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Robert Morris University Athletics

The Basics for Prospects and Their Families

ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY, OFFICE OF ATHLETIC COMPLIANCE


The Basics for Prospects and Their Families

Compliance with NCAA recruiting rules is an extensive process that requires diligence on the part of both the Department of Athletics and Robert Morris University. Below is a brief summary of the basic issues that you may be faced with as a prospective student-athlete being recruited by our coaches:



  1. You become a Prospective Student-Athlete if you have started classes for the ninth grade. Before the ninth grade, you become a prospective student-athlete if the college provides you (or your relatives or friends) any financial aid or other benefits that the college does not provide to prospective students normally, or if you are a basketball student-athlete in the 7th or 8th grade and display your athletic abilities for an NCAA coach.
  2. A "representative of an institutution's athletic interests" (commonly referred to as a booster) is defined by the NCAA as anyone who:
    • Is now, or previously has been, a member of any organization promoting the institution's intercollegiate athletics program;
    • Has made a financial contribution to the athletics program or an athletics booster organization;
    • Has assisted in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes;
    • Has assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes or their families; or
    • Has been involved, in any way, in the promotion of the athletics program.
  3. Please be aware that any former RMU student or former or current member of the Colonial Athletic Club is automatically considered a representative of RMU's athletics interests (booster). According to NCAA rules, once an individual is identified as a booster, he/she retains that status forever.
  4. You become a "recruited" prospective student-athlete at a particular college if any coach or booster solicits you or your family for the purpose of securing your enrollment and participation in intercollegiate athletics. Activities by coaches or boosters that trigger recruited status are:
    • Paying some or all of your expenses during a visit to campus (known as an "official" visit);
    • Arranging an in-person, off-campus encounter with you or your parent(s) or legal guardian;
    • Initiating or arranging a telephone contact with you, your family or guardian on more than one occasion for the purpose of recruitment; or
    • Issuing a National Letter of Intent or any other official written offer of athletically related financial aid
  5. A booster may not solicit your enrollment in any manner (no phone calls, letters, or in-person encounters).
  6. You (or your family) may not receive any benefit, inducement, or arrangement (such as cash, clothing, cars, improper expenses, transportation, gifts, or loans) to encourage you to sign a National Letter of Intent or to attend an NCAA school.
  7. A "contact" is any face-to-face encounter between a prospect or their parent(s) or legal guardian(s) and an institutional staff member or athletic representatitve during which any dialogue occurs in excess of an exchange of greeting. With VERY limited exceptions, such contacts may NOT be made before July 1 following the completion of the prospect's junior year in high school.
  8. With limited exceptions, weekly phone calls to you from faculty members and coaches (but not boosters) are permitted beginning July 1 (Sept. 1 for football) after completion of your junior year. A college coach or faculty member is limited to one telephone call (2 calls for men's basketball) per week to you (or your parents or legal guardians). Unlimited calls to you (or your parents or legal guardians) may be made under the following circumstances:
    • During the five days immediately before your official visit to the university;
    • On the day of a coach's off-campus contact with you;
    • During the time beginning with the initial National Letter of Intent signing date in your sport through the two days after the signing date, and;
    • In the sport of football only, during the permissible off-campus contact periods and during the 48 hours prior to and 48 hours after 7 a.m. on the initial signing fate for the National Letter of Intent.
    • Coaches also may accept collect calls, and universities are permitted to utilize a toll-free number to receive telephone calls from you (or your parent(s) or legal guardians) on or after July 1 after completion of your junior year.
    • You may always initiate and make unlimited phone calls to your recruiting coaches.
  9. Letters to you from coaches, faculty and staff members (But not boosters) are permitted beginning Sept. 1 at the beginning of your junior year in high school. A Division I university may also provide you with the following printed material:
    • General correspondence, including letters, institutional note cards, and post cards;
    • Business Cards;
    • Camp brochures, which may be provided prior to your junior year;
    • Questionnaires, which may be provided prior to your junior year;
    • Official academic, admissions, and student services publications published or videotapes produced by the institution and available to all students, which may be provided prior to your junior year;
    • NCAA educational information, which may be provided prior to your junior year;
    • Game programs (on your official or unofficial visit to campus), which may not include posters;
    • Pre-enrollment information subsequent to signing a National Letter of Intent with the university; AND
    • One athletic publication (media guide or recruiting brochure)
  10. Electronic communications with prospects are limited to ONLY emails and faxes, and ONLY on or after September 1 (June 15 for men's ice hockey and men's basketball) at the beginning of the prospect's junior year. Text messages may NOT be sent to prospects until the day a prospect signs their National Letter of Intent or May 1 of the senior year if the prospect has ALSO submitted a commitment fee to the university. 
  11. An "evaluation" is any off-campus activity designed to assess your academic qualifications or athletic ability, including any visit to your high school (during which no contact occurs) or the observation of any practice or competition in which you participate. Coaches may be evaluating a prospect or many prospects at a practice or competition, but not wish to make contact with the prospect at that time. Please respect the request of any coach to simply greet you and and not engage in any further discussion at that time.

We encourage you to always
ASK BEFORE YOU ACT.

Contact the Robert Morris University
Office of Athletic Compliance at:
(412) 397-4925

ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY

COOPERATION, CONSCIENCE, COMPLIANCE... COLONIALS!