Boston College Athletics
Department
Compliance Office
Coaches Meeting
May 22, 2007
MEETING TOPICS
• New NCAA Legislation - Jerome
• Institutional Note Cards
–
–
–
–
New NCAA Bylaw
Ed. Column
Examples
Checklist
• Reminders
– Coaches Exam
– Disclosure Reports
– Missing Logs
REVIEW OF NEWLY
ADOPTED LEGISLATION
INSTITUTIONAL NOTE CARDS
NCAA Bylaw
13.4.1.1 Printed Recruiting Materials. Effective Date: Aug 01, 2007
As specified below, an institution may provide the following printed materials to prospective
student-athletes, coaches of prospective student-athletes or any other individual responsible
for teaching or directing an activity in which a prospective student-athlete is
involved: (Adopted: 4/28/05 effective 8/1/05 for publications prepared for the 2005-06
academic year and after)
(a) General Correspondence. General correspondence, including letters and postcards
issued by the U.S. postal service (i.e., blank cards) may be sent to a prospective studentathlete only by mail. Attachments to general correspondence may only include materials
printed on plain white paper with black ink that are not created for recruiting purposes, except
for the additional printed materials listed in this section. The content of all general recruiting
correspondence to prospective student-athletes (or prospective student-athletes' parents or
legal guardians) must be prepared by the head coach or one of the assistant coaches who
count toward the numerical limitations in Bylaw 11.7.4 (see Bylaw 11.7.1.2). It is not
permissible for an institution's president or chancellor or director of athletics to prepare
general correspondence to prospective student-athletes. (Revised: 3/8/06, 12/12/06, 1/8/07
effective 8/1/07)
(b) Business Cards.
(c) Camp Brochures. Camp brochures may be provided to a prospective studentathlete. Brochures are not restricted by content or design, but are restricted to a single twosided sheet, not to exceed 17" X 22" when opened in full. (Note: These brochures may be
provided to a prospective student-athlete prior to September 1 at the beginning of the
prospective student-athlete's junior year in high school.) (See also Bylaw 12.5.1.7).
INSTITUTIONAL NOTE CARDS
NCAA Bylaw
(d) Questionnaires. An institution may provide questionnaires to a prospective
student-athlete prior to September 1 at the beginning of the prospective student-athlete's
junior year in high school.
(e) Non-athletics Institutional Publications. An institution may provide nonathletics institutional publications available to all students at any time (e.g., official academic,
admissions and student-services publications published by the institution and available to all
students).
(f) NCAA Educational Material Published by the NCAA (e.g., NCAA Guide for the
College-Bound Student-Athlete). (Note: This information may be provided to a prospective
student-athlete prior to September 1 at the beginning of the prospective student-athlete's
junior year in high school.)
(g) Athletics Publications. An institution may produce a recruiting brochure or media
guide (but not both) and provide the publication to a prospective student-athlete. The
publications may have only one color printing inside the cover and may not exceeding 8 1/2
by 11 inches in size and 208 pages in length. An institution may not produce a separate media
guide that is intended to supplement the one permissible recruiting brochure or media
guide. Such supplemental information (e.g., historical information, records) may be posted
on the institution's Web site and may be printed in black and white, and provided to the
media. An institution may not create a portfolio of information (e.g., pictures) to be shown to
prospective student-athletes during the recruiting process unless it is considered the
institution's one permissible athletics recruiting publications. An institution may produce
additional media publications for separate purposes (e.g., postseason media guide, spring
football practice guide), provided the additional publications are not provided to prospective
student-athletes. (Revised: 3/23/05, 4/28/05, 5/12/05)
INSTITUTIONAL NOTE CARDS
NCAA Bylaw
(h) Game Programs. Game programs (which may not include posters) may be provided to
prospective student-athletes only during official and unofficial recruiting visits and may not be
mailed.
