Big Changes Coming in College Recruiting from the NCAA
There was a lot that happened at this year’s meeting of the NCAA DI Board of Directors. It’s no secret that the NCAA president, Mark Emmert, is pushing hard for reform within the NCAA. Two of the most controversial pieces of legislation are an additional $2,000 per year on top of full-ride athletic scholarships and allowing athletes to sign multiyear scholarships.
In early August, both of these measures were introduced and were met with mixed to negative reviews. In the case of the $2,000 boost for full-ride scholarships, over 125 NCAA D1 universities voted to immediately suspend the measure. In the case of the multiyear scholarships, roughly 75 universities voted against the measure, and while that wasn’t enough to immediately suspend the proposed legislation, it forced the NCAA presidents to revisit the measure.
As Allie Grasgreen reported from last week’s board of directors’ meeting, the multiyear scholarships will go to vote in a February meeting, while the $2,000 increase in scholarships will be discussed again in April. These changes will significantly impact the recruiting classes of 2013, as well as all current student athletes, and will be watched closely.
NCAA D2 News
Another Noteworthy Result From the Board of Directors’ Meeting Were Big Changes to the NCAA D2 Recruiting Rules
- NCAA D2 schools can now have unlimited visits with recruits beginning June 15 of their junior year. The previous rule was that a program could only visit a recruit three times per year.
- Programs can now contact athletes via fax and e-mail starting June 15 of their junior year, moving it up nearly a year from the original date of September 1 on an athlete’s senior year.
- Coaches can now make unlimited phone calls to recruits starting June 15 of their junior year. The original rule was only one call per week.
- Coaches are also permitted to use message boards, text, and instant messaging to contact recruits again starting June 15.
- Coaches can use Facebook to contact recruits as long as the message is private. Coaches cannot write on the wall of a recruit.
NCAA D3 News
Coaches are now allowed to use text messaging when contacting athletes. Text messaging falls into the same category as the rest of D3 contact rules. Coaches are allowed to contact recruits once they enter high school and can contact athletes as much as they would like.
These are some very big changes at all division levels, and I will be discussing the potential impacts in tomorrow’s post. If you have any questions, please ask them below in the comments section or on Facebook , Twitter, or Google+, and I will answer them as soon as possible.