Prospective student-athletes would be able to spend an entire school day without receiving a text message from a college coach under new NCAA legislation proposed by the Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet.

The cabinet, which met June 14-16 in Indianapolis, agreed to sponsor legislation that would restrict the use of text messaging and other forms of electronic communication between coaches and prospective student-athletes.

The proposal would limit the use of "computer-mediated communication" to between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Additionally, the proposal will prohibit any such communication before September 1 of the prospect’s junior year. More specific time guidelines will be discussed at the next AEC Cabinet meeting in September.

The proposed legislation specifically exempts e-mail from the restrictions.

Initially forwarded by the AEC Cabinet’s subcommittee on recruiting, cabinet members consider the proposal a first step toward regulating an area of constantly expanding technology and its effect on the recruiting process, and further modification is expected.

By sponsoring the proposal, subcommittee members want to limit the intrusion such computer-mediated communication can impose on a prospect’s time, particularly during the school day. The time restrictions allow for messages to be sent after most school days are concluded and accommodates prospects who do not wish to be bothered late in the evening. The proposal also takes into account the well-being of coaches who might feel compelled to use technology to constantly communicate with recruits.

In discussing the issue, subcommittee members acknowledged the penchant many prospective student-athletes have for such types of communication, particularly text-messaging, because of its immediacy and portability. Recognizing that new forms of communication are rapidly becoming part of popular culture, the members were reluctant to ban the use of text messaging and other forms of computer-mediated communication altogether, though that was an option.

"I think newer technologies are gaining in popularity and are certainly the preferred mode of communication for most of the younger generation," said subcommittee chair Petrina Long, senior associate athletics director at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Our goal is to try to balance the intrusion into personal lives with the opportunity to make contact with the prospective student-athlete."

The subcommittee reviewed information collected from member institutions in response to a call for feedback after the AEC Cabinet’s February meeting. The issue was a main topic of discussion at that meeting and at the January Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics Summit on the Collegiate Athlete Experience. Several top recruits attributed the intensity of the recruiting process in part to the use of text messaging.

In addition to that information, the subcommittee also discussed costs connected to text-messaging. Most companies require customers to pay for receiving as well as sending messages in that format unless text messaging is included in the package of other services being provided to the user.

Another possibility the members talked about was instituting dead periods for computer-mediated communication. However no obvious resolution presented itself because of the current rules governing dead periods in different sports and the definition of a dead period traditionally allowing for general correspondence and telephone calls to occur.

Subcommittee members also acknowledged the difficulty in monitoring such communication and indicated a desire to work with the NCAA enforcement staff and the Division I Committee on Infractions in creating appropriate monitoring expectations and potential penalties.

Both the cabinet and the subcommittee indicated that the issue of new communications technology will continue to be monitored.

The full cabinet also proposed legislation to require prospects to complete NCAA core-curriculum requirements no later than the high school graduation date of the prospect’s class — generally defined as eight semesters after a prospect’s class begins ninth grade or the international equivalent.

The cabinet also recommended an exception to the rule: If the student-athlete graduated from high school in accordance with the original proposal, he or she may take one of the NCAA-required core courses in the calendar year following graduation unless the prospective student-athlete receives summer financial aid before full-time enrollment at an institution.

The proposal, brought forward by the cabinet’s initial-eligibility subcommittee, would close a perceived loophole in current regulations that allows a prospect to purposefully delay graduation to complete the core-course requirement. At the same time, it accounts for some unforeseen circumstances that could prevent a prospect from completing one of the core courses. The subcommittee also agreed that a prospect using the exception could complete the one core course at any high school recognized by the NCAA, not necessarily the high school that issued the prospect a diploma.

For example, prospects could also use the exception to bring a low grade-point average up to acceptable standards by taking one class at a recognized high school.

The full cabinet endorsed and sponsored as legislation a proposal to require each member institution to create a campus athletics board responsible for advising or establishing athletics policies and making policy decisions. The proposal was one of a package initially brought to the cabinet by the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics.

Cabinet members declined to require that members of the campus athletics board be appointed by the president or chancellor of the institution, indicating they believed that would amount to over-regulation and might cause the body to lose credibility with the rest of the faculty. Faculty and administrators with academic responsibilities will hold a majority of the positions on the board and the faculty athletics representative will be a member.

• The initial eligibility subcommittee requested that the NCAA research staff develop grade-point average and test score grids to predict first-year outcomes and to predict graduation rates. The models could be among many tools used in the initial-eligibility waiver process in the future.
• The cabinet sponsored proposed legislation to allow a student-athlete to try out with and receive actual expenses for one visit from each professional team (or a combine including that team) once during the collegiate career. Paid tryouts must not exceed 48 hours, but self-financed tryouts can last any length of time. The proposal also would permit student-athletes to participate in such tryouts while remaining enrolled full-time.