Contact with Prospects
Contact with Prospects
Only those coaches (head & assistant) who are counted by the institution within the numerical limitations (10) on head and assistant coaches may contact or evaluate prospective student-athletes off campus. In addition, there is a limit of seven coaches (including the head coach) who may contact or evaluate prospective student-athletes off campus at any one time. [11.7.2.2]
A prospective student-athlete may engage in voluntary summer work-outs conducted by a Strength/Conditioning Coach with department-wide duties and may receive workout apparel, provided he or she is enrolled in the institution’s summer term prior to the student’s initial full-time enrollment at the certifying institution. [13.11.3.10]
Summer Voluntary Workouts
Student-athletes may not participate in any countable athletically related activities outside the playing season during any institutional vacation period and/or summer. [17.1.6.2.1.1]
In order for any athletically related activity to be considered “voluntary,” all of the following conditions must be met:
a)The student-athlete must not be required to report back to a coach or other athletics department staff member (strength coach, trainer, manager) any information related to the activity. No athletics department staff member who observes the activity (strength coach, trainer, manager) may report back to the coaching staff any information related to the activity.
b)The activity must be initiated and requested solely by the student-athlete. The student-athlete cannot be required to attend the voluntary workout. Staff members may provide information to the student-athlete related to available opportunities to participate in the voluntary activity (e.g., times when the weight room will be open).
c)Attendance and participation cannot be recorded for purposes of reporting information to the coaching staff.
d)The student-athlete cannot be rewarded or subject to penalty for choosing to participate or electing not to participate in voluntary workouts.
• It is permissible for each student-athlete to track their weight lifting and conditioning progress. Any records or progress logs must be kept for the student-athlete’s use only. They are not to be submitted to the coaching staff. Coaches may not observe student-athletes participating in voluntary weight training and conditioning activities during the summer. [17.02.13]
• Staff members may not participate with or observe student-athletes in the staff member’s sport who are engaged in non-organized voluntary athletically related activities (e.g., pick-up games, 7 on 7’s in football). [11.7.1.1.1.1]
• Individual consultation with a coaching staff member initiated voluntarily by a student-athlete is not a countable athletically related activity, provided any discussion between the coach and the student-athlete is limited to general counseling activities and does not involve countable athletically related activities (e.g., chalk talk; use of equipment relating to the sport; field, floor or on-court activity). [11/7/91 Official Interp.]
• Coaches, as well as noncoaching staff members, may not organize, observe or participate in sport-specific activities with student-athletes outside the playing and practice season inasmuch as such activity is considered impermissible, out-of-season, countable athletically related activities except as noted for the safety exception. Required meetings and workouts for student-athletes would be considered a violation of NCAA rules. This also includes requiring student-athletes to submit summer workout logs and progress reports. [11.7.1.1.1.1, 17.02.1]
• Practice that is organized or financially supported by a member institution shall be prohibited during the summer unless specifically authorized in the bylaws (e.g., foreign tour) or through official interpretations. An institution may pay fees associated with the use of institutional practice and competition facilities by student-athletes engaged in voluntary athletically related activities in their sport. [17.9.6.5]
Involvement of Strength Coach
Strength/Conditioning Coaches who are not countable coaches and who perform such duties on a department-wide basis may design and conduct specific workout programs forstudent-athletes, provided such workouts are voluntary and conducted at the request of thestudent-athlete. [17.1.6.2.1.1]
• Conditioning drills may simulate game activities; provided no offensive or defensivealignments are set up and no equipment related to the sport is used. [17.1.6.2.4]
• All strength and conditioning coaches conducting voluntary weight training or conditioning activities shall be required to have cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid certification.In addition, a member of the institution's sports medicine staff (e.g., athletic trainer, physician) must be present during all voluntary conditioning activities (running, not lifting) conducted by the institution's strength coach. This sports medicine staff member must be empowered to have the unchallengeable authority to cancel or modify the workout for health and safety reasons, as he or she deems appropriate.[17.9.6.3]
Football Specific Conditioning Activities
Student-athletes and members of the coaching staff shall not engage in countable athletically related activities outside the playing season, except as set forth below [17.9.6.1]:
• An institution shall designate nine consecutive weeks between the conclusion of the academic year and its reporting date for preseason practice as its summer conditioning period. During this nine-week period, institutions shall designate one week as student-athlete discretionary time.
• During the remaining eight weeks of the summer conditioning period, student-athletes may be involved in voluntary weight training and conditioning activities. Such activities are limited to eight hours per week.
• All remaining days between the conclusion of the academic year and the institution's reporting date for preseason practice that are not part of the institution's designated summer conditioning period and not already designated as student-athlete discretionary time shall be considered student-athlete discretionary time.
Videotaping
Staff members may not arrange for or view the videotaping of student-athletes engaged insummer practice activities for film breakdown and analysis purposes.
Around the NCAA
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
The violations in the football program occurred during multiple summers involving voluntary conditioning activities which became mandatory because ofactions by members of the football and strength and conditioning coaching staffs. Thestrength and conditioning coach at the time ("former strength coach") provided bothwritten and verbal updates to the coaching staff about student-athletes participating insummer workouts. Also, members of the football coaching staff occasionally observedworkouts, provided skill training and tracked attendance by student-athletes in thesummer conditioning program.
The program failed to satisfy the NCAA legislated standards for voluntary athletically related activities in that:
- the former strength coach provided written and oral information to the football coaches about the absences, performance and progress of specific student-athletes who participated in the program;
- the former strength coach providedinformation to football student-athletes about the absences of their teammates;
- several football coaches gave oral recognition to football student-athletes duringthe summers for their participation and performance in the summer program;
- two assistant football coaches called football student-athletes to inquire aboutparticipation in informal scrimmages organized by the student-athletes;
- workouts were occasionally observed by the football coaches who spent time inthe weight room while the football student-athletes lifted weights and observedon-field conditioning and training activities; and
- two assistant football coachesprovided football skills coaching to two football student-athletes.
Penalties: two years of probation; reduction of countable hours in the sport of football from 20 hours to 15 for one week during the spring semester; attend the Regional Compliance Seminars; annual compliance reporting.
University of Michigan
During the summers of 2008 and 2009, five "quality control" staff members, the former graduate assistant and a student assistant coach monitored and conducted skill-development activities even though NCAA rules precluded their involvement. During the same two summers, the strength and conditioning coaches, who were permitted to conduct the activities, violated NCAA legislation by occasionally using conditioning activities as disciplinary measures. Further, certain skill-development activities performed in winter and voluntary summer workouts became impermissible because they were not limited to weight training, conditioning and film review, and at times daily and weekly hour limitations for countable athletically related activities were violated.
In order for strength/conditioning coaches to be non-countable:
- they must have department-wide responsibilities
Strength/conditioning coaches cannot:
- engage in any on- or off-field coaching
- conduct football-specific skill development with football student-athletes
- provide instruction regarding technique and plays at practice sessions
- critique student-athletes during film sessions
- attend meetings involving coaching activities
Penalties: public reprimand and censure, three years probations, institution will decrease the permitted countable athletically related activity time by 130 hours beginning June 1, 2010 and ending at the conclusion of the 2011-12 academic year, head coach is required to attend NCAA Regional Rules Seminar.
University of Notre Dame 113 Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN 46556 574.631.9647 UND.COM