Someone needs to get the NCAA bylaws, so we can read them instead of arguing.
Ask and ye shall receive…
According to the
Article 13 of the NCAA Division I Manual, a person who is a
representative of the athletic interests is governed by roughly the same rules as the school. The definition of a
representative of the athletic interest is:
13.02.13 Representative of Athletics Interests. 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:
(Revised: 2/16/00)
(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;
© 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.
These individuals must abide by the NCAA bylaws on recruiting contacts, which are far too numerous to list here – click the link above to view them. This includes student-athletes or even
regular students who contact a prospect
at the request of the school, administration, or athletic department.
Given that, the general public is free to contact recruits and to discuss, entice, exhort, or plead for a recruit to attend.
However…and this is a big one – if a person (someone who is not a booster or a representative as defined above) does this enough and with the knowledge of the school, they can be eventually deemed to be a representative of the athletic interests. There is no fixed number of calls or contacts that would have to occur, but assuming that the person is not a booster, it would appear that it would have to be substantial and fairly public. This board is not operated by or endorsed by NU, and would not qualify on its face. A member of this board contacting a recruit, or inviting him to the board, would not in-and-of-itself be a violation.
The guy who used to post on this board and who worked for a recruiting service, echoed what I am saying.
Well, not to cast aspersions or anything, but the only proof that a certain former member worked for a recruiting service was his own statements – at least on this board. He was asked numerous times to present his credentials, and never did.
