A Compliance Tip Sheet for Volunteer Coaches

Transcription

1 A Compliance Tip Sheet for Volunteer Coaches Unethical Conduct Individuals employed by (or associated with) Utah shall act with honesty and sportsmanship at all times so that intercollegiate athletics as a whole shall represent the honor and dignity of fair play and the high standards associated with wholesome competitive sports. Unethical conduct is a violation of NCAA legislation. Unethical conduct by athletics Utah Employees may include, but is not limited to, the following: Withholding information or providing false or misleading information during an investigation of a possible violation when cooperation is requested by the NCAA or Utah; Involvement in arranging fraudulent academic credit or the falsification of transcripts for a prospective or current student-athlete; Involvement in providing a prospective or current student-athlete with an extra benefit; Receiving benefits for facilitating or arranging a meeting between a student-athlete and an agent, financial advisor, or associated representatives; Involvement in providing a banned substance or impermissible supplement to studentathletes or providing medications to student-athletes in violation of medical licensure, commonly accepted standards of care in sports medicine practice, or state and federal law; Fraudulence or misconduct in connection with entrance or placement examinations; or Influencing others to furnish the NCAA or Utah false or misleading information. Volunteer Coach Defined A Volunteer Coach may not be compensated or remunerated during his or her volunteer service period by the University of Utah s Athletics Department or any organization funded in whole or in part by the Athletics Department or that is involved primarily in the promotion of University of Utah s athletic program (e.g., Cyclone clubs or any informal booster groups). A Volunteer Coach may receive compensation from outside the Athletics Department for performing duties for another department or office at The University of Utah provided: The compensation for those duties is commensurate with that received by others performing those same or similar duties. The time devoted to those duties is consistent with others receiving commensurate compensation for the same or similar assignments. The Volunteer Coach is qualified for and shall perform the duties for which he/she is compensated The Volunteer Coach informs the head coach of the outside income source.

2 A Volunteer Coach may receive: Transportation to and from away contests and room and board at away contests. Two complimentary tickets to home athletics events in the coach s sport only. Complimentary meals incidental to organized team activities (pre- or post-game meals or occasional meals). Compensation for working an Utah sports camp or clinic. A volunteer coach may not participate in a high school alumni contest. Extra Benefits An extra benefit is any special arrangement by an institutional employee or a representative of the institution's athletics interests (booster) to provide a student-athlete or the student-athlete's relative or friend a benefit not expressly authorized by NCAA legislation. Receipt of a benefit by student-athletes or their relatives or friends is not a violation of NCAA legislation if it is demonstrated the same benefit is generally available to the institution's students or their relatives or friends or to a particular segment of the student body (e.g., foreign students, minority students) determined on a basis unrelated to athletics ability. Permissible Benefits An institution may provide the following support services subject to the specified limitations. Utah may provide academic support services, career counseling, or personal development services to student-athletes that are reasonable for their success, subject to senior staff approval. Reasonable local transportation to student-athletes on an occasional basis (contact the beforehand). o Example: You can t pick a student-athlete up and take him or her to class everyday. o Example: An SA needs a ride to a doctor s appointment or to the airport. Employment A Volunteer Coach may assist a student-athlete in obtaining employment and a studentathlete may be employed by a booster. A student-athlete must register his or her job with the before beginning work. A Volunteer Coach may also arrange for the employment of a prospective studentathlete, provided he or she has signed a National Letter of Intent and the employment does not begin prior to the conclusion of the prospect s senior year of high school. Compensation for both current and prospective student-athletes must meet the following conditions: o For work actually performed; o At a rate commensurate with the going rate in that locality for similar services;

