<p>My D emailed a coach just to inform that we would be visiting the campus over the summer and would there just stop by and introduce herself and learn more about the program. The coach emailed back and said that she could not call her until July 1st after her junior year and that she could visit the campus but not the athletic department.
Am I missing something? Isn't she allowed to do unofficial visits and contact coaches?<br>
Why would she have to wait until her senior year to do an unofficial visit? Plus we've been to probably about five schools already where we've done just that, had an unofficial visit where she called the coach, not them calling her. Don't want to be breaking any rules. Are we misunderstanding the rules and did those coaches do something wrong by talking to her when she called them and went on campus and spoke with them?</p>
<p>What division of athletics is your daughter looking at?</p>
<p>D1 and DIII</p>
<p>You should be able to visit the program unofficially at this time. One coach told us he had to be very general in his conversation with us. But that was it. We visited many schools during S’s sophomore year.</p>
<p>D1 coaches can talk to you as long as you are on their campus. The few schools we visited, the coaches met with us before we went on the campus tours and we have had D3 coaches call. D3 is not governed by the same rules as D1. Our son is a rising senior so we have not hit the July 1 date for him yet.</p>
<p>musicmom, it is possible that the particular coach mentioned above might not really be all that interested and was trying to let you down gently? If you call a coach it is permissible for them to meet with you, except during dead periods, which you can find out on NCAA website when those are. You definitely CAN meet with coaches prior to senior year, if you call them and you see them on campus and they pay for nothing. Go see the school if it is a huge interest to your daughter, but if the coach was really interested I would think they would try to make it work.</p>
<p>Is being invited by a coach to attend a summer camp/clinic (that we pay for), after seeing the athlete play at a tournament, considered and official visit?</p>
<p>momof2010: That may be, but she doesn’t even know her stats, so she wouldn’t know if she would be interested or not. My D was confused, and I just wanted to make sure that we understood the rules and hadn’t been doing anything wrong with the other coaches that we have spoken to and seen. And this is not an Ivie or a nationally ranked school, so just seems kind of weird that she would tell her that, but I told my D to move on. There are plenty of others that are interested to get hung up on that one. She has a berecruited page where we can see who looks at her profile and bookmarks her, and she’s got some pretty good schools on that list.</p>
<p>ElKyes: No, that’s not an official visit. My D has been invited to several camps. No way we can go to all of them time wise and money wise. Just maybe to the one that she’s really interested in going to that school so she can meet the coaches and do a tour of the school. An official visit is when they invite you to the school on their dime and sit down with you and talk about recruiting, and that’s during their senior year.</p>
<p>musicmom,</p>
<p>The contact rules for coaches and athletes is a deep labyrinth that would take a Dan Brown to explain. It differs by mode, by sport and by division.</p>
<p>But I agree with others that the comments you posted on what the coach said do not make sense at face value.</p>
<p>Is it a new coach who may not completely know the rules yet?
Other parents in the past here have posted similar experiences with coaches citing the “July 1” magical date who were in error. It does happen.</p>
<p>As far as contact at camps and similar functions – my understanding is that (for Div I) the athlete and the coach:</p>
<ul>
<li>May exchange pleasantries. (Hello, how are you. Nice day, etc.)</li>
<li>May talk about the camp itself.</li>
<li>May not talk about specific recruiting to the coach’s school.</li>
</ul>
<p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>That’s true - but you may call a coach anytime you want and discuss anything. So, if you see a coach at a camp or meet - make eye contact, point to your phone and call him. I suppose as long as you are far enough away that you can’t hear his unamplified voice, he won’t be in violation of the NCAA rules. ;)</p>
<p>Yup, varska, true.
The student can always call and the coach can answer the phone.</p>
<p>Had not thought about your scenario though.
Very funny.</p>
<p>As you and I and others have discussed here before, the contact rules are arcane, confusing and ridiculous.</p>