June 15th is an important date for some college athletes as well as for many high school recruits.
It can be important for those who hope to transfer from any four-year college to an NCAA Division II athletic program, as well as for current junior college athletes who were signed to an NJCAA Letter of Intent during the 2021-22 school year.
For athletes currently at an NCAA school and who want to be eligible this Fall upon transfer to an NCAA D2 program, June 15 is the deadline by which the athlete must provide written notification to their current school that they want to be entered into the NCAA Transfer Portal. If such an athlete doesn’t provide written notification to their current school by June 15, they will lose out on the opportunity to be eligible for competition in their first year at an NCAA Division II program.
For 4-year college athletes who don’t have access to the NCAA Transfer Portal (such as current NAIA athletes), those athletes should make sure they request written permission from their current school to be allowed to contact NCAA Division II programs about a possible transfer no later than June 15. Such a request should be sent to their current athletic department via email so that the date of the request can be verified if it becomes an issue.
For athletes who attended an NJCAA two-year college during the 2021-22 academic year as a Letter of Intent signee; June 15 is the date by which notification of renewal of the athlete’s Letter of Intent for the 2022-23 academic year is supposed to be provided by their college.
An NJCAA athlete who isn’t signed to a second-year scholarship by June 15 (which is supposed to be in the form of a new Letter of Intent) becomes recruitable by any other NJCAA college starting on June 16.
High School recruits in many sports can begin to receive direct recruiting communication from NCAA Division I and Division II coaches as outlined below.
June 15 is the first date when most NCAA Division I coaches will be able to place recruiting phone calls and send emails/messages to athletes who have just completed their sophomore year of high school.
The following Division I sports are the only ones that have a date other than June 15 as the earliest date for placing recruiting calls and sending emails/messages to prospects:
Football does have an exception to the above date regarding emails sent to prospects. Those can be sent to prospects beginning September 1 of a prospect’s junior year in high school.
For recruiting by NCAA Division II colleges, June 15 is the date when coaches in ALL sports can start to contact recruits who have completed their sophomore year of HS via phone, email, or direct messaging.
Division II coaches in all sports can also accept incoming calls and talk to prospects who call them at any time.
For specific questions about the NCAA transfer or recruiting rules, or scholarship agreements and letters of intent, schedule a confidential Scholarship Strategies consult online send an email to rick@informedathlete.com or call 913- 766-1235.
The annual NCAA Convention was held recently in Indianapolis. While much of the publicity over the last few months regarding the Convention was regarding the work of the Constitution Committee to propose a new draft of the NCAA Constitution, I doubt that work will really impact the day-to-day life of NCAA student-athletes – at least not in the near future.
Here’s a brief rundown of some topics of interest for NCAA DI, NCAA DII, and NCAA DIII.
For women’s basketball, recruiting rules were revised in several different topic areas, including telephone calls, official visits and the recruiting calendar. Due to the number of changes, contact us directly if you desire information regarding those changes.
In men’s basketball, the number of recruiting-person days (number of total days the men’s coaching staff could be off-campus recruiting) was reduced from 130 to 100. Two coaches recruiting on the same day equals two recruiting-person days.
For both men’s and women’s basketball, a proposal to allow student-athletes to appear in up to four regular season games without being charged with the use of a season of competition was defeated.
Football spring practice opportunities for full contact practice sessions will be reduced. They won’t be allowed on consecutive days during spring practice and won’t be allowed for more than 75 minutes in any practice session (other than a scrimmage).
New guidelines for transfer waivers that were set to go into effect in 2022 will be delayed until January 2023. This means that athletes transferring to a Division I university who need a waiver to be ruled eligible will have a wider range of acceptable reasons and circumstances that can be cited as a factor in the waiver decision as compared to the new waiver guidelines.
Those guidelines – which are now postponed a year – basically limit acceptable waiver reasons as:
The Division II One-Time Transfer Exception was changed to more closely align with the Division I One-Time Transfer Exception. The key aspects of the new Division II rule are:
The proposal which would have had the most direct impact on Division III student-athletes was not voted on, but instead was referred to the Division III Interpretations and Legislative Committee for additional analysis and consideration.
If it had been approved at the Convention, it would have allowed Division III student-athletes to participate in a full season of practice with their team and still claim a “redshirt season” if the athlete did not compete in any games against another university.
As a result, the current Division III rule is still in effect. That rule charges a student-athlete with a “season of participation” even if they only practice with their team beyond the first game of the season but even if they don’t appear in a game against another opponent.
If you have questions about any actions taken at the NCAA Convention, contact us directly via e-mail at rick@informedathlete.com or by calling 913-766-1235.
Like many organizations, the National Association for Athletic Compliance (NAAC) has an online chat room where members can share ideas and information, and ask their peers for assistance with questions. As a past President and member of NAAC, I keep up with those discussions to stay current with issues and discussions.
Recently, the following post appeared in the chat room:
“I am new to compliance and was wondering if there were any resources anyone can point me to so that I can learn/study compliance outside of the Manual or LSDBi.”
This was posted by the primary compliance contact for an NCAA Division II program!
I don’t mean to speak negative of this person. Rather, my concern is with the Division II school that would hire an inexperienced person for the primary compliance position.