3 o May not include payment for the value or utility the student-athlete may have for the employer because of the publicity, reputation, fame, or personal following the individual has obtained because of their athletic ability. o An employer may not use the name, picture, or appearance of an enrolled student-athlete to advertise, recommend, or promote sales or use of a commercial product or service of any kind. Recruiting Prospects A prospective student-athlete is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade. In addition, a student who has not started classes for the ninth grade becomes a prospective student-athlete if Utah provides such an individual (or the individual's relatives or friends) any financial assistance or other benefits Utah does not provide to prospective students generally. Contact - A contact is any face-to-face encounter between a prospect or the prospect s parents, relatives, or legal guardian(s) and an institutional staff member or athletics representative during which any dialogue occurs in excess of an exchange of a greeting. A Volunteer Coach may not contact a prospect off campus except for the following exceptions: o Official visits A Volunteer Coach may contact a prospect within 30 miles of campus during the prospect s official visit. So you could go eat with the prospect and staff during an official visit. o During the official visit, any member of Utah s athletics department staff may provide ground transportation for a prospective student-athlete and the prospective student-athlete's parents or legal guardians between the campus and any bus or train station or airport. A Volunteer Coach may contact prospects on campus for recruiting purposes in all sports. Phone Calls Athletics staff may not initiate or return phone calls to prospects or prospects parents, legal guardians, or coaches. Any institutional staff member may make or receive telephone calls from prospects or prospects parents, or legal guardians as soon as the prospect signs an NLI. Phone calls to walk-on prospects are permissible if: o The prospect has signed a written of admission/financial aid; or o The prospect has paid his or her deposit to attend Utah. Any institutional staff member may receive telephone calls from prospects. General Correspondence (Mailers & s) All athletics department staff members may prepare and send general correspondence to prospects, prospects parents and prospects coaches. In the past, this task could only be completed by head or assistant coaches. Please know the following correspondence guidelines are not all inclusive. A staff member should contact compliance with any questions before

4 sending correspondence. Submitting a proof copy of correspondence to compliance prior to mailing is recommended. 1) All recruiting correspondence needs to be discussed and coordinated with the appropriate coaching staff. 2) Only certain types of correspondence are permissible. a. Mail - Permissible b. - Permissible c. Facsimiles - Permissible d. Text Messages (Men s and Women s basketball permissible; not permissible in all other sports until after signed NLI.) e. Instant Messenger (Men s and Women s basketball permissible; not permissible in all other sports until after signed NLI.) 3) A prospect must be at a certain stage in his or her educational career before Utah may permissibly send general correspondence. a. For prospects in all sports but men s basketball, the first day an athletics employee may send general correspondence is September 1, at the beginning of their junior year in high school. Do not send general correspondence before that date. i. Employees may respond to a prospect s request prior to the permissible date provided such response only outlines NCAA legislation or contact information for the Utah Admissions Office. b. For men s basketball prospects, the first day an athletics employee may send general correspondence is June 15, heading into their junior year in high school. Do not send general correspondence before that date. i. Employees may respond to a prospects request prior to the permissible date provided such response only outlines NCAA legislation or contact information for the Utah Admissions Office. 4) Once you select a permissible type of correspondence there are many rules regarding what can and cannot be done with that type of correspondence. Some of the rules include: a. Note cards sent to prospects may only have a single Utah logo on the front of the note card and must be blank on the inside. All information on the inside must be hand-written. b. Postcards sent to prospects may only have a single Utah logo on the front and may only have hand-written information on the back. c. Attachments (not made for recruiting purposes) to s may be in color. d. No animation may be sent in an . e. Letters to prospects are restricted to a standard sheet of paper (8 ½ by 11 inches) i. There are no restrictions on one side of the paper; ii. The opposite side may only contain text; iii. Additional pages (second page and beyond) may only have text; iv. Envelopes used to send such correspondence may not exceed 9 by 12 inches. v. Utah may send a photograph to a prospective student-athlete as an attachment to general correspondence (printed on plain white paper with

