Alma Mater
Division I Rules | NCAA Guide for College Bound Student-Athlete
NCAA Rules
and Regulations for Alumni and Supporters of Wright State University
A publication prepared by the Wright State University Department
of Intercollegiate Athletics to assist alumni
and supporters in complying with the requirements of National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules
and regulations governing the conduct of the university's
athletics program.
Dear Wright State Raider Supporter:
One of the major goals we have for the Raider Athletics program is that we teach our student-athletes to compete hard and play within the rules.
The same standards apply to our administrators, coaches, and staff. The NCAA has many rules with which our staff must be familiar. There are various rules which apply to friends and supporters of our program as well.
The NCAA rules state, for example, that anyone involved in actively promoting the athletics interests of an institution must follow the NCAA guidelines. This specifically applies to friends and supporters of the program.
Because these rules may be unfamiliar to you, we have produced this booklet to outline the “do's and don'ts” as they apply to our fans and friends.
Please read this booklet carefully and call Roderick Perry at (937) 775-2771 anytime you have questions.
Our program is proud of the fact that we have great fans who support us through good and bad times. We are just as proud of the fact that we have never had a serious NCAA violation.
Your support is essential to the success of our program, and your strict adherence to the rules as they apply to you will continue to enhance the reputation of Raider Athletics and Wright State University.
Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Cusack
Director of Athletics
Representative of Athletics
Interest—“A Booster”
A “representative of the institution's athletics interest”
is an individual who is known (or who should be known) by
a member of the institution's executive or athletic
administration to:
(a) have participated in or to be a member of an agency or
organization promoting the institution's intercollegiate athletic
program;
(b) have made financial contributions to the athletic department or to an athletic booster organization of that institution (e.g. Athletic Director's Club);
(c) be assisting or to have been requested (by the athletic department staff) to assist in the recruitment of prospects;
(d) be assisting or to have assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes or their families (for example, helping to arrange summer and/or vacation employment for student-athlete);
(e) having been otherwise involved in promoting the institution's athletic program.
Once an individual is identified as such a representative,
the person retains that identity indefinitely.
Prospective
Student-Athlete
A prospective student-athlete (“prospect”) is
a student who has started classes for the ninth grade. In
addition, a student who has not started classes for the ninth
grade becomes a prospective student-athlete 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 prospective students generally.
Junior College Prospects
Five Important
Rules
Only coaches and athletic department staff members are permitted to be involved in the recruiting process. Alumni, friends, and other “representatives of athletic interest” who are not employed by the university are not permitted to contact a prospective student-athlete (or members of the prospect's family) by letter, telephone, or in person (on or off campus) for the purpose of soliciting their participation in the athletic program. WSU faculty members are permitted to engage in in-person contact with prospects, but only on campus.
A prospective student-athlete remains a prospect even after he or she signs a Letter-of-Intent or financial aid agreement to attend the university. The prospect does not lose his/her prospective athlete status until the start of classes at WSU or the beginning of official team practice immediately prior to the start of classes.
Don't do ANYTHING for prospective or enrolled student athletes without specific authorization from the WSU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
If a student-athlete accepts any benefits based on his or her special consideration as an athlete or because of athletic skill, the student-athlete will lose all eligibility for intercollegiate athletic participation.
NCAA rules applicable to enrolled student-athletes
not only applicable during the academic year, but they are also applicable during the summer months. Enrolled student-athletes are bound by NCAA rules until the end of the academic year in which their athletics eligibility is completed. And even then, some actions, including providing a benefit to such an individual, may cause an NCAA violation.
Prospective Athletes
at Alumni Events
DO NOT invite selected junior or senior high school or junior
college student-athletes to alumni events. NCAA rules prohibit
contact between alumni and friends at both on-campus and off-campus
sites. Alumni and friends CAN entertain prospective students
under certain conditions that do not involve singling out
athletes for special treatment, such as inviting all high
school seniors who have been awarded scholarships (academic
and athletic) to an alumni or scholarship event.
DO NOT bring your son or daughter or any other guest to an
alumni gathering event if he or she is participating in athletics
on the junior or senior high school or junior college level
and is therefore a prospective student-athlete.
DO tell athletic department personnel invited to speak at
alumni functions if prospective high school athletes will
be in attendance. There are certain time periods when coaches
are prohibited from any contact with a student-athlete off-campus.
Contact With Recruitable
Student-Athletes
DO NOT telephone or write to a prospective student-athlete
for the purpose of soliciting his or her participation in
the athletic program. If a prospective student-athlete initiates
a telephone conversation with you, you are obligated to refer
all questions regarding the university's athletic program
to the athletic department staff. You should also inform the
student athlete that NCAA rules prohibit recruiting contacts
with anyone but the athletic department staff.
DO NOT make in-person contact with a prospective student-athlete either on or off the college campus. If you know a coach is entertaining one or more prospects at an event on the WSU campus, please don't approach the coach while prospects are present.
