 (introduction of prospective student-athlete); and official interpretation (10/22/01, Item No. a)]
I wonder what triggered this...and wouldn't a waiver be a better solution?
Two new staff confirmations
Somehow related to the recent basketball reform efforts, perhaps?
Camps/Clinics -- Ownership by Multiple Institutions (I/II/III)
Date Published: February 11, 2010
Item Ref: a
The academic and membership affairs staff confirmed that a camp or clinic is considered an institutional camp or clinic if an institution or multiple institutions is a majority owner (e.g., 51 percent). Further, the camp or clinic is considered an institutional camp or clinic for all institutions with any percentage of ownership (e.g., Institution A owns 40 percent and Institution B owns 25 percent, total ownership equals 65 percent and the camp or clinic is considered an institutional camp or clinic for both institutions). [References: NCAA Division I Bylaws 13.12.1.1 (definition) and 13.12.2.3.3 (noninstitutional privately owned camps/clinics -- sports other than basketball and football); Division II Bylaws 13.12.1.1 (definition) and 13.12.2.3.3 (other noninstitutional privately owned camps/clinics); Division III Bylaws 13.12.1.1 (definition) and 13.12.4 (privately owned camp); and official interpretation (2/1/90, Item No. 12)]
Donations Made for Prospective or Currently Enrolled Student-Athletes to Outside Team or Organization (I/II/III)
Date Published: February 11, 2010
Item Ref: b
The academic and membership affairs staff confirmed that donations made by individuals other than a prospective or currently enrolled student-athlete's relatives or legal guardians (e.g., neighbors, businesses) to an outside team or organization in the name of or on behalf of the prospective or currently enrolled student-athlete are precluded, inasmuch as these donations would be considered "earmarked" for the prospective or currently enrolled student-athlete. However, it is permissible for such individuals to make a donation to the general fund of the outside team or organization, provided it is not credited to a particular prospective or currently enrolled student-athlete. [References NCAA Division I Bylaws 12.1.2 (amateur status), 12.1.2.1.4.3 (expenses from outside team or organization) and 12.1.2.1.4.5 (expenses from sponsor other than parents/legal guardians or nonprofessional sponsor of event); Division II Bylaws 12.1.2.1.4.3 (expenses from outside team or organization) and 12.1.2.1.4.5 (expenses from sponsor other than parents/legal guardians or nonprofessional sponsor of event); Division III Bylaws 12.1.3 (amateurism status -- prior to initial, full-time collegiate enrollment), 12.1.4 (amateurism status -- delayed collegiate enrollment) and 12.1.5 (amateurism status -- following initial, full time collegiate enrollment); and staff interpretation (9/21/90, item d)]
An oversight, perhaps?
Thanks to an alert compliance maven, we bring your two EdCols that may have slipped through the NCAA's publishing cracks back in mid-January. They're on LSDBi, but weren't called out by the RSS feed or the LSDBi home page.
[UPDATE: Remember the FAQ about proposals that was circulated in advance of the Convention? The Q&A was turned into 37 educational columns on LSDBi on 1/14/2010 to make them easy to find. So there you go.]
Proposal No. 2009-44 Recruiting -- Recruiting Materials -- Video/Audio Materials and Computer Generated Recruiting Presentations (I)
Date Published: January 14, 2010
Item Ref: 23
Educational Column
Question: May an institution provide a computer generated recruiting presentation to a prospective student-athlete?
Answer: Yes, an institution may provide a computer generated recruiting presentation to a prospective student-athlete on an electronic media storage device (e.g., CD, flash drive) or via e-mail (e.g., attachment, hyperlink). However, it is not permissible to send a computer generated recruiting presentation to a prospective student-athlete as an attachment to e-mail if the presentation includes any animation, audio or video clips (see Bylaw 13.4.1.2).
Question: What does the phrase "created for recruiting purposes" mean?