5 black ink) or electronic transmissions, provided the information in the photograph was not altered or staged for a recruiting purpose. Social Media and Websites Staff members are not permitted to publicize the recruitment of a particular prospective studentathlete in a manner inconsistent with the legislation. Communication with or about a prospective student-athlete in the public's view (e.g., Twitter "@replies" or "mentions," wall-to-wall Facebook communication) is contrary to the publicity legislation and is an impermissible form of electronic communication with a prospective student-athlete. Additionally, institutions may not publicize (or arrange for the publicity of) a prospective studentathlete's visit to campus, even if the visit occurs after the signing of the prospective studentathlete to a NLI or an institution's written offer of admission and/or financial aid. Institutions also may not endorse a prospect s team or coach, or a facility that is primarily used by prospects. Further, it is not permissible for an institutional staff member to post a photograph of a prospective student-athlete taken during an institutional camp or a campus visit until after the prospect has signed an NLI or the institution's written offer of admission and/or financial aid. Finally, the initiation of or acceptance of "friend" requests and following prospects on Twitter may not occur until such time that it is permissible to send electronically transmitted correspondence to a prospective-student athlete. Practice Activities Countable Athletically Related Activities (CARA) CARA include any required activity with an athletics purpose involving student-athletes and at the direction of, or supervised by one or more of UTAH s coaching staff (including strength and conditioning coaches) and must be counted within the weekly and daily limitations. Voluntary Athletically Related Activities - In order for any athletically related activity to be considered "voluntary," all of the following conditions must be met: The student-athlete must not be required to report back to a coach or other athletics department staff member (e.g., strength coach, trainer, manager) any information related to the activity. In addition, no athletics department staff member who observes the activity (e.g., strength coach, trainer, manager) may report back to the student-athlete's coach any information related to the activity; The activity must be initiated and requested solely by the student-athlete. The studentathlete may not be required to participate in the activity at any time. However, an athletics department staff member may provide information to student-athletes related to available opportunities for participating in voluntary activities (e.g., times when the strength and conditioning coach will be on duty in the weight room or on the track). In addition, for students who have initiated a request to engage in voluntary activities, UTAH assign specific times for student-athletes to use institutional facilities for such purposes and inform the student-athletes of the time in advance;

6 The student-athlete's attendance and participation in the activity (or lack thereof) may not be recorded for the purposes of reporting such information to coaching staff members or other student-athletes; and The student-athlete may not be subjected to penalty if he or she elects not to participate in the activity. In addition, neither Utah nor any athletics department staff member may provide recognition or incentives (e.g., awards) to a student-athlete based on his or her attendance or performance in the activity. A Volunteer Coach may not observe or participate with student-athletes in the staff member s sport engaged in voluntary activities. Sports other than Football There are two distinct practice times for sports other than football, In-Season and Out-of- Season. All sports except basketball have the option to split its in-season into two separate segments. In-Season A sport in-season must limit its CARA to 20 hours per week, four hours per day, and must give the student-athletes one day off from all CARA. Out-of-Season A sport out-of-season must limit its CARA to eight hours per week and provide two days off. During this time, the sport may only spend two of the eight hours on skill instruction. The remaining six hours may be spent on other activities such as strength and conditioning or film study. In addition, out-of-season sports may not require its student-athletes to participate in CARA a week before the beginning of finals through the last day of the student-athlete s last final or during Utah vacation periods (including summer break). Voluntary workouts are allowed during this time period. Coaching Activities A Volunteer Coach may engage in any on- or off-field/court coaching activities with studentathletes. A Volunteer Coach may not scout opponents off campus. Gambling Staff members of a member conference, staff members of the athletics department of a member institution, and student-athletes shall not knowingly: Provide information to individuals involved in organized gambling activities concerning intercollegiate athletics competition; Solicit a bet on any intercollegiate team; Accept a bet on any team representing the institution; Solicit or accept a bet on any intercollegiate competition for any item (e.g., cash, shirt, dinner) that has tangible value; or Participate in any gambling activity involving a sport at any level the NCAA sponsors The prohibition against gambling activities associated with sporting events is applicable only to those sports in which the NCAA conducts championship competition. Accordingly, the