DO NOT contact a prospective student-athlete's coach, principal, or counselor in an attempt to evaluate the prospect. Do not visit prospect's educational institution to pick up films or transcripts pertaining to the evaluation of the prospect's academic eligibility or athletic ability.
DO NOT directly or indirectly become involved in making arrangements for a prospect, the prospect's relatives, or friends to receive money, financial aid, or equivalent inducements even if similar financial aid, benefits, or arrangements are available to prospective students in general, their relatives, or friends. For instance, a prospective student who does NOT participate in ath-letics may accept a ride to visit the institution's campus from a neighbor who is an alumnus of the institution. A prospective student-athlete MAY NOT accept that ride.
DO NOT provide any of the following prohibited inducements to prospective student-athletes; cash or loans; promise of employment after college graduation; special discounts or payment arrangements on loans; employment of relatives or friends of a prospect; involvement in arranging for free or reduced charges for professional or personal services, purchases, or charges; use of an automobile; providing transportation to or from a summer job or to any other site; signing or co-signing a note for a loan; the loan or gift of money or other tangible items (i.e., clothes, cars, jewelry, electronic/stereo equipment); guarantees of bond; purchase of items or services from a prospect or the prospect's family at inflated prices; providing directly or indirectly transportation to enroll at WSU; any financial aid other than that administered by Wright State University; the promise of financial aid for postgraduate education; free or reduced-cost housing arrangements, or payment or arrangements for payment of transportation costs incurred by relatives or friends of relatives of a prospective student-athlete.
DO NOT contact enrolled student-athletes at other four-year institutions of higher education for the purpose of exploring their transfer to WSU and participation in the Raider athletic program. The NCAA has very strict rules concerning such matters. If a student-athlete enrolled at another institution contacts you, do not discuss transfer with him or her. Immediately refer them to a member of the WSU athletic department staff.
DO NOT pay or arrange for the payment of transportation costs
incurred by a prospect or the relatives or friends of a prospect
to visit the campus via commercial transport or offer to transport
any of these people to campus in your car or plane. The athletic
department is allowed to provide a limited number of expense-paid
visits to prospects, and each prospect is limited to accepting
a maximum number of five such visits, but no more than one
per institution.
A prospect can visit the campus an unlimited number of times
at his or her own expense.
DO NOT provide free tickets to a prospective student-athlete or his/her family to either home or away WSU games or to any athletic or nonathletic event. Such a gift would be considered an improper inducement. The athletic department can provide complimentary admissions to prospective student-athletes.
DO NOT establish any fund for the purpose of recruiting prospective student-athletes. If you wish to contribute to such efforts, make a direct tax-deductible contribution to the athletic department and indicate how you would like that contribution used. All funds used for recruiting must be administered by the university.
DO NOT entertain or provide tickets, gifts, or other benefits to junior or senior high school, preparatory school, or junior college coaches at any time. The athletic department is permitted to provide them with complimentary admissions, but “representatives of athletics interest” may not.
DO NOT pay in whole or in part or lend funds for the payment of registration fees for any prospective student-athlete to attend a summer sports camp.
DO NOT mail anything to a prospect, such as newspaper clippings, posters, programs, etc. The NCAA restricts the type of materials which may be sent to prospects and prohibits anyone but athletic department employees from distributing such materials or communication with prospects in writing.
DO feel free to attend junior or senior high school or junior college athletic events. NCAA rules do not prohibit you from doing so, only from coming into contact with a prospective student-athlete or members of the student's family while you were there. If you find yourself sitting next to the parents of a blue-chipper, be sure not to initiate contact or conversation. If contact with you is initiated, you are permitted to respond in a civil manner. However, you should not discuss the athletic program, and if the subject is raised by them, you should inform the parent of the NCAA rule against such contact and ask them to direct their questions to the athletic department.
DO feel free to pass on the names of talented, potential student-athletes to a member of our coaching staff.
DO feel free to engage in all of your normal activities. Incidental contact with prospects (or members of their families) is not prohibited. If you find yourself playing on the same pickup basketball or softball team as a prospect's parents or have as a next-door neighbor a prospect with whom you have had normal interaction over the last 10 years (backyard barbecues, picnics, etc.), don't worry. Just be sure to explain that you cannot discuss the university's athletic program with them, and explain that NCAA rules are the reason you cannot. If you want to be extra careful, we would appreciate your writing to the WSU compliance coordinator to explain the situation so we have a record of such incidental contact, and we can then show the NCAA that we took extraordinary care not to violate NCAA rules.
DO feel free to offer your assistance to any WSU coach who is recruiting in your city, such as providing the coach with a car or private plane or suggesting people to contact for information on a prospective student-athlete.
