Volleyball Recruiting Rules

College volleyball provides an opportunity for many student-athletes to receive scholarships to college each year. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) strictly monitors the college volleyball recruiting process. You should be fully aware of the regulations whether you play or coach volleyball to ensure strict compliance. Any breach of conduct will result in sanctions from the NCAA.

  1. Contacts during freshman and sophomore year

    • A college coach cannot contact a freshman or sophomore in high school via telephone. But if a freshman or sophomore volleyball player makes a telephone call at their own expense to a coach, the coach may pick up the phone. Remember, if you leave a voicemail for the coach the NCAA prohibits the coach from calling you back. Additionally, a volleyball coach may not send any emails to freshmen or sophomore volleyball players.

    After September 1 of Junior Year

    • A college volleyball coach can permissibly send mailings including schedule cards, personalized letters and newspaper clippings. Additionally, the coach may email junior volleyball recruits.

    After July 1 of Junior Year

    • A college volleyball coach may place a phone call to a volleyball player or a volleyball player's parents once a week. Players may still call coaches an unlimited number of times.

    Senior Year

    • A volleyball player can make up to five official visits to campuses during this time. In order to allow for an official visit, the student must provide the coach with a high school transcript and ACT/Scholastic Aptitute Test (SAT) score reports.

    Quiet and Dead Periods

    • A quiet period means a volleyball player can only visit a campus in person. No coaches can visit the volleyball player off site during this time. A dead period only permits a coach to contact a volleyball player via writing or telephone. No physical contacts can be made during a dead period. These periods can fluctuate by a few days each year; however they generally fall in the same range. Typical quiet periods include December 8-16, January 1-16 and May 1-22. Typical dead periods include December 17-31 and April 6-9. The second dead period generally coincides with the Spring National Letter of Intent Signing Day.