Basic Recruiting Terminology
A student becomes a prospective student-athlete, PSA for short,
when she begins her freshman year of high school. She becomes a recruited
prospective student-athlete when a college coach contacts her directly
about the possibility of becoming a member of that collegiate
institution’s team. Just because a college coach sends a questionnaire
to a student-athlete, it does not mean that the coach is recruiting her.
Although recruiting really has no beginning or
end, the official recruiting “season” begins each June for NCAA
Division I and Division II.
For these two divisions, a series of contact periods, evaluation
periods, quiet periods, and dead periods make up the
recruiting calendar.
NCAA Division III recruiting is not restricted by these periods.
contact/contact periods - College coaching staffs may make either in-person recruiting contact with a prospective player or evaluations during contact periods. A contact is any in-person meeting between a college coach and a prospect or her parents where anybody says more than a greeting. Any on- or off-campus meeting is a contact, regardless of whether any meeting is arranged. In NCAA Division I, contact periods occur during portions of September, March, and April. In Division II, they occur in September-October and March-May with the exception of the late signing period in April.
evaluation/evaluation
periods - During an evaluation, a college coaching staff can
watch a recruit play and assess her skills.
Though coaches can watch and take notes, they cannot speak with the
recruit or her family. A
visit to the prospect’s school during which no contact occurs would also
count as an evaluation, for example, if the coach was there to assess her
academic qualifications. Coaches
can observe practices or games, but they usually choose the real-setting
competition of games. Evaluation
periods are blocks of time established by the NCAA during which
evaluations can take place.
For Division
I, there are several stipulations on evaluation periods. In states where
basketball competition occurs in the fall or winter, or that have junior
colleges, college coaches may make evaluations between October and
February. However, each coaching staff has a limit of 40 evaluation days
total to use between those months for all of its recruits. Evaluation days
must be recorded in writing at the college.
Division I coaches also have an open evaluation period during the
last three weeks in July, during junior college championship play, and
during tryouts for the USA Basketball Olympic Festival.
For states that have spring basketball, Division I staffs may make
evaluations during the last three weeks in April [with 40 evaluation days
total per staff during this time] and the last three weeks in July.
In the state of Hawaii, evaluation periods run from March through
May, once again with the 40-evaluation days limit, and the last three
weeks in July.
In Division
II, the structure is simpler. The open evaluation period for coaches
stretches from mid-June to the end of August. Coaches may also evaluate
during any of an athlete’s high school or junior college contests, in
addition to any other sanctioned club-level competition from mid-May to
mid-June and any high school all-star game.
In both
divisions, a college coach can make only one visit per week to a
recruit’s school during a contact or evaluation period.
However, the coach can observe a recruit on consecutive days during
a tournament, with the entire experience counting as one evaluation.
quiet
periods - Quiet periods provide an opportunity for Division I
and II recruits to visit college campuses and meet with NCAA coaches and
players. These visits must
take place on college campuses. Aside
from phone calls and letter-writing, no other recruiting activity can
occur during quiet periods.
Division
I basketball has five quiet periods – August 1 through the first week of
September; the end of September through the first week of October; from
the second week of October through the end of February on those days not
designated as evaluation days; in March on those days not designated as
evaluation days; and mid-April to the second week of July.
Division II
has five different categories as well, although they differ somewhat –
the first two weeks of June; August 2 through the first week of September;
mid-October through the date of the prospect’s first high school or
junior college game, with the exception of the early signing period of the
National Letter of Intent, which is a dead period; mid-May through
mid-June, with the exception of sanctioned club-level competition; and any
other dates not specified as a contact, evaluation, or dead period.
dead
periods - In recruiting terms, dead
periods are just what they sound like. During dead periods, no
evaluations, contacts, or any other sort of meetings or visits can happen
either on the college campus or at the prospective player’s school.
However, coaches can call or write to student-athletes during these
times.Dead periods coincide with the National Letter of Intent early and
late signing periods in NCAA Divisions I and II.
The early signing period for the National Letter
of Intent occurs during a full week in November, and the late signing
period lasts just over a month from mid-April to mid-May. Monday through
Thursday of both the early and late signing periods is a dead period, with
the remainder a quiet period.
