Boosters Guide
A Guide for Boosters, Alumni, and Friends of Athletics
Guide for Boosters (PDF)
This document has been developed to serve as a guideline for NCAA legislation governing boosters, alumni and friends of NCAA institutions. It summarizes rules and regulations involving situations encountered by our booster, alumni and friends and their requests for assistance in complying with NCAA legislation.
Your efforts to follow this legislation are greatly appreciated, because violations could affect the eligibility of involved prospects or student-athletes, result in NCAA penalties being imposed on this institution, and lead to restrictions regarding your involvement with the athletics program.
All NCAA legislation cannot be covered in a document such as this. Therefore, any additional questions should be forwarded to the Compliance Officer in the Department of Athletics. We appreciate your interest and ask you to contact the Department of Athletics, at the numbers below, should you have any questions.
ARE YOU A REPRESENTATIVE OF ATHLETICS INTERESTS?
You are a Representative of Athletics Interests (RAI), if you meet any of the following conditions:
- You are a member of any organization that promotes the athletics program.
- You have made a financial contribution to the Department of Athletics or its RAI organizations.
- You have ever assisted in the recruitment of prospects for the Department of Athletics.
- You have provided benefits (e.g., summer jobs or occasional family meals) to enrolled student-athletes.
- You have ever, in any way, promoted the athletics program.
NOTE: Please remember that once you become a RAI, you retain that identity indefinitely.
WHO IS A PROSPECTIVE STUDENT-ATHLETE?
A prospective student-athlete, commonly known as a "prospect," is any individual who has started classes for the 9th grade. In addition, student-athletes enrolled in preparatory schools or two-year colleges are considered prospects. Ultimately, a student remains a prospect until enrollment at a four-year collegiate institution.
WHO CAN RECRUIT?
Only coaches who successfully complete the annual NCAA Coaches Certification Exam, are permitted to be involved in the recruiting process.
NCAA RULES REGARDING REPRESENTATIVE OF ATHLETICS INTEREST INVOLVEMENT WITH PROSPECTS AND RECRUITING GUIDELINES
A Representative of Athletics Interests MAY:
- Contact a prospect as long as the booster had an established relationship prior to the student becoming a prospect and as long as there is NO attempt to recruit the prospect for Dominican University of California.
- Provide names, statistics, newspaper articles, etc. of outstanding prospects from the booster's local area to Dominican University of California coaches and staff (but NOT contact that prospect's coach or school officials in order to gather materials pertaining to the prospect's athletic or academic abilities).
- Forward information about prospects to the appropriate coaching staff member as long as you were not asked to do so by an institutional staff member.
- View a prospect's athletics contest on your own initiative, provided you do not contact the prospect or his/her relatives, coach, principal, or counselor in an attempt to evaluate the academic or athletic abilities of the prospect. You are responsible for all incurred costs or fees at a contest.
- YOU MAY NOT entertain student-athletes or their family and friends. The only exception to this is that you may, on an occasional basis, provide a student-athlete or team (not family members or friends) with a meal. That meal can be catered at your home, on campus or at a facility regularly used for home competition. You must notify the coach and receive prior approval from the Compliance Office.
As a Representative of Athletics Interests you MAY NOT:
- Make any recruiting contacts with prospects or their relatives. This includes telephone calls, letters, emails, and facsimiles, along with any face-to-face contact either on or off-campus.
- Make contact with a prospective student-athlete or his/her parents when the prospect is on campus for an official or unofficial recruiting visit; nor approach a Dominican University of California coach who is with a prospect either on or off the Dominican University of California campus (the coach CAN NOT introduce the booster to the prospect).
- Mail anything to a prospect, including press releases, media guides, posters, schedule cards, etc.
- Contact or request anything (transcript, videotape) from a prospect's counselor or coach in order to evaluate the athletic or academic ability of a prospect, nor assist coaches by picking up transcripts, films, or any other information pertaining to a prospect's ability from the prospect's educational institution.
- Contact a prospective student athlete to congratulate him/her on signing a National Letter of Intent to attend this institution.
- Provide benefits of any kind (e.g., clothing, special discounts, lodging, meals, transportation, tickets, loans of money) to prospects or their relatives.
- Provide transportation or arrange for payment of transportation costs for a prospect or his/her relatives or friends to visit campus.
- Earmark funds for specific prospects to attend our summer camps. Instead, you must donate the funds to the high school, and the school and the students will decide which camps they will attend.
- Employ or arrange for employment of a prospect before the completion of his/her senior year in high school or official withdrawal/graduation from junior college or prep school. At this point, you may employ a prospect as long as compensation is for work actually performed and at a rate commensurate with experience and the going rate.
- Provide ANYTHING to a prospect or the prospect's family or friends without prior approval from the Compliance Office.
NCAA RULES REGARDING REPRESENTATIVE OF ATHLETICS INTEREST INVOLVEMENT WITH ENROLLED STUDENT-ATHLETES
- YOU MAY NOT pay for or arrange for payment of room, board, or any type of transportation at any time for currently enrolled student-athletes, their relatives, or their friends.
- YOU MAY NOT provide student-athletes with any sort of extra benefit, which refers to any special arrangement to provide a student-athlete or his/her relatives or friends with a benefit unavailable to the general student population.
