The Division I Recruiting and Athletics Personnel Cabinet recently began discussing priorities it identified in September, including the proliferation of non-coaching staff members with sport-specific responsibilities and the application of current recruiting legislation to new media and technology.

The cabinet met February 9-10 in Indianapolis.

Cabinet members hope to solicit feedback through a white paper or discussion document to circulate among the membership about non-coaching staff members. In recent years, the number of non-coaching staff members, including titles such as “director of (sport) operations” or “director of player development,” has increased enough to cause concern.

The cabinet particularly noted the disparity among institutions with varying resource levels and the difficulty of monitoring the work done by non-coaching personnel (including student managers). Non-coaching personnel cannot engage in coaching activities, but the term “coaching activities” is not clearly defined, which complicates monitoring and enforcement efforts for campus administrators. The cabinet will gather information from institutions about what job responsibilities are assigned to people holding non-coaching positions and, if necessary, consider proposing legislative changes that could help stem the growth in non-coaching, sport-specific personnel and managers while being mindful of the appropriate number of coaches needed to work with student-athletes.

A related series of proposals designed to define the responsibilities of student managers in baseball was defeated by the Legislative Council in January.

The cabinet also learned about the application of current recruiting-materials legislation to new media. The group participated in a video phone call, learned the ins and outs of social- networking sites (including sport-specific social-networking sites), viewed sport-specific institutional Web sites and discussed the involvement of media entities in social networking.

While the cabinet agreed to review technology regularly, it will take a closer look at particular items in three phases. The first will focus on printed materials, video and institutional Web sites. The second phase will likely focus on recipients of information and recruiting and scouting services while the third phase likely will address recruiting communication methods, frequency and timelines.

The cabinet will seek feedback on the topics in the first phase, with an eye toward amending legislation to be more flexible to advancing technology while remaining true to recruiting principles such as minimizing intrusion in the lives of prospective student-athletes. The group hopes to begin to develop legislation at its June 2009 meeting.

Finally, the cabinet plans to use its June meeting to begin a broad examination of early recruitment issues, including early offers, camps and clinics and the communication timeline.

In legislative action, the cabinet endorsed the following proposals in the 2009 cycle:

•         No. 2008-15-B from the Big Ten that would make any prospect who has signed a National Letter of Intent or accepted written offers of aid or admission and reported to a campus-wide orientation session 14 days before the start of the academic year a student-athlete for contact purposes.

•         Nos. 2008-20-A and 2008-20-B (the cabinet supports both but prefers the latter), which would prohibit institutional staff members from attending recruiting events at which information related to prospects is made available.

•         No. 2008-25-D, which would prohibit institutions from making written offers of financial aid until a prospect has completed the amateurism portion of the Eligibility Center questionnaire.