"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."
I made a quick run through the NCAA Manual the other day. I probably missed a few, but here are a few of the things we count, in no particular order:
1. active membership
2. conference membership
3. affiliated membership
4. corresponding membership
5. provisional membership
6. committee membership
7. sports sponsored
8. contests and dates of competition (in at least three ways)
9. annual exempted contests
10. once-in four-years exempted contests
11. one-third of men's contests in home arena for provisional members (oh, man, stay out of NCAA 20.8.5 if you can...)
12. completed contests
13. minimum contests
14. minimum participants
15. practice opportunities
16. hours of athletically related activities
17. hours of skill instruction
18. contacts
19. evaluations
20. evaluation days
21. person days
22. observations (look it up)
23. recruiting opportunities
24. official visits (post- and pre-post high school)
25. unused official visits in football
26. visits to a high school
27. telephone calls
28. head coaches
29. assistant coaches
30. restricted-earnings coaches (yes, the category still exists)
31. graduate assistant coaches
32. volunteer coaches
33. undergraduate coaches
34. coaches who can recruit off-campus in a given week
35. coaches who can recruit off-campus at any one time
36. 30-mile radiuses
37. 50-mile radiuses
38. 100-mile radiuses
39. schedule cards (one)
40. comp admissions for prospects during an unofficial visit (three)
41. comp admissions for student-athletes (four)
42. comp admissions for prospects during an official visit (one, two, three, or four, depending)
43. number of logos and their sizes (infinite possibilities)
44. graduation rates
45. core courses (and you know the breakdown...)
46. grade-point averages
47. SAT scores
48. ACT scores
49. Coaches Recruiting Certification Exam scores
50. hours
51. 9 hours
52. 12 hours
53. 24 hours
54. 48 hours (not the movie...)
55. 25
56. 50
57. 25-50-75 (not to be confused with...)
58. 20-40-60
59. 90-95
60. 75-25
61. 48 semester hours or 72 quarter hours
62. 24 semester hours or 36 quarter hours
63 18 semester or 27 quarter hours
64. 9 semester hours or 13.5 quarter hours
65. years of enrollment
66. terms of enrollment
67. terms of endearment (no, not really; just seeing if you're still reading...)
68. seasons of competition
69. two contests or 20%, whichever is greater
70. 14-day grace period
71. 45-day grace period
72. 60-day comment periods
73. 60-day override periods
74. student-athletes on outside teams
75. student-athletes on outside team tours
76. student-athletes on the football team
77. student-athletes on summer basketball teams
78. student-athletes working as camp counselors
And, last but not least, we also count:
79. COUNTERS
Take a look at 97-012--six things to count! And that rule is one sentence long.
30.9.2.1 Exception -- Division I-AA Opponent. Once every four years, a Division I-A institution may count one victory against a Division I-AA opponent toward the six-win minimum, provided the Division I-AA opponent has averaged 60 financial aid equivalencies in football during the three preceding academic years.
So, Mike, where are you going with all this?
At last week's NCAA Compliance Seminar in Anaheim, we were discussing (gulp) new recruiting rules. And the ever-popular Shane Lyons mentioned that other sports are starting to look at using the recruiting opportunities method (see No. 23 above) instead of the traditional contacts-evaluations method.
Now after the litany above, you might think I'd be disturbed by that.
Not really. Not as long as we make a few other changes. Here are the highlights. Let's count them:
Ditch the term "recruiting opportunities" and use "days" instead.
Create two recruiting periods: off-campus (combining the contact and evaluation period monikers) and on-campus (combining and renaming the quiet and dead periods). When a coach can recruit off-campus, s/he can contact or evaluate or both. Make the question simple: Can I recruit off-campus today? A coach can always recruit on-campus and a prospect can always turn down an official visit near a National Letter of Intent signing date.
Pick a number of days (I'd suggest 7) that an institution (not a coaching staff) may recruit a prospect off-campus.
Count every day that an off-campus contact or evaluation occurs. Deep-six the tournament evaluation exceptions, many of which no one understands anyway.
Let institutions spend the days as they wish. All in one week, or once a week, whatever they prefer.
Among the things we gain (or regain) are:
Better management of recruiting resources (time, money, travel).
Less confusion and suspicion on the part of coaches and administrators everywhere.
Fewer violations as a result of coaches accidentally (or "accidentally") contacting prospects during evaluation periods.
Dignity, since coaches won't have to stand in a hallway so they can to be "noticed" by 16-year-olds during an evaluation period.
You can probably think of a few on your own.
Until then, you can always keep counting:
80. initial counters
81. awards
82. financial aid
83. equivalency calculations
84. room, board, books, tuition,and fees (could be five categories)
85. weighted averages (one of my favorites; an oxymoron?)
86. ......