Quick Notes: Recruiting dead period extended, Election Day off and more

Wednesday was a rather newsworthy day across the NCAA DI sports landscape. Here are a trio of notes from the day:

Recruiting dead period extended

Here is official word from the NCAA, banning in-person recruiting for the rest of the year:

The Division I Council extended the recruiting dead period through Jan. 1. The Council has been reviewing the dead period on a regular basis since April. A dead period precludes all in-person recruiting. Phone calls and correspondence can continue to occur.

Members also adopted emergency legislation prohibiting schools from giving complimentary game tickets to prospective student-athletes and their high school or two-year college coaches during the dead period.

“While the Council acknowledged and appreciates the growing desire to resume in-person recruiting by select coaches’ associations, Council members ultimately concluded the primary concern right now must be protecting the current student-athletes on our campuses,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Pennsylvania. “We encourage our coaches to interact with prospective student-athletes virtually in this time period.”

The decision to implement the dead period was first made at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. The Council has continued to extend the dead period under the guidance of medical experts. The majority of coaches associations also supported an extension of the dead period.

Election Day off day

The NCAA has now passed rules making Election Day an off day for student athletes, along with other civic engagement legislation. Here is the release:

Division I student-athletes will not practice and compete, among other countable athletically related activities, on the first Tuesday after Nov. 1 every year, including the upcoming Election Day on Nov. 3. The Division I Council approved the change at its meeting Wednesday.

The Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee proposed the legislation to provide a day each year dedicated to increasing opportunities for Division I athletes to participate in civic engagement. These include activities such as voting or community service, among others.

It marked the first legislative proposal Division I SAAC has proposed since Division I governance was restructured in 2014 to give student-athletes a vote at every level of decision-making. Two Division I SAAC members, Caroline Lee and Justice Littrell, are voting members on the Council.

“The Council unanimously supports this important piece of legislation. Coming from Division I SAAC, we know it represents the voice of student-athletes across the country who continue to express a desire to increase their civic engagement at local, state and federal levels,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Pennsylvania. “We look forward to seeing student-athletes use this opportunity as a way to create positive change.”

Division I SAAC, comprising representatives from each of the 32 Division I conferences, emphasized that it is more important than ever to protect and promote the rights student-athletes have as citizens. Additionally, the committee expressed its strong commitment to provide NCAA schools with educational tools that may be used this year and beyond.

Before proposing the legislation, Division I SAAC received feedback on it from the Division I Legislative Committee, Student-Athlete Experience Committee, and the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees.

The legislation mirrors one of Division I SAAC’s priorities for the 2020-21 academic year: increasing diversity and inclusion education through civic engagement. The other two priorities are enhancing the student-athlete voice in legislative and policy issues and promoting student-athlete physical and mental health and well-being.

“As Division I SAAC representatives and as student-athletes across the country, we are so excited to see this proposal become legislation,” said Ethan Good, Division I SAAC chair and former men’s basketball player at Bowling Green. “By providing this day dedicated to civic engagement each year, we are making a clear distinction that our American student-athletes will always be citizens before they are athletes. The student-athlete voice continues to grow louder and louder every year, and we can see that through this action. I am excited to see what will come of this in the current year and for years to come. The action of student-athletes on this day will be important, but the fact that we created this change through SAAC is an important reminder of how student-athletes can make a change.”

Fall championships recommended to be moved to spring

More from the NCAA here, edited to reflect only the sports in which Mississippi State participates:

On Wednesday, the Division I Council approved a package of proposals to move the 2020 fall championships to the spring of 2021. The recommendations now go to the Division I Board of Directors for approval.

After a thorough review, the recommendations were made by the Division I Competition Oversight Committee for men’s cross country, women’s cross country, women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and other sports. The adjustments are being made due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While no one wanted to see fall championships impacted by the pandemic, the Competition Oversight Committee put a thoughtful proposal in front of the Council which was resoundingly endorsed. We believe we have an appropriate and considerate plan to move fall championship events to the spring, and I look forward to presenting this plan to the Board of Directors next week,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Pennsylvania. “The plan gives maximum opportunities to fall student-athletes to participate in NCAA championships, while preserving access to conferences through automatic qualifications.”

In team sports, the brackets will be filled at 75% of their normal capacities.

The oversight committee reviewed recommendations from sport committees and agreed to support maximum flexibility to allow teams to meet specified minimum contest requirements, which the committee already recommended reducing by 50%.

Contests conducted in the fall term for all fall sport championships that will be conducted in the spring will count toward selection into that respective championship. Sport committees are encouraged to consider all data available to them at the time of selections.

The oversight committee may need to revisit this topic if conditions warrant nearer the time the playing and practice seasons for these sports begin, but for now, the committee supports providing maximum flexibility for selection purposes.

The NCAA Board of Governors has directed that all sites of each championship be predetermined and that the number of preliminary-round sites be reduced to support health and safety and operational management of the championships this spring.

All sites are to be determined.

Cross country

The Division I men’s and women’s championships are scheduled for March 15. However, there is some concern in the membership about conducting cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field in the spring term.

The Division I Competition Oversight Committee will continue to evaluate the issue.

For now, 255 runners from each gender will compete at the cross country finals site.

Regular-season competition could be conducted Jan. 30-March 6, with championships selections on March 7.

Women’s soccer

Action at the finals site for the Women’s College Cup is May 13-17. The bracket will consist of 48 teams, with 31 automatic qualifiers and 17 at-large selections.

Normally, the bracket size for the women’s soccer championship is 64 teams, with four teams advancing to the finals site.

Regular-season competition can be played Feb. 3-April 24, with selections on April 25.

Women’s volleyball

The finals site of the championship is scheduled for April 23-25, with a 48-team bracket. Thirty-two of the teams will be automatic qualifiers, with 16 at-large selections.

The normal bracket size for the championship is 64 teams.

Regular-season play will span from Jan. 22-April 10, with selections April 11.

Playing and practice season rules

The Council also adopted emergency legislation adjusting playing and practice season rules for fall sports other than football.

The adjustments:

Allow a school to break up the fall segment into multiple segments of the playing season.
Prohibit practice during finals (and the week prior) at the conclusion of the fall term if a team is “in-season” but not competing.
Require a break prior to the start of the spring championship segment.
Allow schools to extend their seasons past the NCAA championship date in that sport but require seasons to end at or before the end of the school’s academic year.
Exempt non-NCAA championship postseason competitions that occur outside the playing season.
Prohibit midyear enrollees from competing in the 2020-21 academic year.

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