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General Recruiting Process

In college athletics, recruiting is the term used for the process whereby college coaches add prospective student athletes to their roster each off-season. In most instances, it involves a coach extending an athletic scholarship offer to a player who is about to graduate from high school or a junior college. There are instances, mostly at lower division universities, where no scholarship can be awarded and the player has to pay for all of his or her own tuition, housing, and book fees. During this recruiting process, most schools try hard to comply with recruiting bylaws that support the NCAA’s underlying principles of fairness and integrity. The rules define who may be involved in the recruiting process, when recruiting may occur and the conditions under which recruiting may be conducted. Recruiting rules seek, as much as possible, to control intrusions into the lives of prospective student-athletes. The NCAA defines recruiting as “any solicitation of prospective student-athletes or their parents by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institution’s athletics interests for the purpose of securing a prospective student-athlete’s enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program.

”In order to be considered a “recruited prospective student-athlete” you must be approached by a college coach or representative about participating in that college’s athletic program. NCAA guidelines specify how and when you can be contacted. Letters, telephone calls and in-person conversations are limited to certain frequency and dates during and after junior year. The NCAA also determines when you can be contacted by dividing the year into four recruiting and non-recruiting periods:

1. During a contact period, recruiters may make in-person, on- or off-campus contacts and evaluations. Coaches can also write and/or phone you during this period.

2. During an evaluation period, they can only assess academic qualifications and playing abilities; no in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts are permitted. Letters and phone calls are permitted.

3. During a quiet period, they may make in-person recruiting contacts only on the college campus. Off-campus, recruiters are limited to phone calls and letter-writing.

4. During a dead period, they cannot make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on- or off-campus or permit official or unofficial visits. However, phone calls and letters are permitted.

During the recruiting process, prospective student-athletes go on an official visit to the school they are being recruited by. An official visit is a prospective student-athlete’s visit to a college campus paid for by the college. The college can pay for transportation to and from the college, room and meals (three per day) while visiting and reasonable entertainment expenses, including three complimentary admissions to a home athletics contest. NCAA recruiting bylaws limit the number of official visits a recruit may take to five . The NCAA has imposed stringent rules limiting the manner in which competing university-firms may bid for the newest crop of prospective student-athletes. Such rules limit the number of visits, which a student-athlete may make to a given campus, the amount of his expenses that may be covered by the university-firm, and so forth.

National Letter of Intent

During recruitment, a college coach may ask you to sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI). The NLI is a voluntary program with regard to both institutions and student-athletes. No prospective student-athlete or parent is required to sign the National Letter of Intent, and no institution is required to join the program. By signing a National Letter of Intent, a prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the designated college or university for one academic year. Pursuant to the terms of the National Letter of Intent program, participating institutions agree to provide athletics financial aid to the student-athlete, provided he/she is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules. An important provision of the National Letter of Intent program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs a Letter of Intent. This prohibition requires participating institutions to cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once a National Letter of Intent is signed with another institution. The National Letter of Intent has many advantages to both prospective student-athletes and participating educational institutions:

(A) Once a National Letter of Intent is signed, prospective student-athletes are no longer subject to further recruiting contacts and calls.

(B) Student-athletes are assured of an athletics scholarship for a minimum of one full academic year.

(C) By emphasizing a commitment to an educational institution, not particular coaches or teams, the program focuses on a prospective student-athlete's educational objectives.

The service of professional athletes are secured by members of private industry whose primary objective it capital gain. The service of many college athletes are secures through recruiting services established by the athletic departments which include staff members and influential friends of the institutions. A professional athlete must sign an exclusive contract with one a particular organization. The college athlete normally signs a exclusive contact, such as the NLT but at the expense of losing a years eligibility if he chooses to transfer from another institution of this choosing. This national letter of intent is subscribed to by all major athletic conferences and nearly all-independent university-firms. Division I of the NCAA is likely to create its own national letter of intent for each sport and, in addition, designate a different signing date for each sport in order to reduce the time and expense incurred when the recruiting season is overly long Since success or failure in recruiting is seen as a precursor of a team's future prospects, many college sports fans follow it as closely as the team's actual games and it also provides a way to be connected to the team during the off season. Fans' desire for information has spawned a million-dollar industry which first developed extensively during the 1980s. Prior to the internet, popular recruiting services used newsletters and pay telephone numbers to disseminate information. Since the mid-1990s, many online recruiting websites have offered fans player profiles, scouting videos, player photos, statistics, interviews, and other information, including rankings of both a player and a team's recruiting class. Most of these websites charge for their information.

Intercollegiate Athletics

Recruiting top student-athletes is even more strategic due to the potential increase in undergraduate admissions and booster donations that a championship may bring. Traditionally, coaches recruiting for major college athletic departments focused on highlighting the athletic accomplishments of the athletic program. Clotfelter writes about the problems of college sports. But he says there are benefits to universities in playing big-time sports, which he defines as Division I basketball and schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Those benefits go beyond money and can be difficult to measure. The transformation of college athletics over the past 30 years into a multi-billion dollar, internationally recognized business has changed the focus of intercollegiate athletic departments. Budget minded administrators have realized that a winning team can provide an effective means of advertising their institutions and securing much needed additional funding. In order to ensure the cycle of successful seasons, it is imperative that the athletic department recruits the most athletically talented and academically eligible potential student-athletes possible.

Terminology

Quiet period is a time when the college may not have any in-person talk with the prospective student-athlete or the parents off the college’s campus. The coach may not watch the prospect play or practice.The prospective student-athlete can visit college campuses during this time and a coach may write or telephone.

Contact occurs any time a coach has any face-to-face contact with a prospective student-athlete or the prospect’s parents off the college’s campus and says more than hello. A contact also occurs if a coach has any contact with the prospective student-athlete or his or her parents at the prospective student-athlete’s high school or any location where the prospect is engaging in competition or practice.

Contact period is the time when a college coach may have in-person contact with a prospective student-athlete and the prospect’s parents on or off the college’s campus. The coach may also watch the prospective student-athlete play or visit his or her high school. The prospect and the parents may visit a college campus, and the coach may write and telephone during this period.

Dead period is a time when the college coach may not have any in-person contact with the prospective student-athlete or the prospect’s parents at any time. The coach may write and telephone during this time.

Oversigning - is an unofficial term for the practice of American college athletic departments signing recruits to a National Letter of Intent (NLI) that may exceed the maximum number of athletic scholarships permitted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The NCAA limits the total number of scholarships that may be awarded in all sports; in some sports, most notably football, it also limits the number of scholarships awarded in a given year. Grayshirting - The practice of delaying enrollment of a student athlete until 2nd semester/quarter or 3rd quarter of the academic year following signing of a National Letter of Intent (NLI). Student athletes may be asked to delay enrollment or choose to do so voluntarily for various reasons. If a student athlete is asked to delay entry but chooses not to, that can have their NLI voided and immediately sign with another school without penalty. If a student athlete chooses to grayshirt then they may either be counted toward scholarship limitation for the current signing period or for the signing period of the following year.

Recruited Walk-On - Student athletes that are invited to join a program but are not offered athletically related financial aid or scholarship. In football, place kickers, punters, and long snappers frequently join teams as recruited walk-ons. Walk-ons may be awarded a scholarship at any time. Once a scholarship is awarded a scholarship, that athlete counts against the scholarship limitations for the duration of the time the student athlete is on scholarship. While many walk-on athletes, particularly in football, are recruited, others may approach the coaches without invitation about joining the team. In some cases, programs may hold open try-outs to find players among the student body.