New NCAA Regulations Concerning Recruiting Services and Videos

Thanks for posting. Very helpful for high-profile athletes who may be benefitting from free services as well as parents who would rather pay someone else to do what they can do themselves.

You know and I know that this new ruling will not stop college NCAA recruiters from viewing these baseball skill shows incognito in order to get a more unbiased decision on evaluation.

I can see it now, little Johnny pitches no-hitter which is the only in-season HS film available to base decision. Suppose that's the only film clip little Johnny has available for recruiters to view and little Johnny pitches very average for remainder of season...Hmmm...
Sure, I bet the parents will want to do the in-season filming themselves and only send out stellar clips of in-season performances.

Bama, how will this affect your scouting service as well as others, like PG? peace

Shepster,

I am nolonger with Gameday Prospects, but don't believe it will hurt the scouting report business. It will require some adjustments, though.

Bama

Are you preaching again? If so, let me know how I can help. peace, Shepster

This dosen't apply to parents/students who do their own taping. This appears to define the benefits that an institution may or may not provide to an athlete student.

I think is the case of surmising, one needs to read over the rules, carefully.

Take#3. Read carefully. Does NOT say a coach CANNOT view a video. He may view regularly HS and JUCO players in contests. If a video is made otherwise the recruit must send it to the coach. Proper channels.
Take #7. Recruiting/scouting services cannot get paid (by institution)to send videos to an institution or be involved as intermediary in the recruiting.

Tournaments can be held on an NCAA campus. Most larger programs have their own camps to use in the assesment of a player with their own eyes. Do many institutions allow "showcase" events on campus. I am not sure.

I think it is designed to protect the athlete as to not jeapoardize his eligibility, since it is very confusing as to what is allowed and what not is allowed. I also think it helps to get the coaches out to see their recruits in actual play, instead of relying on 1 video which does not tell the whole picture. I see it as protecting a recruit who signed because the coach viewed one video, and later went back on his scholarship because he didn't live up to the video. JMO.

I don't think it hurts the legit businesses, only the recruiting/services that either don't know the rules or try to get by making a quick buck.

JMO

Who the heck would one to have their kid sign somewhere based on one video performance?

This is far reaching as I read it. Recruiting and scouting service are considered one in the same as far as these rules apply. So how will the big showcases be affected by this? What about the East Coast Pro Combine...Can it be held at UNC Willmington????? I do see a lot of adjustments being made especially in the college coach/scouting service relationships. This rule eliminates the souting service from calling the college coach about a player....
Fungo

quote:

So how will the big showcases be affected by this?

Use more NAIA/JUCO facilities and fields? I too, see lots of adjustments that will have to be made by a lot of folks! Interesting and thanks for sharing Bama!

Is East Coast Pro run by a recruitng/scouting service? I am not familiar about who runs it.

I am wondering what PG has to tell us about the new ruling.

Another example of the NCAA flexing it's muscle in front of a carnival trick mirror. They end up looking big and silly.

quote:

Only videos of "inseason" high school or junior college games may be viewed. No type of skills video or taped showcase type event are allowed to be viewed. Sure takes a lot of things out of the picture.

JOKE

quote:

No showcases can be held on a NCAA school campus by anyone other than the school.

Another Joke

All this does is stregnthen programs at the top because they have a foot up in the recruiting process to begin with it. Now the "other" schools are going to have to spread out the budgeted money so they watch more HS games, and may lose out on that "diamond in the rough" prospect they saw video on.

The link is to a Q&A but the rule itself is not linked, so I'm not sure exactly what is being interpreted here. But someone help me out: What evil is the NCAA trying to stamp out here?

This starts to look like someone is writing byzantine rules just to mess with you. There's no way anyone could keep track of all this stuff, especially since there doesn't seem to be a unifying policy behind any of it.

But then, this is the same organization that finds William & Mary's logo's feathers offensive, while allowing Florida State to have a full Seminole Indian as a mascot. Rhyme and reason are not their strong suits.

(Fear the feathers! Go Tribe!)

I can only imagine what has driven this. It could be that the coaches with the most clout with the NCAA want to reduce the number of showcases because they themselves are getting into the “showcase for profit market”. ---OR--- It could also be the coaches’ way of reducing the volume of unsolicited junk videos and the numerous recruiting services promoting “their” unqualified players. ---OR---This could be the NCAA’s way of simply trying to regulate recruiting and to bring it back under the control of the colleges where I think it should be. It is obvious the NCAA is trying to drive a wedge between the recruiting/scouting services and the college and college coaches. In my opinion the only people that would complain to the NCAA about the current policies would be the coaches and the parents of recruited players.
Fungo

OK...lets not jump off any buildings here.

