NCAA Soccer Recruiting Calendar and Guidelines: 2019-2020

NCAA DIVISION I COACHES RECRUITING GUIDE
Effective August 1, 2019

DEFINITIONS

Contact: A contact is any face-to-face encounter between a prospective student-athlete (PSA) or the PSA’s parents, relatives or legal guardian(s) and an institutional staff member or athletics representative during which any dialogue occurs in excess of an exchange of a greeting. Any such face-to-face encounter that is prearranged (e.g., staff member positions himself or herself in a location where contact is possible) or that takes place on the grounds of the PSA’s educational institution or at the site of organized competition or practice involving the PSA or the PSA’s high school, preparatory school, two-year college or all-star team shall be considered a contact, regardless of whether any conversation occurs. However, an institutional staff member or athletics representative who is approached by a PSA or the PSA’s parents, relatives or legal guardian(s) at any location shall not use a contact, provided the encounter was not prearranged and the staff member or athletics representative does not engage in any dialogue in excess of a greeting and takes appropriate steps to immediately terminate the encounter.

Evaluation: Evaluation is any off-campus activity designed to assess the academic qualifications or athletics ability of a PSA, including any visit to a PSA’s educational institution (during which no contact occurs) or the observation of a PSA participating in any practice or competition at any site.

Evaluation Days: An evaluation day is defined as one coach engaged in the evaluation of any PSA on one day (12:01 a.m. to midnight); two coaches making evaluations on the same day shall use two evaluation days.

Recruited PSA: Actions by staff members or athletics representatives that cause a PSA to become a recruited PSA at that institution are:
a. Providing the PSA with an official visit;
b. Having an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with the PSA or the PSA’s parent(s), relatives or legal guardian(s); or
c. Issuing a National Letter of Intent (NLI) or the institution’s written offer of athletically related financial aid to the PSA (excluding summer term awards prior to initial full-time enrollment).

Telephone Calls: All electronically transmitted human voice exchange (including videoconferencing and videophones) shall be considered telephone calls. All electronically transmitted correspondence (e.g., electronic mail, Instant Messenger, facsimiles, text messages) shall not be considered telephone calls.

CONTACTS, EVALUATIONS AND TELEPHONE CALLS

Off-Campus Recruiters: An institutional staff member is not permitted to recruit off campus until he or she has been certified on an annual basis as to knowledge of applicable recruiting rules.

Telephone Calls During Conduct of an Institution’s Athletics Contest: Telephone calls to a PSA (or the PSA’s relatives or legal guardians) may not be made during the conduct of any of the institution’s intercollegiate athletics contests in that sport from the time the institution’s team reports on call at the competition site at the direction of the coach until the competition has concluded and the team has been dismissed by the coach.

Telephone Calls – Institutional Staff Members – General Rule: All telephone calls made to PSAs (or the PSAs’ parents, legal guardians or coaches) must be made by the head coach or one or more of the assistant coaches who count toward the numerical limitations in that sport.

Visits to a PSA’s Educational Institution: Visits to a PSA’s educational institution that will occur during that portion of the day when classes are being conducted for all students must receive the approval of the executive officer (or the executive officer’s designated representative) of the PSA’s educational institution.

Counting Contacts and Evaluations: Evaluations that occur September 1 through May 31 count against the permissible number of recruiting opportunities for a particular PSA, except for evaluations that occur on the same day as a permissible contact. From June 1 through August 31, evaluations do not count against the annual number of recruiting opportunities for a particular PSA. Contacts that occur with a PSA count against the permissible number of total recruiting opportunities regardless of the time period (e.g., academic year or outside the academic year). All contacts and evaluations are subject to recruiting calendar restrictions.

Contact at PSA’s Practice or Competition Site: It is permissible to make phone calls or send electronic correspondence to a PSA (or a PSA’s parents or legal guardians) while the PSA has reported on call for competition and competition-related activities, provided the PSA is otherwise permitted to receive phone calls and electronic correspondence. Recruiting contact may not be made with a PSA at any site prior to any athletics competition (including a noninstitutional, private camp or clinic, but not an institutional camp or clinic) in which the PSA is a participant on a day of competition, even if the PSA is on an official or unofficial visit. Contact includes the passing of notes or orally relaying information to a PSA by a third party on behalf of an institutional staff member. Contact may occur after the PSA’s competition concludes for the day and the PSA has been released by the appropriate authority (e.g., coach).