NCAA Division I Recruiting Rules and Regulations
The following information is provided to help you through the recruiting process and answer questions that you may have concerning NCAA Division I Recruiting rules and regulations.
Phone Calls –
Soccer Coaches may call you or your family members once in March and then again starting on or after July 1 following your junior year in high school. After July 1, a college coach is limited to one telephone call per week to you or your family. Unlimited calls are permitted during the five days immediately preceding your official visit by the college you will be visiting; on the day of a coach's off-campus contact with you by that coach; during the National Letter of Intent signing date in your sport through the two days after the signing date.
You or your parents may call a coach at your own expense as often as you wish. Coaches also may accept collect calls from you on or after July 1 after completion of your junior year. Please note that if you call a coach prior to the July 1 date and leave a message, the coach is not permitted to return your call until July 1. In these instances, please feel free to leave a message and call back at a later time.
Written Correspondence
The following printed materials may be provided to you on or after September 1 of your junior year in high school:
Official academic, admissions and student services publications and videotapes published by the college;
General correspondence, including letters and college note cards (attachments to correspondence may include materials printed on plain white paper with black ink.);
A media guide or recruiting brochure (but not both) in each sport;
Any necessary preenrollment information about orientation, conditioning, academics, practice activities, as long as you have signed a National Letter of Intent or have been accepted for enrollment;
One wallet-size playing schedule card in each sport.
If you visit the recruiting school’s campus the following items may be provided to you:
Game programs
One student-athlete departmental handbook.
A Division I college may provide you a questionnaire, camp brochure and educational information published by the NCAA at any time.
Evaluations and Contacts
An evaluation is an off-campus activity designed to assess the athletic ability or academic qualifications of a prospect, including any visit to a prospects educational institution or, for example, a soccer tournament. A contact is any face-to-face meeting that is prearranged or that occurs at your high school or a competition/practice site
A college coach may contact you in person off the college campus only on or after July 1 after completion of your junior year. Any face-to-face meeting between a college coach and you or your parents, during which you say more than "hello," is a contact. Each school is limited to 7 recruiting opportunities (contacts and evaluations combined) per prospect and not more than 3 of these opportunities can be in-person, off-campus contacts. The evaluation of each contest in a soccer tournament held during the academic year shall count as one evaluation as long as the tournament occurs on consecutive days.
Try-Outs
You may not try out for a D1 college's athletics team. A tryout is any physical activity (e.g., practice session or test) conducted by or arranged on behalf of the college, at which you display your athletics ability. It is permissible for you to participate in recreational activities during a visit to our campus provided these activities are not organized or observed by the college’s coaching staff and the activities are not designed to test your athletic abilities.
Campus Visits
You may visit campus at your own expense at any time. Coaches may meet with you during your visit, provided it is not during a dead period (see definition below). A visit for which you pay all of your own expenses is an unofficial visit. On an unofficial visit you may receive three complimentary admissions to a game on that campus and a tour of off-campus practice and competition sites in your sport and other college facilities within 30 miles of the campus.
During your senior year, you can have one expense-paid (official) visit to a particular campus. You may receive no more than five such visits. This restriction applies even if you are being recruited in more than one sport. You can't have an official visit unless you have given the college your high-school (or college) academic transcript and a score from a PSAT, an SAT, a PACT Plus or an ACT taken on a national test date under national testing conditions. Your academic transcript may be a photocopy of your official high-school (or college) transcript. [Note: In this instance, the Division I school may use the services of the Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse to validate your credentials.]
During your official visit (which may not exceed 48 hours), you may receive round-trip transportation between your home (or high school) and the campus, and you (and your parents) may receive meals, lodging and complimentary admissions to campus athletics events. A coach may only accompany you on your official visit when the transportation occurs by automobile and all transportation occurs within the 48-hour period. Meals provided to you (and/or your parents) on an official visit may be provided either on or off the institution's campus.
The complimentary admissions you receive may provide you seating only in the facility's general seating area. You may not be given special seating (e.g., press box, bench area). In addition, a student host may help you (and your family) become acquainted with campus life. The host may spend $30 per day to cover all costs of entertaining you (and your parents, legal guardians or spouse); however, the money can't be used to purchase souvenirs such as T-shirts or other college mementos. Additionally, during a campus visit, the school may provide you with a student-athlete handbook.
Dead Periods
Certain times of the year are designated as "dead periods" in each sport. During a dead period, it is not permissible for a coach to have any on- or off-campus contact with you or your family. These dead periods vary by sport. Generally, they surround the National Letter of Intent signing period . If you come to campus during a dead period, the coach or any athletic department personnel may not meet with you.