7 provisions of do not apply to other types of sports wagering (e.g., horse racing, auto racing, boxing). Donation and Appearance Requests A student-athlete s name, picture or appearance may not be used to promote any commercial identity. Therefore, all donation and appearance requests must be processed through Athletics Compliance. Donation Request Procedure for Tickets or Autographed Memorabilia 1. Requestors complete the Request for Donation form on cyclones.com. 2. Requestors submit the form to the Donation Coordinator (Megan Rodenburg) in Event Management. 3. The Donation Coordinator approves or denies the request. a. If the request is approved, the requestor will receive a confirmation If a ticket request is approved, the requestor will receive a redeemable certificate or actual tickets directly from the ticket office. 2. If an autographed memorabilia request is approved, the requestor will be directed to where items should be dropped off and picked up. The event/organization must provide the memorabilia for a coach s autograph and deliver it to the respective sport s office along with the approval form. b. If the request is denied, the requestor is notified of the denial via . Personal Donations If you or a coach wants to donate his or her tickets to a charity the form still must be completed. You can fill out the ticket request and attach the compliance donation form to the ticket request. Turn both into the Athletics Compliance Department. The use of Student-Athletes Signatures Under NCAA rules, a single student-athlete s autograph may not appear on a piece of memorabilia to be auctioned off for any purpose. Assuming the auction is for a permissible purpose as outlined by NCAA legislation, multiple student-athletes may sign an item to be auctioned off. However, under Utah policy, requests for student-athlete autographs on posters or any other items will not be honored. Due to time commitments as well as the difficulty in monitoring NCAA rules regarding this topic, Utah does not process requests for student-athlete autographs. Student-athlete Appearance Request Procedure 1. An individual or organization desiring to obtain the appearance of a student-athlete must complete the student-athlete appearance request form. 2. All student-athlete appearance request forms shall be forwarded to the Compliance Office. 3. The Compliance Office shall review the student-athlete appearance request form, approve or deny the request, and save a copy of the form. A. Approved Form - The Compliance Office shall notify the sport and Coordinator of Student-Athlete Affairs (Molly Parrott) of all approved appearance requests. The sport or Coordinator of Student-Athlete Affairs is responsible for coordinating any appearance by student-athletes.

8 1. If a student-athlete makes an appearance, the sport or Coordinator of Student-Athlete Affairs (whichever helped to coordinate the appearance) shall ensure any participating student-athletes read and sign the student-athlete appearance request form. Such signatures must be obtained prior to the appearance occurring. a. If a sport collects the form, the sport must forward the form to the Coordinator of Student-Athlete Affairs. b. The Coordinator of Student-Athlete Affairs shall save the signed student-athlete appearance request form and log the appearance in the community outreach database. 2. If the Coordinator of Student-Athlete Affairs is unable to schedule the requested appearance (e.g., not enough student-athletes available), the Coordinator of student-athlete affairs will notify the requestor and the Compliance Office. B. Denied Form The Compliance Office will notify the requestor of denied appearance requests. 4. The Coordinator of Student-Athlete Affairs shall send a copy of the community outreach database to the Compliance Office at the conclusion of every semester. Coaching Staff Appearance Request Procedure An Athletics Department staff member invited to appear or speak at an event (meeting, banquet, etc.) must receive clearance from the Compliance Office prior to making such an appearance if any of the following is true: 1. The event involves prospects (e.g., speaking to a high school, club, or two-year college team); 2. The event benefits prospects (e.g., high school, club, or two-year college fundraiser); or 3. The event is held at an educational institution other than Utah. Approval of such appearances shall come from the Compliance Office in the form of an or on the coach appearance request form. *This tip sheet is intended to serve as a resource for institutional staff members and is effective August 1, It is not intended to be a substitute for the NCAA rule book. Be reminded that NCAA rules and regulations change over the course of the year and if you have any questions, you should contact the compliance office for assistance.