NCAA Rules for Basketball Recruiting

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) oversees college sports at the Division I, II and III levels in the United States. According to the NCAA, more than 1,000 schools participate in basketball---more than in any other sport. Because schools at the Division III level do not offer athletic scholarships and recruiting is a largely informal process, NCAA basketball recruiting regulations focus on the Division I and II levels.

  1. Printed Materials

    • According to the NCAA, outreach to potential Division I college basketball players can begin as early as the recruit's sophomore year in high school, in the form of brochures for camps and questionnaires. After the June 15 following the recruit's sophomore year, Division I schools may send the recruit letters and other printed materials. Division II schools can begin sending printed materials after September 1 of the recruit's junior year.

    Telephone Calls

    • Under NCAA recruiting rules, coaches may call recruits beginning June 15 before their junior year. The organization limits Division I coaches to one call per month during the junior year, then two calls per week during the senior year. For Division II coaches, the limit is one call per week during both the junior and senior years. Recruits may place unlimited calls to coaches at the Division I and II levels at their own expense after their freshman year in high school.

    Email, Fax and Other Electronic Transmissions

    • Email has become a valuable recruiting tool for schools.

      According to an NCAA bylaw interpretation, coaches may send recruits emails or faxes following the same rules for printed recruiting materials. The NCAA banned text messages and instant messaging to recruits in 2007. Coaches may contact recruits using social-networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, but only through the direct-message and mail features. The NCAA forbids correspondence visible to other users of the services.

    Contacts and Evaluations

    • The NCAA defines "contact" as face-to-face engagement with a recruit or the recruit's parents that does not occur during a campus visit. An evaluation occurs when a coach watches a recruit compete or practice. Coaches may contact recruits during their senior year only. At the Division I level, the NCAA allows seven contacts and evaluations combined. The Division II level limits visits to three.

    Campus Visits and Expenses

    • The NCAA defines two forms of campus visit: official and unofficial. Colleges pay for official visits, the only material benefit they may provide to recruits. NCAA rules restrict official visits to the senior year and limit recruits to five total visits. Unofficially---that is, on their own dime---recruits may visit as many schools as they wish.

    Quiet and Dead Periods

    • At both the Division I and II levels, the NCAA restricts in-person contact with and evaluations of recruits. During quiet periods, which generally cover August and most of the spring, the NCAA limits contact to campus visits. During shorter, more frequent dead periods, the rules forbid contact between coaches and recruits. The NCAA releases a new calendar specifying quiet and dead periods each year.

    Verbal Commitments and Letters of Intent

    • No commitment is binding until a recruit signs a National Letter of Intent.

      Media often publicize verbal commitments made by recruits to attend a school. However, the NCAA does not consider such commitments binding on the recruit or the school. A binding agreement comes in the form of a National Letter of Intent. Under the letter of intent, a school must provide financial aid to the athlete for one year. Recruits may sign letters of intent during one of two specified periods of the year---generally a one-week early signing period in November or a monthlong period in the spring. Once recruits sign a letter of intent, the NCAA bars other member schools from contacting them.