Be Careful Scheduling DI Visits

MaineLonghorn · 11-02-2009, 07:05 PM

You guys probably already know about this, but it was a surprise to us! We've already scheduled an official DI visit in a couple of weeks - airline tickets have already been bought. The coach called today and said he didn't realize one day during the visit is an NCAA Dead Day, so my son will not even be allowed to be on campus that day! Even if he's not interacting with athletes or coaches. So I guess we'll use that half-day to drive around the city. It will work out OK in our case, because he'll still have over 24 hours with the team, but I thought I would warn other parents. I didn't even know that rule existed. Just when I think I'm getting the hang of this, something else pops up.

Wiggle · 11-02-2009, 07:24 PM

What exactly is the rule, and why is it in place? Is it in effect for all sports? Obviously I've never heard of "Dead Day."

TheGFG · 11-02-2009, 07:56 PM

November 9-12, 2009 is an NCAA prescribed dead period for most sports. I had never heard of this either. Thanks for posting.

MaineLonghorn · 11-02-2009, 07:59 PM

The dates vary for different sports. For XC/track and field, the ONLY dead day from August 19 through December 13 is November 23, the Monday of my son's visit! There can be NO contact between the coach and recruits, and they extend that to say the recruit can't be on campus at all. I don't know the reason for the rule.

sherpa · 11-02-2009, 08:05 PM

From the NCAA website recruiting - NCAA.org we get a non-definition:

Quote:

Recruiting Definitions...

Dead Period
The college coach may not have any in-person contact with you or your parents at any time in the dead period. The coach may write and telephone you or your parents during this time.

I found a more clear explanation on About.comWhat is a Dead Period?

Quote:

Definition: A "Dead Period," as the name implies, is a time when nearly all recruiting activity is temporarily shut down.

During a dead period, coaches cannot:

Make in-person recruiting contacts
Conduct in-person evaluations -- on or off-campus
Schedule official campus visits
Allow unofficial campus visits
Offer complimentary tickets to games
The only permissible communications during a dead period are phone calls (limited by NCAA regulations to one call per week) and correspondence.

So it would seem that the coach in the OP scheduled an official visit on a prohibited date.

beawinner · 11-04-2009, 11:32 AM

I'd be upset with the coach for not knowing this. No forgiveness on this one.

MaineLonghorn · 11-04-2009, 12:16 PM

^^^Yeah, but I can't do anything about it now, and DS will still have more than 24 hours to spend with the coach and the team. He was actually happy - it means we can spend the half day on Monday driving around the city and checking it out! Things will be more relaxed for him.

Sherpa, thanks for posting the specifics.

Another DI coach left him a phone message last night that I didn't get until this morning, so we're psyched! It's hard to wait for DS to come home to tell him.

Wiggle · 11-05-2009, 10:06 PM

I did a little googling on the "dead period" concept in an attempt to find out its purpose. It seems to be originally related to the "student" part of student-athlete: it centered around exam time. But it seems to have been more recently relative to coaching in that the coaches get a break from the stress of the recruiting activities. You can check ncaa.org for each sport's dead period (they are all different as ML mentioned above.) Keep in mind that I spent about 10 minutes doing this little bit of googling; I could be way off.

This is an excerpt from a Division II article on ncaa.org, which discusses the current "Life in the Balance" bylaw. It gives a little more insight into the current thoughts and discussions underway about the dead period:

Restricting countable activities during the winter break. The idea is to create a seven-day “dead period” – both for participation and recruiting purposes – between the last day of finals and the first day of classes for the next semester. As of now, the concept leaves it to the institution to determine its own seven-consecutive-day period.

It would mean student-athletes couldn’t participate in any countable athletically related activities or voluntary workouts on campus during the seven-day period, nor would coaches or staff be able to engage in recruiting activities. The goal is to facilitate family time during the holiday period and relieve staff from managing facilities during the break.

Still under discussion are whether the same seven consecutive days would apply to all sports on a given campus, and whether the dead period for recruiting purposes should be expanded to include all of the days between the last final exam and first day of the spring semester.

The Legislation Committee is also trying to determine whether the dead period would serve to shorten the season and thus be accompanied by contest cuts and whether the concept applies to all winter sports.

Wiggle · 11-05-2009, 10:32 PM

Just to clarify, too. The dead period affects both Division I and Division II sports. Here is a link to the ncaa website which lists all sports' recruiting calendars: Recruiting Calendars - NCAA.org

MaineLonghorn · 11-05-2009, 10:56 PM

Wiggle, thanks for the posts! I'm still curious as to why the Monday before Thanksgiving, and not any other days that week, would be counted as a dead day! Weird.

royal73 · 11-15-2009, 09:54 PM

Why not DIII sports?

DuckieStyle · 11-17-2009, 11:35 PM

Cause no one cares about DIII schools