(i) Pre-enrollment Information. Necessary pre-enrollment information regarding
orientation, conditioning, academics and practice activities, may be provided to a prospective
student-athlete, provided he or she has signed a National Letter of Intent or financial aid
agreement or has been officially accepted for enrollment. (Adopted: 12/12/06)
(j) Institutional Note Cards. Institutional note cards that are provided to prospective
student-athletes may not exceed 8 1/2 by 11 inches when opened in full. In addition, such cards
may only contain the institution's name and logo or an athletics logo on the outside, must be
blank on the inside (one side of the card when opened in full) when produced and may include
only handwritten information (e.g., words, illustrations) on the inside when provided to
prospective student-athletes. (Adopted: 1/8/07 effective 8/1/07)
INSTITUTIONAL NOTE CARDS
NCAA Bylaw Interpretation
Recruiting -- Printed Recruiting Materials -- Institutional Note Cards (I)
Date Issued: Jan 06, 2007
Type: Ed. Column
Interpretation:
Question: Is it permissible to include multiple logos on the outside of the note card?
Answer: No. Each card may include the institution's name and either a single intuitional logo or
a single athletics logo.
Question: What would constitute "preprinted information?"
Answer: Based on the intent of the legislation, the inside of the note cards must be blank when
they are received from the publisher or printer that produces the cards. Therefore, any
printing on the inside would constitute "preprinted information.“
Question: Is it permissible to print a message on the inside of the note card through a printer or
copier?
Answer: The NCAA Division I Legislative Review/Interpretations Committee reviewed this
question and determined that only handwritten information may be added to the inside
of the note card.
INSTITUTIONAL NOTE CARDS
NCAA Bylaw Interpretation – con’t
Question: How does the proposal apply to cards that are not folded or that are not folded in half?
Answer: Even if an institutional note card is not folded, one side must be considered the outside
and the other must be considered the inside. If a card is not folded in half (e.g., ? fold),
when the card is opened in full, one complete side must be considered the outside and
the other must be considered the inside. Note that a card mailed without an envelope is
considered a postcard and, therefore, must be a blank card issued by the U.S. Postal
Service.
Question: How does the proposal apply to cards that are not rectangular in shape?
Answer: Regardless of the shape of an institutional note card, when opened in full, it must fit
within the area of a rectangle that measures 8 x 11 inches.
INSTITUTIONAL NOTE CARDS
Permissible Example
Outside of Note Card
Inside of Note Card
Back of Note card
Front of Note card
INSTITUTIONAL NOTE CARDS
Checklist
Permissible
– To use one institutional logo
(primary or secondary – must
be on other institutional items)
– To write the name of the
institution as well as the sport
– For the outside to be one color
and the inside to be another
– To have a solid color border
around the outside
– For the card to have texture
on the outside (ex. basketball)
– To hand write notes to a
prospect
Impermissible
– To add any additional preprinted information such as:
(not an all-inclusive list)
•
•
•
•
•
Address
Coaches Names
Team Accolades
Team Schedule
Quotes
– To run a note card through a
printer
– For the note card to be larger
than 8x11 when open in full
** Note Cards Must Be Approved By The Compliance Office Prior to Printing
INSTITUTIONAL NOTE CARDS
• What about the envelopes?
– Must follow same criteria as
note cards
• Permissible to have one logo
• Permissible to have name of
institution
• Permissible for inside to be a
different color from the
outside
• Exception – permissible to
have a pre-printed return
address on the envelope
• Impermissible to run
envelope through printer
Boston College Athletics
310 Conte Forum
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
REMINDERS
• 2007-2008 Coaches Certification Exam
– June 13 – 10:00am – CTRC – O'Neill 250
– Review Sessions
• June 11 – 1:00pm – Media Suite
• June 13 – 9:00am – TBD
• Have you sent all of your incoming prospects
the Disclosure Reports?
• Are you up to date on your logs?
• Happy Summer Vacation!!!!!
QUESTIONS???