The school that my '06 chose did not contact him until early March. He had all ready narrowed his decision to two other D2 (both had no athletic $ involved). Out of the blue this coach calls. Son decides to take a look, however it is past the application deadline. I call the coach and he says not to worry, he's checked with admisssions and it's not a problem. We rush the application, tour the school, coach brings us to admissions etc...
Within a week he had an official acceptance.
Not sure if it's different with NLI, but our experience was that the coach had checked with admissions prior to the invite.