The only part of this that is new is the ruling regarding "combines" held on college campuses. The net effect of this is more of a football issue, as it makes the Nike Combines held in the April/May contact period a thing of the past. The wording refers to "agility,flexibility, strength or speed tests." In fact, I'm trying to get some clarification on this myself as we plan to hold a workout (BP, pregame etc) this fall for coaches that are in town for the Fall Classic and are considering a college facility.
The video rule has always been in effect. In essence, a company can shoot a skills video for you, but you have to send it to the school. Its always been that way.
The key word here is "subscribe". A school cannot, for example, pay for a service that videos a showcase and charges to view it online. This would allow people to run events during Quiet periods and charge for the video....illegal.
Again, mom and dad can send the same video to the coach all day long.

My question is this...if I am going to send a video clip to a coach for review, it has to be in season high school only? What about summer Legion ball? Can I go to a local field and film taking swings and showing pop time from behind 2nd base? Is this allowed?

You may send anything you like to the school....the service cannot.

Rb is on to something. The rules have always been there but not defined in respect to showcases and videos. Coaches cannot evaluate players during dead and quiet periods. May have been some confusion about CDs etc.
Institutional showcases held at schools have to be held by the schools coaches and not allowed to have showcase people use the schools facilities without them. How many people complain here about schools coacjes not being present.
Coaches never couls sponser an athlete to go to a showcase/recruiting service as it becomes an illegal benefit. I don't think people realize how stringent the rules are until they get caught. No gifts, benefits even help finding accommodations ETC.
I think most of these rules are clarification and not new.

quote:

Originally posted by Bama Bomber:
For your information. Beware of those who want to merchandise you and your son:

NCAA New Regulation

Two important things to note:

• Only videos of "inseason" high school or junior college games may be viewed. No type of skills video or taped showcase type event are allowed to be viewed. Sure takes a lot of things out of the picture.
  
• No showcases can be held on a NCAA school campus by anyone other than the school.

Bama Bomber: This is NOT what the new NCAA regs say, or the interpretation of the new req w/r showcases held on a college campus!

Seems to me that it really puts the squeeze on PG and B-G events, both of which are often held at college campuses. I wonder what the interpretation will be for the number of fall tournaments and games that are held on campuses? Showcase teams might be the way around the rule.

I think soon we'll hear from PG Jerry on this. Last year when the big Jupiter was Hurricaned out, PG promoted with this baseball web tv. This is a subscription service that a recruiter pays a fee to see video of games played without having to attend the event. My take on the rule is that this kind of service will be effected.

Shepster,
I never stopped! I only gave up working as a full time minister to devote time with kids in baseball. I still preach often. This business has given me plenty of sermon material the last four years...

I see this as more of a clarification than a change in the rules---

Also what is the difference between a showcase operation and a recruiting service in their eyes? I think their is a huge difference

As I see it Perfect Game is a "scouting/showcase" operation that runs some great tournaments and we are a showcase operation that has a travel team in the Fall.

In effect this helps people like SKILLSHOW because the coaches are not subscribers--they just need a player to give them the "password" to their page.

They do not also talk about emails etal

Loads of grey areas in this thing

We learned a long time ago that it is easier to work with the NCAA than against them. Like it or not, they are one great big powerful organization.

We have found that the best and easiest way (and only realistic way) of dealing with issues regarding the NCAA regulations is to go through college compliance officers. The NCAA does not like to discuss things with non NCAA groups, but compliance officers can get all the answers and interpretations. Obviously, college coaches are the closest people to their compliance departments, but we have a few friends who are compliance officers at major universities, as well.

It’s my opinion that most rules are set in place to “even the playing field”. I can say there are some interpretation issues with some of the rules. It is amazing how many college coaches are not even clear regarding how some of these rules are interpreted.

Anyway, our #1 concern is the players, so we need to make the necessary adjustments that are required. This is not always easy when schedules are made out a year in advance and then new rules go into affect and it requires scheduling changes.

I’m totally confused about the reason for the new rule regarding holding events at a college field. The interpretation we got was it is permissible to play the showcase games at the NCAA field, but you can’t do things like run the 60 (testing). In other words, it is legal to run the 60 across the street at a high school field and then cross the street and play the game at the college field. Does this really make any sense?

Baseball Web TV was aware of the NCAA rules long before it was launched. There was a lot of research done before we went with that project. BBWTV was launched much earlier than planned because of the WWBA Championship (hurricane) last year. The amount of effort that several compliance officers went through trying to get the NCAA to make an exception to the quiet recruiting period, led to much discussion regarding BBWTV. In a way it was a blessing in disguise because the whole situation opened up two different discussions. We were disappointed that the NCAA did not rule in our favor regarding the exemption to the quiet recruiting period, but at the same time we learned a lot about how BBWTV needed to operate in order to comply with the rules.

Another thing that confuses me… We see many of the promotional letters that Showcase Promoters send to players. I know that many (even most) who attend our events get on these mailing lists. Some promoters even claim that they saw the player at one of our events and were very impressed. Problem is… all the players seem to get the same letter. Guess they were impressed by all of the players. Truth is… They got a hold of a copy of our scout information.

