Representatives of Athletics Interests
What You Need to Know - Compliance Top 10
Extra Benefits
Defining a Booster
Are Lycoming College Alumni Considered Boosters?
Boosters & Prospective Student-Athletes
Boosters & Current Student-Athletes
Donation Requests
Top 10 Things You Need to Know
1. ALWAYS ASK BEFORE YOU ACT! Breaking NCAA rules can render prospects and student-athletes ineligible for competition. The NCAA holds the college accountable for the actions of its fans and friends.
2. You MAY NOT make recruiting contacts with prospects, their relatives or legal guardians. A prospective student-athlete is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade or above. This prohibition includes written and telephone communications.
3. You MAY NOT contact a prospect’s coach, principal, or counselor in an attempt to evaluate the prospect.
4. You MAY send newspaper clippings and other information about talented prospects to the designated coaching staff. Also, you MAY continue established relationships with friends and neighbors whose children are prospects or current student-athletes, provided the relationship pre-dates reaching prospect status and is not based on their status as an athlete.
5. You MAY attend high school or junior college competitions provided no contact occurs with the prospect or the prospect’s relatives.
6. You MAY NOT entertain any coach from a junior or senior high school, preparatory school, or junior college or provide them with tickets or any other type of benefit.
7. You MAY NOT become involved in arranging for a prospect, a current student-athlete or their family to receive gifts, money or financial benefits of any kind.
8. You MAY NOT provide transportation to a prospect, student-athlete or their friends and family. Also, you MAY NOT spend funds to entertain prospects, student-athletes or their friends and family.
9. You MAY employ a student-athlete provided you are paying them only for the work they actually perform, paying the going rate for similar services, are not paying them or providing perks based on their status as a student-athlete and the employment has been approved by the Compliance Office.
10.You MAY NOT use a photo or name of a student-athlete for commercial purposes or sell student-athlete memorabilia.
Thank you to our the University of Michigan Compliance Office who created this Top Ten.
Extra Benefits
Extra Benefits should not be offered to a prospective student-athlete, current student-athlete or their family or friends by anyone (regardless of a booster affiliation). An extra benefit is defined as anything that is offered based solely on participation in intercollegiate athletics. If something is offered to all students at Lycoming or to the general public, a student-athlete may accept the benefit as it doesn't carry an athletics nexus. Examples of extra benefits are (but are not limited to):
- Money, loans or credits
- Complimentary or discounted services
- Selling, trading or upgrading any athletics gear or participation awards
- Acceptance of any item of tangible value in exchange for complimentary tickets
The list above is not exhaustive. Please refrain from ever offering our prospective and current student-athletes, their families, and their friends anything that isn't available to all students or the general public.
Defining a Booster
Who is a Representative of Athletics Interests?
The NCAA broadly defines a "booster" as an individual, agency, entity or organization who is known by an institution to:
- Have participated in or been a member of an agency that promotes the institution's intercollegiate athletics program
- Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or a booster organization for the department
- Have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution's athletics program
- Have provided benefits to student-athletes or their relatives or friends
I'm an Alumnus, am I a Booster?
Not necessarily. Not all Lycoming alumni are considered boosters. Likewise, a booster does not have to be a graduate of Lycoming. Boosters meet at least one of the criteria listed above. Thus, an individual who has ever made a financial contribution to the Athletics Department is a booster. In a general sense, a season ticket holder in any sport at any time is a booster. Members and financial supporters of the Warrior Club or any other Lycoming athletic organization are boosters. These are only a handful of examples of typical "boosters" who may be affiliated with an athletic program. Many additional scenarios exist, but, regardless of a booster affiliation with the college, it is important that all supporters follow NCAA rules as they interact with prospects, current student-athletes, their families and friends.
Boosters & Prospects
Who are Prospective Student-Athletes?
A prospective student-athlete is any student who has started classes for the ninth grade (seventh grade in basketball). Any student younger than the ninth grade who receives any benefits from an institution or athletics representative would also be considered a prospective student-athlete as would an enrollee at a preparatory school or two year college. It is important that prospects enjoy a positive campus visit within the constraints of the NCAA regulations. Football game weekends are an invaluable experience for all 26 varsity sports to showcase the tradition of our beloved university to prospective student-athletes. Thus, please do not provide anything to a prospect, the prospect’s family or the prospect’s friends that is not available to the general public without consulting with the Compliance Office.
It should be our goal, as the best alumni and fans in the country, to preserve and protect each and every student-athlete’s eligibility. All NCAA legislation cannot be covered in a limited space such as on this site. Therefore, any questions should be forwarded to the Compliance Office in the Department of Athletics at 574-631-9647.
Why is it so important boosters be educated?
Boosters Can Cause Violations! Only countable coaches are authorized to recruit. Supporters of Lycoming are prohibited from contacting a prospective student-athlete and cannot participate in recruiting conversations. Boosters continue to reach out to prospective student-athletes, their families or friends. In particular, social media such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have created an open forum for boosters to overstep NCAA boundaries. NLycoming does NOT condone this contact.
Boosters are prohibited from any contact with a recruit, unless a recruit contacts the booster, and even then, the booster is not allowed to discuss recruiting. NCAA rules do not allow comments about possible recruits on an institution’s social media page or a page belonging to someone affiliated with the institution. In addition, these pages cannot feature photos of prospects and messages cannot be sent to recruits using these social media technologies other than through their e-mail function.
WHEN BOOSTERS ATTEMPT TO RECRUIT PROSPECTS, INSTITUTIONS SUFFER.
Boosters & Student-Athletes
What can you do for a current student-athlete as a supporter of Lycoming Athletics?
You May:
- Contact a current student-athlete regarding employment opportunities in which the student-athlete will be paid the going rate for work performed. Student-athletes are to be hired based on their qualifications and not on their status as a student-athlete.
- Provide a student-athlete an occasional meal in your home or on Lycoming’s campus. Occasional meals must be approved in advance by the Compliance Office.
Please refrain from offering current student-athletes, their families, and friends anything that is not available to the general public or the Lycoming student body. This includes any benefit or special arrangement such as free or reduced cost lodging, meals or services.
Miscellaneous Information
Institutional Memorabilia Requests
Student-athletes are highly encouraged to personalize any items that they autograph to the recipient. This ensures that items are less likely to appear for sale on internet auction sites for the financial gain of a third party vendor.
Donation Requests
Lycoming College receives several requests for memorabilia from organizations each year. Please know that all requests are given serious consideration, however, the following guidelines must be followed to assure fairness.
- Due to NCAA regulations, we are unable to fulfill requests that would benefit students in grades 9-12. This includes all high school auctions, raffles, fundraisers, and requests for prizes.
- Requests for operating expenses and other monetary donations cannot be honored.
- Memorabilia is limited to one request per organization during the Lycoming College fiscal year (7/1-6/30).
- We are not able to guarantee that we will have an item for your event. We appreciate your support of Lycoming Athletics, and hope that your event is a success.
- Requests for items to be autographed by student-athletes cannot be honored.
Types of Donations
Items used for donation requests are typically promotional giveaways. We hope that you enjoy the item that is selected for your event.
Request Process
- Please submit at least six weeks prior to the date for which the donation is needed.
- All decisions made by Lycoming College are final.
