December 2015

The HornetCompliance Newsletter

Compliance Staff:

Assistant Athletic Director of

Compliance:Kevin D. Kendrick

Compliance Coordinator:

Tatiana Cummings

Compliance Intern:Kevarian Warren

Student Assistant:Ty Singletary

Contact Information:

Alabama State University

915 S. Jackson StMontgomery, Alabama

36101

(P) 334-229-7628(F) 334-229-4992

E-mailcompliance@alasu.edu

Legislation12.5.1.1.2 Promotions Involving Commercial Locations/Sponsors A member institution, a member conference or a charitable, educational or nonprofit organization may use the appearance, name or picture of an enrolled student-athlete to promote generally its fundraising activities at the location of a commercial establishment, provided the commercial establishment is not a co-sponsor of the event and the student-athlete does not promote the sale of a commercial product in conjunction with the fundraising activity. A commercial establishment would become a co-sponsor if the commercial establishment either advertises the presence of the student-athlete at the commercial location or is involved directly or indirectly in promoting the activity.

14.4.3.6 Exceptions to Progress-Toward-Degree Rule. Non-recruited, Nonparticipant. A student-athlete may qualify for an exception to the application of the progress-toward-degree regulation for the initial season of eligibility if the student was not recruited; has not received athletically related financial assistance; has never practiced or participated in intercollegiate athletics, except that a student may have participated in limited preseason tryouts; and is otherwise eligible under all institutional, conference and NCAA rules. e student-athlete’s eligibility in following seasons would be governed by the provisions of the progress-toward-degree rule, which would be applied from the beginning of the first term the student began participation. is exception shall not apply to the percentage-of-degree (see Bylaw 14.4.3.2) and minimum grade-point average (see Bylaw 14.4.3.3) requirements.

17.1.7.3.6 Vacation Periods and Between Terms. Daily and weekly hour limitations do not apply to countable athletically related activities occurring during an institution’s term-time official vacation period, as listed in the institution’s official calendar, and during the academic year between terms when classes are not in session. If such vacation periods occur during any part of a week in which classes are in session, the institution is subject to the daily and weekly hour limitations during the portion of the week when classes are in session and must provide the student-athletes with a day off (see Bylaw 17.1.7.4), which may be a vacation day.

17.1.7.3.7 Final-Examination Periods. Daily and weekly hour limitations apply to countable athletically related activities during final-examination periods and to all official preparatory periods leading to final-examination periods.

Football 12/1-19 Contact Period 12/20 Quiet Period 12/21-31 Dead Period

Baseball 12/1-31 Quiet Period

Softball 12/1 Quiet 12/2-5 Dead Period 12/6-31

Women’s/ Men’s Cross Country

12/1-13 Contact Period 12/14 Quiet Period 12/15-18 Dead Period 12/19-31 Quiet Period

All Other Sports 12/1-31 Contact Period

Women's Track Indoor/Outdoor

12/1-13 Contact Period 12/14 Quiet Period 12/15-18 Dead Period 12/19-31 Quiet Period

Volleyball 12/1-6 Contact Period 12/7-15 Quiet Period 12/16-31 Dead Period

Men’s Track Outdoor/ Indoor

12/1-13 Contact Period 12/14 Quiet Period 12/15-18 Dead Period 12/19-31 Quiet Period

Women's Basketball 12/1-23 Evaluation Period 12/24-26 Dead Period 12/27-31 Evaluation Period

Men's Basketball 12/1-23 Contact Period 12/24-26 Dead Period 12/27-31 Contact Period

Men's Cross Country 12/1-13 Contact Period 12/14 Quiet Period 12/15-18 Dead Period 12/19-31 Quiet Period

December Recruiting Calendar

The Legislative Services Database (LSDBi) sites twelve secondary violation involving the word Christmas.

Here are the facts from one of the violations:

During the 2011 fall semester, an assistant football coach (FB AC) sent one text message to a prospective student-athlete (FB PSA), and an assistant women's soccer coach (SOC AC) sent one text message to a prospective student-athlete (SOC PSA). Specifically, the FB AC received a "Merry Christmas" text, and he replied to the text believing it was from a current student-athlete. The FB AC subsequently discovered that he had replied to a text from the FB PSA. In addition, when the SOC PSA arrived at the airport for her official visit, she sent a text to the SOC AC. The SOC AC replied before realizing her mistake.

The institution self imposed a four-week period of no contact with football PSAs for the football staff and a two-week ban on contact to soccer PSAs.

Happy Holidays from the Offices of Compliance and Business

Committee approves plan to assist limited-resource and HBCU schoolsCommittee on Academics members seek to support academic success

The Committee on Academics approved a plan Wednesday to continue to assist limited-resource schools and Historically Black Colleges and Universities in improving the academic success of their student-athletes.Traditionally, Academic Progress Rates of teams at limited-resource schools and HBCUs have lagged behind the rates of teams at other Division I schools, though the rate for these schools has increased 16 points in the last four years. Teams from those schools also are penalized more often for academic shortcomings. These schools often have a clearly stated mission to provide access to educational opportunities to a broad group of students, including those who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend college.An advisory group comprised of representatives from limited-resource schools and HBCUs studied the issue and recommended a three-part plan. The plan includes a continuation of the existing filters, with a subtle shift in how schools use filters that relieve them of Academic Performance Program penalties. Also, the recommendations involve stronger requirements for schools writing and implementing Academic Progress Rate improvement plans and a robust educational component.Greg Burke, athletics director at Northwestern State University and a member of the Committee on Academics, chaired the advisory group.“We agreed that all Division I schools must be committed to the foundational principle of the Academic Performance Program and the academic success of students,” Burke said. “At the same time, these schools serve a very important role and serve an under-represented population in many cases. We tried to balance both of those considerations with our recommendations to the Committee on Academics.”

Under the new recommendations, the filters that allowed schools to escape penalties based on various factors – including resource level, mission and academic improvement – would be available only twice over a five-year period. The filters had been available every year. The committee will revisit this issue at the close of the five-year period.Additionally, a more rigorous review of the APR improvement plans required of every school that uses a filter will be employed. New criteria for improvement plans will be refined by the committee, but could require:• Schools to directly relate their improvement plans to previously identified

critical issues.

• Schools to set performance-based, outcome-specific goals for both the long- and short-term and describe how goals will be achieved.

• Schools to develop plans with broad-based campus support, including from the highest-ranking academic authority, faculty and technology staff.

• A school’s president or chancellor and the APR improvement plan team to present the improvement plan in a videoconference with the NCAA staff.

Also, follow-up reports signed by the school’s president or chancellor must demonstrate that initiatives from the plan were implemented.Finally, the committee approved a comprehensive educational programming approach aimed at helping schools improve academic performance. The educational initiatives will be refined by the committee in the spring, but may include programming designed for individual campus administrators (e.g., athletics directors, head coaches, faculty athletics representatives, presidents), and provide education and enhanced conference involvement. Additional elements will be added over the coming months.

Produced by: Ty Singletary

Michelle Brutlag Hosick