RECRUITING AND CONTACT WITH PROSPECTIVE STUDENT-ATHLETES
Benefits or Special Arrangements for Prospects
Athletics representatives may not provide any offers or inducements, benefits, or special arrangements to a prospect or his or her family or friends. Coaches and institutional staff members are prohibited from soliciting funds or other privileges from athletics representatives to benefit a prospect’s high school, prep school, college, club team or league.
Offers and Inducements: Being involved, directly or indirectly, in making arrangements for, giving, or offering to give any financial aid or other benefits to the prospect or the prospect’s relatives or friends. Specifically prohibited financial aid, benefits, and arrangements include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Arranging employment for a prospect’s relatives
- Giving a gift of clothing or equipment
- Cosigning of loans
- Providing loans to a prospect’s relatives or friends
- Giving cash or like items
- Giving any tangible item, including merchandise
- Providing free or reduced-cost services, rentals, or purchases or any type
- Providing free or reduced-cost housing
- Providing use of an institution’s equipment (e.g., for a high school all-star game)
- Sponsoring or arranging for an awards banquet for high school, preparatory school, or two-year college athletics by an institution, representatives of its athletics interests, of its alumni groups, or of its fundraising organizations.
Recruitment of Prospects
Athletics department staff members and representatives of athletics interest always want to learn of new prospective student-athletes. However, strict guidelines exist which prohibits much of what you can do as a representative of Pacific’s athletics interest.
Athletics representatives are prohibited from:
- Making Contact with Prospective Student-Athletes: Athletics representatives are not authorized or permissible recruiters. NCAA rules prohibit athletics representatives from engaging in in-person, on or off-campus contacts, as well as telephone or written communication with prospects or their family members. This includes letters, emails, social media (Twitter, Facebook), chat rooms and message boards. If a prospect initiates telephone contact with you, or if you have an inadvertent face-to-face encounter with a prospect or his or her parents, do not enter into a recruiting conversation. Please refer all questions about the athletics program to the appropriate coach or athletics department staff members. Only authorized institutional staff members are permitted to be involved in the recruiting process.
- Making Contact with Prospect’s School: Athletics representatives may not contact the prospect’s coach, principal or counselor in an attempt to evaluate a prospect, nor may they visit the prospect’s school to pick up film or transcripts in order to facilitate the evaluation of prospects.
- Providing Expenses for Visits: Athletics representatives may not provide transportation or any other expenses (meals, lodging) for a high school or junior college prospect to visit the Pacific campus.
Athletics representative are permitted to:
- Attend Prospect’s Events: Athletics representatives, on their own initiative, may attend events (e.g., contests, banquets) where prospects are present so long as no contact is made with the prospect or the prospect’s family.
- Inform Pacific Coaches: Athletics representatives may make Pacific coaches aware of prospects in their area by contacting the coaches directly or forwarding news articles pertaining to particular prospects.
- Provide funding to benefit a local high school athletics program in the community where the athletics representative lives, if:
- The representative acts independently of the institution
- The funds are distributed through channel established by the high school or fundraising organization
- The funds are not earmarked directly for a specific prospect.
Pre-Existing Relationships
Athletics representatives having a pre-existing relationship (i.e., the relationship existed before the student was recruited by Pacific) with a prospect or the family members of a prospect may continue normal contacts are long as such contacts are not made for recruiting purposes and are not arranged by members of the Pacific coaching staff. The relationship should remain the same as it was before the individual began to be recruited and no extra benefits can be provided to the prospect or their family.
It is understood that athletics representatives may from time to time have contact with prospects and/or their family members. Such contact is permissible so long as it is not made for the purpose of recruitment of the prospect, and involves only normal civility. In other words, if you meet a high school or junior college student-athlete during your normal course of business or social activity, there is no violation as long as you do not discuss Pacific athletics. If you are attending an alumni or athletics event and find yourself speaking with parents of a prospect, do not discuss the athletics program.
