Athletics Veritas is a weekly series aimed at helping higher education executives, faculty, and other stakeholders stay tuned in on trending national issues impacting college athletics, especially NCAA Division I. Athletics Veritas is created by senior DI athletic administrators around the nation.
Term-in-Ology:Women’s Basketball Signees Get On-Boarded with Team Activities Sooner
One component to the multi-faceted Division I Women's Basketball Recruiting Model that was adopted carved out an exception by which women’s basketball signees could be incorporated into team activities a bit sooner than other sports.
Specifically, a women’s basketball prospect who signed a National Letter of Intent or the institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid or for whom the institution has received a financial deposit in response to its offer of admission may participate in virtual team activities (e.g., team meetings, film review) during an institution's summer vacation period, provided the prospect has completed all academic requirements for high school graduation or all transfer academic requirements.
This new exception reflects some of the pandemic-inspired flexibility, allowing coaches to have more access to their current student-athletes when people were located remotely. Further, this carve-out for women’s basketball is intended to help coaches develop strong relationships with their current student-athletes as well as incoming signees, in part, due to heightened transfer portal numbers. It will be interesting to see if other sports follow suit and add this exception to bring signees in to virtual team activities sooner.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
