Recruiting rules

Not sure of the actual rules regarding this, but when I was in college I was a high jumper/long jumper/triple jumper/Decathlon person.  Over breaks I would head home and work out up on our HS track.  That was about 2 hours from where I went to college.  One of our Assistant coaches grew up close to my hometown.  If he was in the area, which was frequent, he would meet me up at the track, along with a couple of other teammates and work out with us.  He was my jump specialty coach so would be working with me over at the pits.  

If this was over our spring break it was normal for the HS kids to be working out.  I would rotate into their jump routine as they were finishing up (i needed to wait until they were at the upper end of their bar heights to start my workouts).  Frequently he would give pointers to the HS kids.  At the time I don't think anyone ever thought anything about it.  Im sure somewhere there is a rule on how to deal with these things, but it was more of  incidental contact then him recruiting them.

LivingtheDream, you've posed a situation that has two or three rules I can comment on.  This is probably somewhat common, especially in areas where a high school is located close to a college campus.

First, if it's a permissible period for the Div. I coach to be recruiting off-campus (which the summer is), there would be nothing wrong with the coach watching your son throw a bullpen.  He shouldn't be talking with him in person, however, since your son is a 2018.  Too early for face-to-face off-campus contact.

Also, regarding your wondering about "incidental contact" - in the eyes of the NCAA, "incidental contact" occurs when a coach bumps into a recruit at a restaurant, movie theater, etc. where they both just happen to show up at the same time.  When an NCAA coach shows up at a practice or a school where he knows it is likely that HS kids will be working out, the NCAA probably wouldn't accept an argument that it was merely "incidental contact."

Second, the coach shouldn't be watching your son throw to one of his current players.  This could be interpreted as a pre-arranged tryout.  It's common for college players to work out with HS kids while home over Christmas break or summer break, but it would be a violation for a coach to observe (or arrange) those workouts.

Third, in the technical application of the rules, it wasn't permissible for the Division I coach to be working with his pitcher and catcher during the summer.  The players can certainly work out on their own, but the coach isn't supposed to be working with them.  Does it happen often?  I'm sure it does, but the coach is taking a bit more of a risk in getting "caught" when it occurs at a location away from the campus where it could be observed by others as you did.

Finally, to weigh in on Joes comment, the rules for coaches working out with athletes during the summer are a bit different for individual sports like track and field, compared to team sports like baseball or softball.  They aren't the same across all sports. 

I'll leave Rick to speak about the rules.  I can say it is VERY common for local College coaches, even D1's, to watch bullpen sessions at local high schools or parks.  I know of a 9th grader who was throwing over 90 and even though no contact was allowed several schools had seen him pitch.  He committed (unofficially of course) to a local D1 the summer in between 9th and 10th grade.  From what I hear the coaches were relieved because having all that high power attention at their practices was affecting the entire team.