WELCOME to the Winter 2006 Compliance Corner!

Welcome to Compliance Corner - the official WBCA publication for Division I legislation! In collaboration with the NCAA, this publication will be distributed on a quarterly basis and will contain NCAA Division I legislative news and notes affecting women's basketball, recruiting basics, questions from our coaches, Q & A, and other legislative information you need to know. The primary purpose of this publication is to help our coaches navigate the complexity of NCAA bylaws and legislation and serve as a quick and convenient reference. In this issue, we cover the beginning of the 2006-2007 season (December, January, February). In order to eliminate repetition, previous issues of Compliance Corner can be found on our website wbca.org under DI Legislation. If new legislation affects time periods we will note those legislative changes, otherwise we will focus on hot topics and keeping you abreast of the current legislative actions. Feel free to offer any suggestions or feedback to make this tool more useful. However, we encourage you to contact your compliance officers on campus with any questions.

Thank you,
WBCA

November 15 marked the date when the Division I Official Notice was made available to the Division I membership. This publication contains all the proposals that will be considered as part of the 2006-2007 legislative cycle. During the NCAA Convention in January, there will be an open forum to debate the proposed legislation. The WBCA will be in attendance representing the membership. The Management Council will then meet to start taking initial action on proposals. Now in their second year of existence, new voting procedures allow some proposals be adopted during the January meeting. January 9 - March 9, 2007 is the 60-day comment/amendment period, then the Management Council and the NCAA Board of Directors take final action in April. During this period, the WBCA may call upon the membership to speak in support of, or opposition to certain basketball related issues. Wbca.org/Legislation/DI will keep you updated on the basketball-related legislative proposals, and we encourage you to be actively involved with your administrators who represent your votes.

• · The 2006-2007 Division I Women's Basketball related legislative proposals can be found on wbca.org. For a complete list of all Division I legislative proposals go to ncaa.org. Your WBCA Conference Captains in September/October discussed many of these in detail during your conference meetings.

• · Override Vote. In addition to the 2006-2007 legislative proposals being considered during the NCAA Convention in January, the Division I membership will conduct an override vote on two proposals passed last year. Upon receipt of 30 requests for an override vote, the adoption of a legislative change or the failure of a legislative change shall be subject to a vote taken by the membership during the Division I business session on Saturday, January 6, 2007. One vote pertains to football but the other received 46 requests and affects all sports. Proposal No. 2005-54 was adopted by the NCAA Board of Directors on April 27, 2006 but received sufficient votes during the Override Period ending June 26, 2006. The intent of Proposal No. 2005-54 is to permit a student athlete who is enrolled in a specific graduate degree program of an institution other than the institution from which he or she previously received a baccalaureate degree to participate immediately in intercollegiate athletics, provided the graduate student has remaining eligibility, regardless of any previous transfer. At least a five-eighths majority vote of individual active members present and voting shall be required to override the legislative action taken by the Board of Directors. A "yes" vote indicates support for the override.

•· NCAA Board of Director's during their October meeting adopted Proposal No. 2006-33 as non-controversial. This proposal is currently in the override period, which ends December 25. Proposal No. 2006-33 dictates that in women's basketball, the one permissible telephone call in April of the prospective student-athlete's junior year in high school may not be made until the Thursday after the conclusion of the NCAA Women's Final Four. First permissible phone call would be Thursday, April 5, 2007.
(This proposal was supported by 70% of the WBCA DI membership during the spring survey.)

• · Male Practice Players continue to be the hot topic. WBCA President Doug Bruno sent a "Game Plan" to all Division I II and III head coaches on November 20. All divisions of women's basketball overwhelmingly support the use of male practice players and now it is up to you to reach out to those administrators on your campus for their support. Please click on the following links and print the attached documents for a list of administrators who currently sit on the NCAA committees responsible for adopting legislation in Division I. The Championships/Competition Cabinet is currently studying the issue of Male Practice Players. All 2006-2007 Division I proposed legislation is now the responsibility of the Management Council members and if approved will eventually move to the NCAA Board of Directors for final approval.

