Compliance / Recruiting
It is the responsibility of the Associate Athletics Director for Compliance and Sports Information as well as the individual staff members to ensure that the department of intercollegiate athletics complies with the rules and regulations set by the NCAA and SUNYAC (or respective sport conferences).
The Compliance Officer serves as the point person for any questions regarding ethical conduct, amateurism, financial aid, and academic standards concerning student-athlete eligibility for competition. In addition, he/she will ensure the student-athletes and coaches are adhering to the NCAA and conference rules and regulations. The compliance officer will check student-athlete eligibility for full-time academic status and initial eligibility.
All teams must schedule a time to meet with the compliance officer a minimum of two weeks prior to the first competition to have all NCAA and Buffalo State College eligibility forms administered. Spring sports must schedule a meeting at the beginning of the non-traditional segment. Head coaches must be present for this meeting.
NCAA regulations are available on line at
http://www.ncaa.org
Request of NCAA Rule Interpretations
All requests for NCAA rule interpretations must be made via email to the Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance to ensure correspondences are documented. The Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance will respond via email with the legislative site, educational column, or official interpretation as appropriate.
NCAA Rules Violations and/or Investigations
All coaches and/or student-athletes should report any suspicion of violation of any NCAA rules to the Associate Athletic Director for Compliance who will then conduct an investigation in concert with the Director of Athletics. The Associate Athletic Director for Compliance consistently monitors all department activities to ensure the NCAA rules are correctly interpreted and followed.
NCAA Rules Test
Buffalo State Athletics annually completes the NCAA Rules test online as a group in early September. All coaches and staff members with compliance and/or recruiting responsibilities must take the test. The compliance officer will lead the group and the staff will collectively take the test and discuss why each answer is correct.
Any coach or staff member with compliance and/or recruiting responsibilities unable to make the group test date, must individually complete the test and schedule a follow-up meeting with the compliance officer to review his/her incorrect answers.
Student-Athlete Participation
The following procedure is followed before student-athletes begin any participation:
Student-athletes attend a pre-season meeting attended by training staff, Compliance Officer, Sports Information Director and Equipment Manager to complete all necessary forms
All forms and a physical, administered through the Weigel Health Center and not a personal physician, must be completed and submitted before being eligible for the first team practice.
Coaches must receive approval from athletic training staff noting that above process has been appropriately completed.
Student-athletes who missed the first meeting must individually complete the above process.
Academic Eligibility
In accordance with NCAA by-law 14.01.2.1: "in order for a student to represent an institution in intercollegiate athletics competition, a student-athlete shall be in good academic standing as determined by the academic authorities. The term "good academic standing" as stated in the Buffalo State undergraduate catalog means "All students not on academic probation are considered to be in good academic standing and are eligible to participate in extra-curricular activities, including any Buffalo State student with a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or above or on academic warning." Students on academic probation are not eligible to participate in athletics (practice or competition).
Declared Playing Season
All coaches must submit a calendar of his/her team's declared playing season to the Compliance Officer a minimum of one week prior to the team's first practice (for the traditional AND non-traditional segments). The calendar must clearly note all weeks, noting practices, competition and required days off. No team may begin practice until this calendar has been approved by the Compliance Officer.
Roster Subtractions/Additions
When a player quits a team or is removed from is removed from the roster, the head coach must notify the Compliance Officer, Sports Information Director, Athletic Trainers and Equipment Manager as soon as practical via email and must include the date or the player's last participation with the team. If a coach wishes to add a player to a team's roster after the roster has been created, the coach must use the Roster Addition Form and get all appropriate approval signatures before the player may participate.
Non-Traditional Season
Football, women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball and women's volleyball have the opportunity to conduct a non-traditional season. Football is allowed 15 practice opportunities (three practices per week for five weeks). The other sports listed are allowed 16 days of practice within a maximum of five weeks with no more than four athletically-related activities in one week. Included within the 16 days is one day of competition (an alumni game may also be exempted at this time). The fall non-traditional season can begin as early as the first week of classes. The spring non-traditional season can begin the first week after spring break and must be completed at least one week prior to CEP week.
In order to participate in a non-traditional sport season, the student-athlete must have a health history form on file with the athletic training office and an up-to-date physical. The student-athlete also must complete the NCAA paperwork and be registered as a full-time student in good academic standing.
Head coaches of a non-traditional sport must submit a roster to the athletic training staff two weeks prior to the start of practices.
Practice and Contests
- No student-athlete may miss class for practice or games.
- Coaches are required to do their own scheduling for games. Practices are to be scheduled in consultation with facility staff and all other in-season coaches. Coaches are required to give notice to the athletic training staff and facility office of practice and game schedule at least two weeks before the event.
- Each team has a non-traditional budget to be used appropriately
- All contests must be submitted on the Permission to Scrimmage Form and approved at least 48 hours prior to the contest.
- No non-traditional practices or contests will be held on Sunday
- Each team will be supplied with training room coverage, but in-season teams must be afforded top priority.
- Each coach must be CPR and AED certified, and have working knowledge of emergency procedures in case a severe injury occurs during a practice.
- Uniform and equipment distribution will be conducted following normal equipment room procedures.
Recruiting
Coaches must adhere strictly to the recruiting regulations found in the current NCAA Division III Manual and applicable to Division III.
Recruiting funds, approved by the Athletics Director, may be used in the following manner: transportation of the recruit (ie: airfare), expenses related to one (1) visitation, mailings and coach's travel expenses.
Staff travel for recruiting purposes is to be coordinated through the Athletics Budget Manager. If coaches are required to use personal transportation, approved reimbursement will be made per regulations as outlined by the state of New York and consistent with departmental fiscal policy.