Answer: An item is considered to be "created for recruiting purposes" if it is specifically directed toward prospective student-athletes. For example, if a video of an institution's facilities includes narration that is directed to prospective student-athletes ("If you attend University X, these are the locker room facilities you will use") it is considered to be created for recruiting purposes; however, if the video is intended to simply provide a virtual tour of the facilities, which is available for the general public to view, without narration or with only generic narration, the video will not be considered to be created for recruiting purposes. While an item may have an indirect recruiting effect (e.g., video of facilities allows prospective student-athletes to compare facilities of different institutions), it is not considered to be created for recruiting purposes for that reason alone.Proposal No. 2009-41 Recruiting -- Recruiting Materials -- Athletics Publications -- No Printed Media Guides or Recruiting Brochures (I)
Proposal No. 2009-41 Recruiting -- Recruiting Materials -- Athletics Publications -- No Printed Media Guides or Recruiting Brochures (I)
Date Published: January 14, 2010
Item Ref: 20
Educational Column
Question: Is it permissible for the institution to place a media guide on an electronic media storage device (e.g., CD, flash drive) and provide it to a prospective student-athlete?
Answer: Yes.
Question: May an institution print a media guide in order to sell it to the media, general public or alumni?
Answer: No.
Question: Does the proposal preclude the printing of things such as season ticket brochures, foundation newsletters/annual reports, marketing solicitations and the like?
Answer: No. The proposal's intent is to preclude the printing of media guides and similar publications, not publications that are unrelated to media guides or are not created for recruiting purposes.
Notice about Educational Columns and Hot Topics: Educational columns and hot topics are not official or staff interpretations. They are intended to assist the membership by providing examples, scenarios and reminders related to legislation and interpretations at the time of publication. Member institutions are reminded to review the referenced bylaws and interpretations to ensure correct application of current rules and regulations.
FAQ on legislative proposals
The NCAA has updated its FAQ on legislative proposals. Now up to 17 pages.
EdCol about online institutional publications
We have a new EdCol today that tries to make sense of the rules when recruiting publications are placed on-line.
Here's the key section (though the whole column is well-worth a read):
Scenario: An institution posts its media guide on its Web site. In addition, the institution creates a multimedia presentation to provide general information regarding its athletics program (or specific sport), and posts the presentation to its Web site. The multimedia presentation is available on the main page of the athletics portion of the institutional Web site (or specific sport subpage) and is accessible to any viewer of the site.
Question: May an institution's head coach send a hyperlink of the media guide and the multimedia presentation to a prospective student-athlete?
Answer: If the multimedia presentation was not created for a recruiting purpose, then the coach may send a hyperlink of each to the prospective student-athlete. If created to be used in the recruiting process, however, then the multimedia presentation would be an impermissible second athletics recruiting publication and could not be provided to the prospective student-athlete. Creation for use in the recruiting process may be evidenced by institutional labeling of the program, regardless of its access to the general public, or by placement on a separate recruiting page of the institution's Web site, regardless of how the program is labeled.
Let the questions begin...as the webmasters scurry.
Before you initial that square
The NCAA's Agent, Gambling, and Amateurism Activities group has distributed this to all the Conferences, and it bears repeating here:
Super Bowl Sports Wagering Reminder Notice
Dear NCAA student-athletes, coaches and administrators:
With the Super Bowl this weekend, we wanted to take this time to remind all student-athletes, coaches and administrators of the NCAA's policy on gambling.
• The NCAA membership has adopted specific rules prohibiting athletics department staff members and student-athletes from engaging in gambling activities as they relate to intercollegiate or professional sporting events.
• NCAA member colleges and universities have defined sports wagering as putting something at risk, such as an entry fee, with the opportunity to win something in return. Because of this, student-athletes, coaches and administrators may not participate in competitions where there is both a required entry fee and an opportunity to win a prize.
If you have any questions regarding this material, please do not hesitate to contact the agent, gambling and amateurism activities staff at 317/917-6222.
NCAA Seminar registration open
The 2010 NCAA Regional Rules Seminars will take place May 17-21, Indianapolis, IN at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown and June 14-18, Dallas, TX at the Dallas Sheraton Hotel. The schedule grid and session descriptions are available through the registration system and on the regional rules seminar web page.