But that’s not the biggest problem… It’s when we see testimonials from college (NCAA) coaches, included in these letters to players. Sometimes they are called camps rather than showcases. (Interpretation again) To make adjustments to comply I think Showcases will soon all turn into camps. Just add a little instructional stuff, hire some college coaches (they’ll love it) and give those coaches an even bigger advantage over others in recruiting. The best showcase events with the best players will then become the biggest CAMPS! Don’t be surprised if you see much more of this along with many other services becoming more instructional based. That is… Until the NCAA makes another rule change.

Oh my goodness Jerry,

As in the past, NCAA = No Clue At All!

Today, a few more are saying:
- RTFM
- N F C


"Most rules are set in place to “even the playing field”. ....
.....could not be farther from reality!

Testimonials from college (NCAA) coaches either Showcases (or camps) are taboo.

Hiring NCAA college coaches (for a buck) for showcases/camps is also taboo, yet one can hiring them to officiate!
Imagine how clear that is!....as mud!

Regards
Bear

quote:

Another thing that confuses me… We see many of the promotional letters that Showcase Promoters send to players. I know that many (even most) who attend our events get on these mailing lists. Some promoters even claim that they saw the player at one of our events and were very impressed. Problem is… all the players seem to get the same letter. Guess they were impressed by all of the players. Truth is… They got a hold of a copy of our scout information.

This is a common practice not only aongst showcase promoters but even schools themsleves. Whether it is one of your PG events, the Junior Olympics or any semi-significant tournament, roster lists are sold. It certainly is misleading to say "we saw you at abc event" and it happens all the time.
A Div 1 AD told me last year he spent $25,000 on "lists"...lists of names to form the original mailer of perhaps 1000 athletes in some sports.
I also have noticed that a certain national publication has now listed its '09 and '10 players to watch....at least around here the list is, as far as I can tell, comprised of the Junior Olympic West roster names only. Not much scouting going on there believe me.
People need to take all this stuff with a grain of salt.

quote:

I’m totally confused about the reason for the new rule regarding holding events at a college field. The interpretation we got was it is permissible to play the showcase games at the NCAA field, but you can’t do things like run the 60 (testing). In other words, it is legal to run the 60 across the street at a high school field and then cross the street and play the game at the college field. Does this really make any sense?

Again, the ruling is primarily designed to affect football and the SPARQ testing phenomena being touted by Nike. I spoke to a D1 Administrator yesterday (a guy who I consider to be a guru in recruiting rules and regs) and his impression was that this would not impact baseball events unless you are running the SPARQ type testing. In this case, as PG says, the testing has to be off site of a college campus.
Before long we will be having a similar discussion as the NCAA addresses the issue of text messaging.....

quote:

"Most rules are set in place to “even the playing field”. ....
.....could not be farther from reality!

Bear,

Maybe I should have said, that is most often "the reason" given. I do agree that in reality many of the rulings actually result in the complete opposite.

The other ruling regarding holding an event with testing on a NCAA campus, just makes no sense what-so-ever. You'll just see more of these events held in professional parks or colleges that are not affected by the rule. If either of these things help players or help NCAA schools, I fail to understand how.

But, IMO the problem won't be solved by fighting over these issues. We know we can't, and don't want to, beat the NCAA. However, there are people who work for the NCAA that are very reasonable and understanding. Listening, adjusting, and doing what's necessary to conform to the rules is what is most productive.

As PG Staff stated clearly..."our #1 concern is the players, so we need to make the necessary adjustments that are required."

We all understand that different colleges have different budgets and the NCAA will continue to try to make recruiting as fair as possible for all its member schools.

In the big picture, coaches need 'information' in order to recruit a player. Scouting reports, video, statistics, references, academic information, etc. are all part of that 'information gathering' process.

If an athlete is serious about playing at the next level....it really makes sense that he is fully prepared and obtains as much 'information' about himself to share with potential recruiters.

That said, for an athlete to have a highly respected scouting report from PG or video from Skillshow online, it does help a college coach to know that kid is serious about wanting to play on. And it does help the coaches when they see a name they can trust that is supplying that information.

We will all continue to do our best to help the players, & ultimately coaches at the same time, under whatever rules we need to abide by.

Skillshow - I am on the verge of paying for a year of your ACT service, which would include video taken at a recent PG Showcase (and held at an NCAA compliant DI university.)

I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes, so could you please let me know, before I spend the dough, if college coaches can legally view my Skillshow ACT info-video if I am the one to send them the link and password?

Thanks in advance.

Of course they can view the video. You can send them the online version or the DVD or VHS version that comes with our package. The important thing is that the coaches don't pay to recieve it and we have never made the coaches pay to recieve our clients videos.

We want your son to be proactive in identifying schools that fit him academically, athletically, socially, geographically, etc., and then HE should be getting his info to the coaches of those schools so they KNOW he is interested in their programs. Remember, its a lot easier to recruit a player that wants to come to your school than to find players that need some convincing.

SS, he's already constructed his contact letter and sent it, including link to his video/ACT, to about 8 schools he's interested in. Thanks for the clarification on the regs.