Are you a booster?
• You are if you have participated in or are a member of an agency or organization which promotes an institution's intercollegiate athletics program.
• You are if you have made financial contributions to the athletics department or to an athletics booster organization of that institution.
• You are if you have assisted or have been requested (by the athletics department staff) to assist in the recruitment of prospects.
• You are if you are assisting or have assisted in providing benefits (e.g., summer jobs) to enrolled student-athletes or their families.
• You are if you have been involved in otherwise promoting an institution's athletics program.
If you have been identified as a booster, you retain that identity indefinitely.
Things boosters MAY NOT do:
• Have face-to-face contact with recruits or their parents, legal guardian(s), or relatives to encourage them to enroll at an institution.
• Telephone or write to recruits or their parents, legal guardian(s), or relatives to encourage them to enroll at an institution.
• Pick up films or transcripts relating to a recruit at the recruit's high school or junior college.
• Contact a recruit's counselor, principal, or coach in an attempt to evaluate the recruit.
Things boosters MAY do:
• If you are an established friend or neighbor of a recruit, you may have contact with the recruit as long as you don't try to recruit the prospect on behalf of an institution and such contacts are not made at the direction of an institution's coaching staff.
• Once a recruit has signed a National Letter of Intent, a booster may have contact with the recruit to discuss summer job arrangements.
• Have an incidental contact--not prearranged by the athletics department--with a recruit as long as no recruitment and only normal civility occurs. Any contact made at the recruit's high school or junior college or at the site of the recruit's practice or game is not considered incidental and is prohibited.
• Speak to a recruit via telephone only if the recruit initiates the conversation and the call is not for recruiting purposes. A recruit's questions about athletics must be referred to the athletics department.
• Watch a recruit's athletics contest on his or her own initiative, but the booster still may not have contact with the recruit.
Members of the Pacific-10 Conference are grateful for the support its boosters provide to its athletics programs. Because institutions are responsible for the actions of their boosters, the Conference places a strong emphasis on compliance with NCAA rules and appreciates the efforts its boosters make to stay within recruiting guidelines.
This information is a condensed version of the recruiting rules which apply to boosters, as contained in the NCAA Division I Manual. This information is not intended to be a substitute for the Manual. If you have further questions, please contact a member of the athletics department of a Pac-10 institution.