The prohibition of contact with a prospective student athlete
is not intended to relate to unavoidable incidental contacts
with prospects by representatives of a member institution's
athletic interests, it being understood that such a contact
is not prearranged by the representative of athletic interests
or an athletic department staff member, is not made for the
purpose of recruitment of the prospective student-athlete,
and involves only normal civility. In other words, if you
meet a junior or senior high school or junior college student-athlete
during your normal course of business, there is no problem
with the contact as long as you complete the conduct of your
affairs with no talk about Wright State University. However,
if you are attending an alumni or athletic event and find
yourself talking to parents of a prospect, don't talk about
the WSU athletic program and extricate yourself from the situation
in a timely and
civil manner.
Employment of
Student-Athletes
DO NOT provide employment to a prospective or currently enrolled
student-athlete without checking with the WSU athletic department
first. The athletic department is permitted to arrange employment
for enrolled student-athletes and prospective student-athletes
in the summer prior to their enrollment as freshmen. Contact
between a prospective student-athlete and a “representative
of athletics interests” to arrange for permissible pre-enrollment
employment is permitted with the specific authorization of
the athletic department.
DO NOT employ a prospect prior to the completion of the prospect's senior year in high school.
DO NOT employ a currently enrolled scholarship student-athlete during the academic year without the express permission of the athletic department. Such earnings would be countable against NCAA scholarship limits and must be carefully monitored.
DO NOT provide free transportation to and from jobs for student-athlete employees unless such transportation is provided to all employees.
DO provide employment for prospective and currently enrolled student-athletes during permissible time periods and at regular rates of pay for similarly situated non-athletic employees. We require all enrolled student-athletes to maintain a written employment record with the athletic department.
Current
Student-Athletes
DO NOT provide room, board, or transportation costs incurred
by friends or family of an enrolled student-athlete to visit
campus or to attend an away athletic event.
DO NOT provide or pay for typing or other costs associated with school projects or reports.
DO NOT provide any payment of expenses or the loan of an automobile for a student-athlete to return home or to any other location to receive an award or for any other personal reason.
DO NOT provide any extra benefit or special arrangement to student-athletes or friends or relatives of student-athletes. The NCAA considers extra benefits to include, but not be limited to: a special discount, payment arrangement, or credit on purchase (i.e., airline ticket, clothing) or services (i.e., laundry, dry cleaning, tailoring); a loan of money in any amount; a guarantee of bond; the use of an automobile; the purchase of meals or services at commercial establishments; transportation; a benefit connected with off-campus housing (i.e., individual television sets or stereo equipment; specialized recreational facilities; room furnishings or appointments of extra quality or quantity); signing or co-signing a note with an outside agency to arrange a loan; selling or giving a student-athlete tickets to an athletic, university, or community event; the use of personal properties (i.e., boats, summer homes, cars, stereos) or providing Christmas or birthday gifts.
DO NOT provide enrolled student-athletes with professional services for which a fee would normally be charged (i.e., free dental or medical services, haircuts, etc.).
DO NOT expend funds to entertain student-athletes, their friends, or relatives. You are not even permitted to buy student-athlete's parents a soft drink or popcorn at a basketball game.
DO NOT permit a student-athlete or his/her friends or relatives to use your telephone for long distance calls at your expense.
DO NOT provide gifts or awards to a student-athlete for his/her athletic performance. All awards must conform with NCAA awards restrictions and must be approved by Wright State University. Check with the athletic department first before permitting a hometown group or business to provide any award to a student-athlete.
DO NOT use the name or picture of an enrolled student athlete to directly advertise, recommend, or promote the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind. Such use will render the student-athlete immediately ineligible.
DO NOT provide an honorarium to a student-athlete for any speaking engagement. Student-athletes may only receive necessary travel expenses when speaking to educational or charitable groups. All speaking engagements must be approved in advance and coordinated by the athletic department.
DO NOT give money to any student-athlete, even if it is for the purpose of paying expenses to amateur athletic competitions. All expense funds must be provided through the university or officially registered amateur sport clubs. For instance, an alumnus cannot sponsor a golfer or tennis player who competes in pro-am competition over the summer.
DO feel free to invite a student-athlete or the entire team to an occasional family home meal under the following conditions:
(a) The meal must be provided in the representative's home (as opposed to a restaurant) and may be catered;
(b) Meals must be restricted to infrequent and special occasions; at a rate of once per quarter.
(c) Institutional staff members may provide transportation to student-athletes to attend such meals. A representative of the institutions athletic interests may not provide transportation to student-athletes to attend the meal function unless the meal function is at the home of
representative. (Please note this is the only time transportation of a student-athlete is permitted by a representative.)
IF YOU HAVE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR INVOLVEMENT WITH
WSU'S STUDENT-ATHLETES OR NCAA RULES, CONTACT:
Roderick Perry
Associate Athletics Director for Compliance
and Academic Services
Department of Intercollegiate Athletics
Wright State University
3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy.
Dayton, OH 45435-0001
Office phone: (937) 775-2771
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