Sports teams have funds allocated in their annual budget to recruit student-athletes. Coaches must stay within this budget. In-state travel arrangements (rental cars, etc.) must be made at least one week prior to the trip. Out-of-state recruiting trips must be arranged 15 business days prior to trip.
Coaches must submit a travel itinerary with the department secretary.
All forms for reimbursements regarding recruiting trips are on-line and must be submitted to the Athletics Budget Manager within one week after return to campus (see Budget).
On-Campus Assistance
Coaches are assigned an Admissions Department liaison for their particular program and are encouraged to work closely with this liaison regarding the admissions process of their prospective student-athletes. In addition, coaches are encouraged to schedule appointments with department heads as well as other academic / professional staff members deemed important to the recruit.
It is expected that each coach develop an Excel spreadsheet of recruits to their respective program's Admission Office counselor. It is the expectation of the Admission's counselor to update that list weekly. It is also expected that coaches meet at least once per month with the Admission Office counselor to advocate for their recruits.
Recruiting - Front Rush
To help in the recruitment and admissions process, coaches and staff are encouraged to utilize this software program. Coaches are expected to seek training and utilize this system
Campus Visits - Official/Unofficial
For official campus visits, all head coaches must submit to the Compliance Officer a formal request for an official visit with the name of the prospective student-athlete, dates and duration of visit, location of all meals to be provided and all expenses that will be provided as part of the visit. This request must be submitted AND approved prior to the prospect's arrival on campus using the
Official Visit Request Form.
An Official Visits is any visit in which Buffalo State is paying for more than one meal during the visit. You may pay for travel and/or multiple meals or off-campus lodging for the prospect during an official visit.
Unofficial visits do not require approval, but coaches must individual keep record of all unofficial visits. You may provide no more than one meal on an unofficial visit. You may also provide complementary admission to a home game for an unofficial visit.
Overnight Visits
If a prospect is coming for an overnight visit with a student-athlete host, the host must reside on campus and remain with the recruit at all times. The coach, the host student-athlete, the prospect, and the prospect's parent/guardian must sign the
Guidelines for Recruiting Visit Form and all parties must follow the rules stated on the form.
Campus Visits - Meals
For campus visits, a Chartwells (Dining Services) sign-in sheet may be obtained on the OneDrive. The coach should bring back the sign in sheet with all of the signatures and the receipt taped to a sheet of paper and turned in to the Athletics Budget Manager.
Parking Passes
Coaches should go to Chase Hall (University Police) in person to request parking passes for recruits who will be visiting campus.
Mailings
The recruiting process often entails large mailings originating from the coaches offices. Coaches are required to notify the department secretary at least two weeks prior to the mailings, in order for materials to be stocked and / or re-stock (ie: letterhead, envelopes). All offices will use Buffalo State Athletics Department letterhead.
Frequently Asked Questions -Compliance / Recruiting
Q: Who is eligible to compete in intercollegiate athletics?
A: To be eligible to compete, a student-athlete must be a full-time matriculated student in good academic standing according to the standards set by the institution (minimum 2.0 GPA after two semesters at the college), and must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours.
(Exception allowed in the final semester prior to graduation for part time enrollment - See compliance officer first). Graduate students are considered full-time when enrolled in 9 credit hours. Student-athletes have 10 full-time semesters to compete in four seasons of their sport.
Q: What is the rule concerning redshirting student-athletes?
A: Effective August 1, 2004, any student-athlete that competes in a single varsity competition, or participates in a practice beyond the date of that first competition, shall have used a season of eligibility.
Q: A student at another institution has contacted me about transferring to Buffalo State. What should I do?
A: Get the student-athletes name and the name of the institution he/she is currently attending. Stop contact with that student. Provide compliance officer with the student's information and he/she will receive permission to discuss transfer from the compliance officer at the other institution. Once the release is received, contact with the prospect may resume. If a student-athlete is at a Div. III institution, advise them they can issue a self-release, available at NCAA.org
Q: Can I cater an event for student-athletes on official recruiting visits?
A: Yes. You may provide a prospect with a meal in the institution's on-campus dining facility during an official visit. Or you can cater a meal as long as it is on a scale comparable to normal student life. You may provide a meal in an off-campus dining facility ONLY when ALL on-campus dining facilities are closed.
Q: What constitutes a practice?
A: A practice is defined as any meeting, activity or instruction involving sports-related information and having athletics purpose involving one or more student-athletes at the direction of, or supervised by any member of an institution's coaching staff. This includes field, floor or on-court activity, chalk talk, lecture of strategy related to sport, activities using equipment related to the sport, or discussion / review of game films. These activities must be confined only to the declared playing season.
Q: Can recruits practice or try out with the team?
A: No. Prospective student-athletes are not permitted under any circumstances to practice with a team until they are enrolled at the institution in a full-time program of studies and have passed a school physical.
Q: Can you pay the expenses for a recruit to visit the campus? If so, what can you pay for?
A: Yes. You may finance one visit to campus for a prospect. You may pay for transportation for the prospect, lodging, meals and provide comp tickets to home athletic contests for the prospect and his/her parents or legal guardians only. You must complete the Official Visit Notification Form and receive approval before the visit.
Q: Can a high school junior make an official visit?
A: Yes, after January 1 of junior year. A prospect may not be provided an official visit earlier than January 1 of the prospect's junior year in high school.
Q: How many comp tickets are student-athletes allowed?
A: An institution may provide four complimentary admissions per home or away contest in the sport in which he / she participates (practices or competes), regardless of whether the student-athlete competes in the contest.
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