Acting for the Division I Management Council, the Division I Legislative Review/Interpretations Committee issued the following interpretations:

Conference Call No. 3 

March 2, 2006

Recruiting — Evaluations

1. Evaluations of Individuals Before Ninth Grade. The committee recommends that the NCAA Division I Management Council modify a previous Council-approved official interpretation (Reference: 7/18/2001, Item No. 2) to specify that evaluation activities related to individuals who are not yet prospective student-athletes may only occur during contact or evaluation periods when it is permissible to evaluate prospective student-athletes. [References: NCAA Bylaws 13.02.11 (prospective student-athlete), 13.02.4 (recruiting periods) and 13.1.8 (limitations on number of evaluations-all sports).]

Recruiting — Practice Activities Before Enrollment

2. Practice Activities with a Prospective Student-Athlete Before Enrollment and Outside of the Playing Season. The committee confirmed that it is not permissible for an institution’s coaching staff members to engage in any practice activities (for example, review of playbook, chalk talk, film review) with a prospective student-athlete before his or her initial enrollment at the certifying institution and outside of the institution’s playing season. [References: NCAA Bylaws 14.1.8.1 (requirement for practice), 14.1.8.1.1 (practice before initial enrollment), 17.02.1 (countable athletically related activities) and 17.1.1 (playing season).]

Conference Call No. 4

March 23, 2006

Personnel — Recruiting — Recruiting Services or Publications

1. Interview of Athletics Department Staff Members by Media Outlets Associated with a Recruiting Service or Publication. The committee determined that it is permissible for an athletics staff member to provide an interview for a noninstitutional publication or other media outlet that is associated with an entity that also includes a recruiting service or publication, provided the individual conducting the interview is not involved with the recruiting service or publication division of the entity and information from the interview is not included in any media (for example, publication, Web page, television or radio program) that is primarily devoted to reporting on the athletics participation or evaluation of prospective student-athletes. The committee noted that in the case of a Web site, this standard is applied to each separate page within the overall site. [This interpretation clarifies a previous official interpretation (Reference: 2/2/06, Item No. 1), which has been archived]. [References: NCAA Bylaw 11.3.2.4 (noninstitutional publications that report on athletics program); Bylaw 11.3.2.4.1 (educational materials); Bylaw 11.3.2.5 (recruiting service consultants); Bylaw 13.4.4.1 (recruiting advertisement); and Bylaw 13.4.4.1.2 (interview to recruiting publication).]