If an athlete or family in your circle of friends isn’t confident in the information they are receiving from their compliance office, or if they aren’t comfortable posing their questions to their coach or compliance office, encourage them to contact us at 913-766-1235 or rick@informedathlete.com with their questions.
High school seniors and junior college recruits in all sports other than Football will have the opportunity to sign a National Letter of Intent with an NCAA Division I or II university beginning November 10!
Football recruits will be able to sign with an NCAA Division I university beginning on December 15 for a three-day “early signing period.” The “regular” initial signing date for NCAA or NJCAA football programs is Wednesday, February 2.
For more detailed information about signing opportunities for NCAA programs (Division I, II, and III) as well as the NAIA and NJCAA colleges, get your complimentary copy of our National Letter of Intent handout here.
For questions about these signing opportunities, schedule a confidential Scholarship Strategies Consult online or call our office at 913-766-1235.
The NCAA Division I Council has approved a temporary one-year waiver to increase the annual scholarship signing limit for Football only.
The Chair of the Football Oversight Committee stated that this decision was made because “…schools should have temporary flexibility to help address possible roster depletion due to transfers.”
The one-year waiver will permit Division I football programs to sign up to 7 more recruits than the normal standard limit (25 for FBS schools and 30 for FCS schools) to REPLACE current team members who transfer out of the program after this current semester.
December 15th is the first day of the early National Letter of Intent signing period for Division I football programs.
If you have questions about the scholarship limits or rules in football or any other sport, contact us at 913-766-1235 or write to rick@informedathlete.com.
If your son or daughter is on an athletic scholarship, do you have a copy of their scholarship agreement for this year?
It’s very important to read through the scholarship agreement and know what expectations have been placed on your son or daughter.
It’s much better to get a copy of the agreement at the time of signing as it can be an uncomfortable conversation to ask the coach or athletic department for a copy later if:
Here are a few potentially concerning examples that I’ve recently seen in scholarship agreements of our clients:
Schedule a confidential Scholarship Strategies Consult online for a confidential 1:1 consultation. We’ll answer your questions and provide accurate information, objective advice and guide you through potential issues that could possibly create problems in the future.
The FAFSA form (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for the 2022-23 academic year becomes available on October 1.
Here is why you should fill out the FAFSA form even if you don’t think you will qualify based on family income or because your athlete is being offered a substantial athletic scholarship:
When your athlete’s recruitment is becoming “serious” with a coach be sure to ask them about campus scholarship policies during a recruiting call or when you’re on a campus visit.
It’s also important to note that some states award financial aid on a first-come, first-served basis so the earlier you apply the better your chances might be to receive some aid.
For more information on scholarships and financial aid agreements, visit our website: https://informedathlete.com/how-we-help/scholarship-strategies/
If you have questions about your athlete’s specific situation, we provide confidential phone consultations to answer questions and discuss options. Schedule a Scholarship Strategies consult online, or you can send an email to rick@informedathlete.com or call 913-766-1235.
Since July 1st was the deadline for NCAA D1or D2 student-athletes to be informed whether their scholarship would be reduced or not renewed for the upcoming school year, we have been contacted by a number of families about the appeal process.
One of the key questions they have is whether it is “worth it” to pursue the appeal.
Each athlete and family must decide this based on the factors unique to their situation, but here are a few things to consider:
If you’d like to discuss the appeal, and whether you should pursue that option, contact us for a consultation. I can help you determine whether to pursue an appeal, and if so, we’ll discuss the best strategy, and discuss the strongest points to make during an appeal hearing.
Should you decide to transfer rather than appeal, I can walk you through the transfer process to ensure your transition to a new school is as smooth as possible.
To schedule an appointment, call my office at 913-766-1235 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com.
NCAA Division I baseball programs will continue to be impacted by special NCAA rulings regarding their roster size and scholarship rules for the 2021-22 academic year in a somewhat similar manner to the way they were impacted during this season.
The previous sentence is especially important for baseball student-athletes who were on a multi-year scholarship during the 2020-21 academic year. In a “normal” time, DI baseball scholarship athletes must receive at least 25% scholarship.
If your Division I baseball athlete has been notified of a change to their scholarship for this next year and you desire detailed information regarding their options, schedule a confidential Scholarship Strategies consult online, contact us at rick@informedathlete.com or call 913-766-1235.
If a prospective student-athlete is being recruited by multiple Division I athletic programs and has an opportunity to “negotiate” for a multiyear scholarship from School A compared to a one-year renewable scholarship from School B, they should consider doing so.
The reason is that Division I schools are very limited in the reasons that they can use to take away a scholarship during the “period of the award.” Those reasons may not include a student-athlete’s athletic performance or contribution to a team’s success or any injury, illness or physical or mental health condition.
The “period of the award” for a multi-year scholarship is in effect from the first academic year in which an athletic scholarship is provided through the final year of scholarship offered, even if there are years in-between in which no scholarship is offered (e.g., 50 percent in year one, zero percent in year two, 50 percent in year three).
If you or your athlete have questions about how to navigate through various scholarship offer situations, we can help. Schedule a confidential scholarship strategies consult and we will explain how your student-athlete could be impacted in various situations. With this information, you can make an informed decision that’s in your athlete’s and your family’s best interest.