NCAA Board of Directors

NCAA Management Council

NCAA Championships/Competition Cabinet

Q: May we provide student-athletes cash instead of meals for home contests?
A: No. Bylaw 16.5.2-(d)-(2) allows all student-athletes to receive meals at the institutions discretion from the time the SA reports on call for home contests, but it is not permissible to provide cash to SA's in lieu of discretionary meals. It is permissible to provide $10 in lieu of a meal following the competition.

Q: May a DI institution, compete in a qualifying regular-season multiple-team event with DII teams?
A: Yes. It is permissible for a DI institution to compete in a qualifying regular-season multiple team-event that includes non-Division I four-year colleges, provided all of the DI institutions participating in the event are using the qualifying regular-season multiple-team event as its maximum contest limitation for the playing season. Bylaw 17.5.5.1.1.

Q: May a coach instant message a prospect while the prospect is in the gym waiting for another team to finish their game?
A. No. An institution's coaching staff member may not send electronic correspondence (e.g., text or instant messages, e-mail) to a prospect while he or she is on call for competition at the site of the competition (e.g., arena, stadium). Electronic correspondence may be sent to the prospect while the prospect is on call and not at the site of competition or while the prospect is at any location once the appropriate authority has released her. Women's basketball rules are more restrictive during summer certified events and the July evaluation periods. Bylaw 13.1.7.2 and Bylaw 13.1.7.2.2.

Q: Are we allowed to sell a photo of a player dunking in practice?
A. Yes. It is permissible for an institution to sell a photograph of an individual student-athlete that is taken while he or she is engaged in practice or competition, provided the photograph is not included with or as a part of another commercial item (e.g. coffee mug, t-shirt). An institution may not sell a photograph that is taken of any individual student-athlete in any other setting (e.g. photo shoot for media activities). Bylaw 12.5.1.1.

Q: Are we allowed to evaluate foreign national development team practices during the academic year?
A: Yes, but only during the permissible nonscholastic event weekends during the last full weekend of fall contact period and the weekend of spring evaluation period. Bylaw 13.1.8.8-(b)-(1)

Q: Are we allowed to ask former student-athletes to speak to prospective student-athletes who are on an unofficial visit?
A: No. The former student-athletes would be considered representatives of athletics interests because she would be assisting in the recruitment of prospects. It is not permissible for a representative of athletic interests to have contact with a prospective student-athlete during an unofficial visit. Bylaws 13.1.2.1 and 13.1.2.4.

Q: May we purchase a meal for a prospective student-athlete and her family during a home visit if the PSA has signed an national letter of intent?
A: No. This would be considered an impermissible benefit. Bylaw 13.2.1

Q: Is it permissible to give a prospect a NLI at the airport following an official visit?
A. No. This would constitute an impermissible off-campus delivery of the NLI. Bylaw 13.1.6.7.1

Q: Am I allowed to coach my son's non-scholastic basketball team? (Effective 1-9-06)
A: Yes. In basketball, a member of an institution's coaching staff or an institutional staff member with basketball-specific duties (e.g. director of ops, manager, administrative personnel) may only participate in coaching activities involving non-scholastic-based basketball teams that include the staff member's child or children and are of the opposite gender than the team the staff member is associated with at the institution. Coaching staff members or an institutional staff member with basketball-specific duties may not participate on teams that include individuals with eligibility remaining or that include individuals of prospective student-athlete age or younger, regardless of the gender of the participants. Bylaw 13.11.1.4

Q: Are we allowed to evaluate prospects at "open gyms"?
A: Bylaw 13.1.8.8-(c)-(2) specifically allows coaches during prescribed evaluation periods to attend "non-institutional, non-organized events (e.g. pick up games)". Bylaw 13.1.8.8-(b)-(1) also specifically allows for "evaluation during the academic year to occur at regularly scheduled high-school, preparatory school and two-year college contests/tournaments, practices, pick up games and open gyms". Bylaw 13.1.8.8-(b)-(1) also defines the only evaluation at nonscholastic events during the academic year shall occur during the last full weekend of the fall contact period and the weekend of the spring evaluation period.

Q: Do the prospects in attendance at an "open gym" have to be from that high school only?
A: No. The women's rule is different from the men's rule that specifies, "Only students enrolled at that school". Women's basketball may attend open gyms that have prospects from other schools.