- YOU MAY NOT provide student-athletes with any special discounts (e.g., free or reduced meals, housing), payment arrangements (e.g., cosigning a loan), credits on a purchase (e.g., airline ticket, clothing), or services (e.g., dry cleaning, transportation, use of telephone).
- YOU MAY NOT provide awards or gifts to student- athletes for any reason. This also prohibits honorariums for speaking engagements. Student-athletes may receive ONLY actual and necessary travel expenses to pre-approved speaking engagements; All awards to student-athletes must meet NCAA legislation and be approved by the Compliance Office.
- YOU MAY NOT entertain student-athletes or their family and friends. The only exception to this is that you may, on an occasional basis, provide a student-athlete or team (not family members or friends) with a meal. That meal can be catered, but it must be in your home, and you MUST notify the coach and receive PRIOR approval from the Compliance Office.
NOTE: These rules apply throughout the student-athlete's entire enrollment, including between terms, and during vacation and summer breaks.
NCAA RULES REGARDING STUDENT-ATHLETE EMPLOYMENT
- PROSPECTS MAY be employed by RAI during the summer prior to enrollment. Please note that this employment may not begin until the prospect has graduated from high school or withdrawn/graduated from junior college or prep school.
- CURRENT STUDENT-ATHLETES MAY seek employment during both the academic year and summer. This employment must meet the following regulations:
- The student-athlete's compensation must not include any remuneration for the value or utility the student-athlete may have for the employer because of the publicity, reputation, fame, or personal following that he or she has obtained because of athletics ability;
- The student-athlete must be compensated only for work actually performed; and
- The student athlete must be compensated at a rate commensurate with the going rate for similar services in that locale. Provided these regulations are met, there is no limit on the amount of money student athletes can earn. Although there is no longer a limit on student- athletes' earnings, the Compliance Office still must keep records verifying all student- athlete employment. If you intend to hire a student-athlete at your place of business, please be sure to remind the student athlete that he or she should consult the Compliance Office regarding the employment arrangements and complete the Student-Athlete Outside Employment.
EMPLOYER "DO's" AND "DON'Ts"
- Do NOT employ any prospect prior to the completion of the prospect's senior year in high school.
- Do NOT provide free transportation to and from jobs for student-athletes, unless such transportation is provided to all employees.
- DO provide employment for prospective and currently enrolled student-athletes during permissible time periods and at regular pay rates for similarly qualified non-athlete employees.
RULES REGARDING PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENT-ATHLETES
As it would affect their amateur status, student- athletes are not permitted to be involved in the advertisement, recommendation, or promotion of commercial products or services. However, there are certain instances when student- athletes are permitted to be involved in charitable, educational, community engagement or nonprofit promotional activities. These events must be approved by the Compliance Office prior to the student-athletes' participation. If you are interested in involving student-athletes in this sort of activity, please contact us.
NCAA RULES REGARDING THE INTERNET
The internet is considered similar to e-mail, telephone calls, or general correspondence. Therefore, it should not be used by RAI to contact prospects, their families, or their coaches. Participating in "chat rooms" or "instant messaging" with prospects is also strictly prohibited.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Q: Can an RAI be involved when a prospect is on an official or unofficial visit?
A: No, RAI's are precluded from all recruiting activities, including face-to-face contacts with a prospect or his/her relatives at any time.
Q: Can RAI contact prospects to encourage them to attend the institution?
A: No, any such contact could result in the prospect being declared ineligible to participate in athletics at this institution.
Q: May an RAI engage in evaluation activities on behalf of the institution?
A: Yes, an RAI may view a prospect's contest on his/her own initiative, provided no contact is made with the prospect or his/her family. However, this evaluation may not take place at the request or direction of an institutional staff member, and a RAI is not permitted to contact anyone associated with the prospect in an effort to evaluate him/her.
Q: May an RAI attend a public event (e.g., high school awards banquet or dinner) at which prospects are in attendance?
A: Yes, however contact with prospects or their families may not occur, and no attempt can be made to recruit the prospect.
Q: May a student-athlete's name, picture, or appearance be used in a promotional activity?
A: It depends on the situation. Please contact the Compliance Office with your specific question.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
If you know of a high school student-athlete who might want to attend, we encourage you to call the appropriate coach, as this is the only permissible recruiting activity for RAI. Please refer to the Staff Directory to contact our coaches.
CONSEQUENCES FOR REPRESENTATIVE OF ATHLETICS INTERESTS WHO VIOLATE NCAA RULES
Under NCAA rules, the institution is responsible for all actions of its boosters. Therefore, it is also our responsibility to make you aware of consequences for violating the rules contained within this brochure. RAI found in violation are subject to losing benefits and privileges, including season tickets. In addition, the NCAA Committee on Infractions, in some cases, has required institutions to disassociate the RAI from the institution.
TWO FINAL REMINDERS
- Please contact the Compliance Office at 415.482.3503 if you need a specific NCAA rule interpretation.
- If in doubt, remember that in most cases, CONTACT AND/OR PROVISION OF ANY BENEFIT IS PROHIBITED!
WINNING WITH INTEGRITY!
On behalf of all of us at Dominican University of California, thank you for your tremendous support of our entire athletics program. Our administration, coaches, and, most importantly, our student-athletes are very appreciative of the spirit with which you embrace our sports programs.
