The University of Akron Athletics
Recruiting
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Recruiting Rules
There are specific rules that govern when and in what manner coaches are permitted to communicate with prospective student-athletes. Please visit the NCAA website to learn more about the rules surrounding recruitment for participation in intercollegiate athletics.
Offers and Inducements
An institution's staff member or any representative of its athletics interests (booster) shall not be involved, directly or indirectly, in making arrangements for, or giving or offering to give, any financial aid or other benefits to a prospective student-athlete or his or her relatives or friends, other than expressly permitted by NCAA regulations. Receipt of a benefit by a prospective student-athlete or his or her relatives or friends is not a violation of NCAA legislation if it is determined that the same benefit is generally available to the institution's prospective students, or their relatives or friends, or to a particular segment of the student body (e.g., international students, minority students) determined on a basis unrelated to athletics ability.
Examples of Impermissible Offers and Inducements:
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Relevant Recruiting Definitions
Prospective Student-Athlete:
A prospective student-athlete is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade (7th grade for men's basketball). Additionally, a student who has not started classes for the ninth grade becomes a prospect if the institution provides such an individual (or the individual's relatives or friends) any financial assistance or other benefits that the institution does not provide to prospects generally. An individual remains a prospect until he or she enrolls full-time at a four-year institution.
Recruited Prospective Student-Athlete:
A prospective student-athlete becomes a recruited prospect at an institution if: (1) the prospect takes an official visit; (2) the prospect or his or her family has an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with an institution's coach; (3) an institution's coach initiates or arranges a telephone contact with a prospect or his or her family on more than one occasion; or (4) the prospect is issued a National Letter of Intent or written offer of athletically related financial aid by the institution.
Official Visit:
An official visit to a member institution by a prospective student-athlete is a visit financed in whole or in part by the member institution. An institution is only able to finance one official visit per prospect to its institution. A prospective student-athlete may take up to five expense paid visits to Division I institutions no earlier than the first day of classes of the prospect's senior year in high school (exception for men's and women's basketball). Please note that an official visit may not last more than 48 hours. Effective August 1, 2016 an institution may provide meals, lodging and entertainment for up to four family members accompanying a prospective student-athlete on an official visit. An institution may provide up to six complimentary admissions to a home athletics event for the use of the prospective student-athlete and those persons accompanying him or her.
In order for a prospective student-athlete to come on an official visit, the prospect must present the institution with:
- A test score (i.e. SAT, ACT)
- A high school (or college) academic transcript
- An NCAA ID number signifying registration with the NCAA Eligibility Center (so that the institution can add the prospect to its Institutional Request List with the NCAA Eligibility Center)
Unofficial Visit:
During an unofficial visit, the institution may not pay any expenses or provide any entertainment for a prospective student-athlete except for a maximum of three complimentary admissions (issued only through a pass list) to a home athletics event. A prospect may visit a member institution's campus at his or her expense an unlimited number of times, including before his or her senior year in high school.
Contacts:
Coaches are restricted in their ability to see and/or interact with a prospect in person. Restrictions are based on the prospect's age and the associated sport's recruiting calendar. Recruiting calendars differ by sport and are made of up of four different time periods during which varying levels of coach-to-prospect interactions are allowed.
- Contact Period: During this time, it is permissible for a coach to make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations.
- Evaluation Period: During this time, it is permissible for a coach to be involved in off-campus activities designed to assess the academic qualifications and playing ability of prospects. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts shall be made at this time.
- Quiet Period: During this time, it is permissible for a coach to make an in-person recruiting contact with a prospect only on the institution's campus. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations may be made at this time.
- Recruiting Period (Men's Basketball): During this time, it is permissible for coaches to make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations.
- Dead Period: During this time, it is not permissible for coaches to make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on or off the institution's campus or to permit official or unofficial visits by prospects to the institution's campus. It remains permissible, however, for an institutional staff member to write or telephone a prospect during a dead period.
For more information on recruiting take a look at the NCAA Guide for the College Bound Student Athlete.
Recruiting calendars can be found here.Â
