  | The URI Guide to NCAA Rules & Regulations | |
 As members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Atlantic 10 Conference and URI’s Athletics Department are responsible for insuring that University staff, student-athletes, alumni, and friends abide by NCAA rules and regulations. Under those rules, alumni and friends can be categorized as “representatives of the University’s athletic interests.” The following is a guide to the many NCAA rules that apply to “athletic representatives.” Since it does not include all applicable situations, before having any contact with a student athlete, either prospective or enrolled, please either: • call the URI Compliance Officer at 401-874-2281, or • visit the Athletics Web site at http://www.gorhody.com, click on “Compliance,” on left side column, or • visit the NCAA Web site at http://www.ncaa.org We appreciate your interest and support, but remind you that an inappropriate contact or an inadvertent action can jeopardize both the eligibility of student-athletes and prospects and URI’s compliance with NCAA and Atlantic 10 regulations. Am I a “Representative of Athletic Interests?” Yes, If you have ever: • been a member of URI’s booster organization or any of the sport specific groups under the Athletics Department; • made a donation to any of the Atlantic 10 member schools’ men’s or women’s athletic programs; • helped to arrange or have provided summer employment for student-athletes; • contacted a high school student in any way to encourage him/her to participate in URI’s Athletics programs; • assisted in providing any benefit to student-athletes or their families; • been involved in any way with the URI’s Athletics programs. The NCAA stipulates that once you have become an athletic representative, you retain that identification forever, even if you no longer contribute to the Athletics program. Important Rules You Should Know 1. Only coaches and Athletics Department staff can be involved in the recruiting process. All athletic representatives who are not employed by the school are prohibited from contacting a prospect or members of the prospect’s family by telephone, letter, or in person on- or off-campus for the purpose of encouraging participation in the URI’s Athletics programs. 2. URI representatives cannot provide an “extra benefit” or special arrangement to either a prospect or an enrolled student-athlete. Specific applications as they apply to the NCAA extra benefit rule to prospects and enrolled student-athletes, their relatives, and friends state that you may not: • give cash or loans (or co-sign for a loan) in any amount; • employ relatives or friends of a prospect as an inducement for the prospect’s enrollment at URI; • give gifts of any kind or free services; • provide special discounts for goods or services; • provide regular hospitality in your home; • provide transportation either on- or off-campus • entertain or contact a prospect or prospect’s family on or off campus; • provide free or reduced rent housing; • provide any benefit connected with on- or off-campus housing; • promise financial aid for graduate education; • promise a prospect employment after graduation. Who is a Prospective Student-Athlete? Any high school student athlete or junior college/community college student-athlete. It is also possible for a younger student to be a prospect, so it is prudent to treat all athletes as prospects. Be careful to avoid: • arranging for either a prospect or the prospect’s family or friends to receive money or financial aid of any kind; • providing anything for either a prospect or a prospect’s relatives or friends without first checking with the Athletics Department’s compliance officer; • ever contacting either a prospect or the prospect’s family: if a coach has a recruit at an athletic event, you should not approach the coach until the prospect and family have left; if the prospect approaches you off-campus, explain that NCAA rules do not allow you to discuss the athletics program and suggest the prospect contact the sport’s head coach; • entertaining high school, prep school or community college coaches at any location; • providing tickets or transportation for high school, prep school or community college coaches at any location; only the Athletics Department can provide complimentary admissions to home athletic events for those coaches; • entertaining or providing tickets free or at reduced cost to any URI events for prospects or their relatives and friends; Only the URI’s Athletics Department may only provide complimentary admission home events; • contacting a student-athlete at any institution to encourage a transfer to URI in order to participate in the Athletics program; • paying or offering to pay a prospect’s registration fees for summer sports camps; • contacting the prospect’s coach, principal, or counselor in order to evaluate the prospect; • picking up films or transcripts from the prospect’s educational institution; • inviting only selected high school or community college prospective student-athletes to alumni events—for instance, be careful to invite all high school seniors who have received academic and athletic awards. NCAA Rules on Contacts with Student-Athletes You may: • invite a student-athlete to your home for a special occasion (Thanksgiving, birthday) as long as the student-athlete provides his/her own transportation; • invite a team for dinner or to meet with an alumni group in a city where they are competing—the NCAA permits student-athletes as a team to receive benefits not permitted to individuals; arrangements for such events must be made in advance with the head coach or the Athletics Department. Please call the Compliance Office if you have any questions. Please Help: If you have knowledge of improprieties, please let the Compliance Office know immediately so that we can take corrective actions. Contacts: Elizabeth Kane, Assistant Commissioner Atlantic 10 Conference 230 S. Broad St., Suite 1700 Philadelphia, PA 19102 Tel. 215-545-3342 Paul C. Kassabian, Compliance Coordinator University of Rhode Island Three Keaney Road, Suite One Kingston, RI 02881 Tel. 401-874-2281 |
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