Definitions

• Representative of Athletics Interests
• Extra Benefit
• Recruiting
• Activities Constituting Recruitment
• Prospect
• Contact
• Evaluation
• Contact Period
• Quiet Period
• Dead Period
• Official Visit
• Unofficial Visit
• Amateurism

Representative of Athletics Interests   Top
(commonly referred to as a booster)
A "representative of the institution's athletics interests" is an individual, independent agency, corporate entity (e.g., apparel or equipment manufacturer) or other organization who is known (or who should have been known) by a member of the institution's executive or athletics administration to:
(a) Have participated in or to be a member of an agency or organization promoting the institution's intercollegiate athletics program;
(b) Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or to an athletics booster organization of that institution;
(c) Be assisting or to have been requested (by the athletics department staff) to assist in the recruitment of prospects;
(d) Be assisting or to have assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes or their families; or
(e) Have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution's athletics program.
Some examples of representative of athletics interests are: fans, undergraduate students, graduate students, all university faculty, staff and other employees and alumni. (This is not an exhaustive list.) Once identified as a booster, the individual or business retains that identity for life.

Extra Benefit  Top
An extra benefit is any special arrangement by an institutional employee or a booster to provide a student-athlete, or his/her friends or relatives, a benefit not authorized by the NCAA. The benefits a student-athlete may NOT receive include, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

• money,
• special discount,
• payment arrangement or credit on a purchase (airline ticket, clothes) or service (laundry, typing);
• free or reduced-cost professional services not available on the same basis to the general student body;
• use of a telephone, pager or credit card for personal reasons without charge or at a reduced rate;
• entertainment services (movie tickets, dinners, use of car) from commercial agencies (theaters, restaurants, car dealers) without charge or at reduced rates, or free or reduced-cost admission to professional athletics contests from professional sports organizations, unless such services are available to the student body in general;
• guarantee of bond;
• signing or cosigning a note with an outside agency to arrange a loan;
• preferential treatment, benefits or services based on his/her athletics reputation or skill or pay-back potential as a future professional;
• free or reduced-cost athletics equipment, supplies or clothing directly from a manufacturer or commercial enterprise;
• free or reduced cost room and/or board;
• payment or other compensation for work not performed or at unreasonable levels for the work performed;
• employment arrangements for a student-athlete or prospect's relatives or friends;
• payment of registration fees or other expenses to attend UF sports camp or clinic;
• use of personal property (boats, summer homes, cars, computers, stereos);
• holiday or birthday presents;
• promise of employment after college graduation;
• purchase of items or services from a prospect/student-athlete or their relatives at inflated prices; and
• payment or arrangements for payment of transportation costs incurred by a student-athlete or prospect's relatives or friends; or
• anything given because an individual is a student-athlete.

Recruiting  Top
Any solicitation of a prospect or his/her family by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institution's athletics interests for the purpose of securing the prospect's enrollment and participation in the institution's athletics program.

Activities Constituting Recruitment  Top
Some of the activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• providing transportation to the prospect to visit the campus
  
• entertaining the prospect in any way on campus. However, the institution may provide a complimentary admission to an on-campus athletic contest when the prospect is visiting as a member of a group tour that is unrelated to athletic recruitment
  
• initiating or arranging telephone contact with the prospect or his on more than one occasion family for the purpose of recruitment
• an arranged, off-campus encounter with a prospect or any members of their family for the purpose of recruitment
  
• entertaining the family members of a prospect on campus
  
• sending correspondence to a prospect, other than a generic letter that requests general information
• the arrangement of meals, housing, transportation or academic interviews during an unofficial visit.

Prospect  Top
An individual who has either started classes for the ninth grade OR who has received any benefit from UF or a booster. Actions taken by athletic staff that cause an individual to become a prospective student-athlete include:

• providing a prospect an expense-paid visit to a collegiate institution;
• having an arranged in-person encounter with the individual;
• initiating or arranging telephone contact with the individual or a member of his/her family; or
• providing an individual (or his/her relatives or friends) any financial assistance or other benefits that the institution does not provide to prospective students generally (i.e. tickets to an athletic competition)

Contact  Top
Any face-to-face encounter between a prospect or their parents, relatives or legal guardian(s) and an institutional staff member or an athletics representative during which any dialogue occurs in excess of an exchange of a greeting. A meeting that is prearranged or takes place at the prospect's school, competition site or practice site is considered a contact regardless of the conversation that occurs.

Evaluation  Top
Any off-campus activity designed to assess the academic qualifications or the athletic ability of a prospect. This includes any visit to a prospect's school (during which no contact with the prospect occurs) or watching a practice or competition at any site where the prospect participates.

Contact Period  Top
Period of time when it is permissible for authorized athletics department staff to make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts with and/or evaluations of a prospect.

Evaluation Period  Top
Period of time when authorized athletics department staff may be involved in off-campus activities designed to assess the academic qualifications and athletic ability of prospects. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts shall be made with the prospect during an evaluation period.

Quiet Period  Top
Period of time when it is permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts only on the institution's campus. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations may be made during a quiet period.

Dead Period  Top
Period of time when it is not permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on or off campus. In addition, there can be no official or unofficial visits to the campus by a prospect. However, it is permissible for a staff member to write or phone a prospect during this period.

Official Visit  Top
A visit financed in whole or in part by the institution.

Unofficial Visit  Top
A visit made at the prospect's own expense. The institution may provide only limited benefits to the prospect during his visit. These benefits include complimentary admissions to an on-campus athletics event in which the institution's team competes and transportation to view off-campus practice or competition sites within a 30-mile radius of the institution's campus when accompanied by a staff member. The provision of any other expenses or entertainment shall require the visit to become an official visit.

Amateurism  Top
A student shall not be eligible for intercollegiate competition in a particular sport if the student-athlete (or parents/relatives):

• negotiates, signs or enters into any written or oral agreement with an agent;
• accepts or receives any extra benefits from an agent or anyone who wishes to represent the student-athlete;
• uses their athletic skill for pay, or for the promise of pay;
  competes with a professional sports team or receives any compensation from a professional sports team; or
• receives an extra benefit that is not available to the general student population

Contact Information

Alcorn State University Athletic Department
Compliance Office

1000 ASU Drive #510
Alcorn State, Ms39096

Phone: 601-877-2322
Fax: 601-877-3821

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