Q: May I go to an "open gym" that may advertise who will be in attendance and/or has a schedule, sets up drills, organizes the players into teams?
A: No. This would not be an "open gym". "Open gym" is supposed to mean a non-organized event. The gym is open, and anyone who wants to play can play or shoot. It cannot be organized in any way, or set up specifically for coaches to come and watch.

Q: May I watch a prospect workout with their non-scholastic coach as long as it is at the prospect's institution and the high school coach is in the gym?
A: No. Per Bylaw 13.1.8.8-(b)-(1) this would not be considered a regular high school practice.

Q: May I watch a prospect involved in individualized practice sessions with her high school coach?
A: Yes. Only if the sessions is part of the prospect's team's normal practice session and the college coach does not direct the prospect or the prospect's coach to perform any specific drill or activity because of the presence of the college coach..

Q. May a prospect come to our institution on an official or unofficial visit over the December holiday?
A: Yes. But not from December 24-26 which is a dead period for women's basketball.

Q: Does a recruiting/scouting service have to charge a prospective student-athlete to use its service?
A: If the service charges any prospective student-athlete for its service then it must charge all prospects the same amount to use the service or it must be free for all prospective student-athletes.

Q: May recruiting/scouting services provide discounted subscription rate to certain prospective student-athletes?
A: No. This would jeopardize his or her amateur status if they receive preferential treatment, benefits or services because of their athletic reputation.

Q: Do NCAA coaches have to pay for information sent by a recruiting/scouting service?
A: Although a fee is not required, if a fee is charged, the same fee must be charged to all subscribers. Institutions may subscribe to regularly published recruiting/scouting services involving prospects, provided the service is made available to all institutions desiring to subscribe, and if a fee is charged, at the same rate for all subscribers.

Q: May a recruiting/scouting service call NCAA coaches to give them information on high school athletes?
A: No. It is not permissible for NCAA coaches to receive verbal information from recruiting/scouting services. Coaches may only receive information from published services.

Q: May an NCAA coach endorse a recruiting/scouting service?
A: No. It is not permissible for athletics department staff members to endorse, serve as consultants or participate on advisory panels for a recruiting/scouting service involving prospects.

September 16, 2006 through April 17, 2007: Evaluation Period.
Except: Women's basketball staff members shall not exceed 85 Recruiting-person Days during the academic year. A "Recruiting-person Day" is defined as: one coach engaged in an off-campus recruiting activity of a women's basketball prospect on one day (12:01 a.m. to midnight). Two coaches engaged in recruiting activities on the same day shall use two Recruiting-person Days.

A "Quiet Period" is defined as: those days from September 16, 2006 through April 17, 2007 not designated for evaluation purposes.

December 24-26, 2006: Dead Period.

March 1-29, 2007: Contact Period.

2006-2007 National Testing Dates (www.collegeboard.com)

SAT
December 2, 2006
January 27, 2007
March 10, 2007 (U.S. test date only)
May 5, 2007
June 2, 2007
ACT
December 9, 2006
February 10, 2007 (No testing in N.Y.)
April 14, 2007
June 9, 2007

•· Many coaches committed secondary violations during the fall contact/evaluation periods by attending fall leagues that were conducted by high school coaches but were not associated with the scholastic season. High school coaches contacted college coaches telling them they were regularly scheduled scholastic events when in fact they were not. It would have been permissible to attend these fall leagues only had they occurred on September 30 or October 1 per Bylaw 13.1.8.8-(b)-(1).

•· 13.1.8.15 Evaluations/Contact at prospective Student-Athlete's Educational Institution states in sports other than football, if a coach makes an in-person recruiting contact at a PSA's educational institution, all evaluations (other than observations of practice or competition) made on that calendar day at the PSA's educational institution shall not count among the permissible number of evaluations (set forth in Bylaw 13.1.8) for any prospective student-athlete at that institution in the applicable sport.
* Clarification* When referring to an evaluation other than practice or competition, 13.1.6.15, the legislation is referring to an evaluation that does not involve the coach observing the PSA while participating in athletic activities (for example, picking up transcripts at the high school would be considered a academic evaluation). For the purpose of 13.1.8.15, the observation of the prospect participating in an "open gym" would be considered a practice activity and the evaluation would count as such. Thus, a coach would count this as a contact and an evaluation.