NCAA Rules For Friends & Alumni

Ask Before You Act

NCAA regulations are complex and ever-changing, and the consequences of breaking them can affect the eligibility of current and prospective student-athletes. For that reason, it is important to be diligent about compliance with the rules, and the Brown Athletic Department is available to assist you with any questions you may have as you support the University and its teams.

The following summary of frequently asked questions is designed to help you familiarize yourself with NCAA regulations, and also to clear up some of the confusion you may have about what the rules say. Always ask before you act, and please contact the Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance at 401-863-7584 if you require clarification or more information.

Do these rules apply to me?
You are a Representative of the University’s Athletics Interests (a booster), and therefore governed by these rules, if you have ever:

  • been a member of any organization promoting Brown Athletics.
  • are, or have been, a season ticket holder in any sport.
  • are the parent(s) or guardian(s) of a current student-athlete.
  • have ever made a donation to the Athletic Department, a men's or women's athletic team, or any friends organization. 
  • have ever assisted in evaluating or recruiting prospects. 
  • have ever helped to arrange or have provided employment to enrolled student-athletes, prospects, or their  parents and relatives. 
  • participated in the Brown University Intercollegiate Athletics program. 
  • otherwise promoted the University's athletics program.

Once you become a Representative of the University's Athletics Interests, you retain this status FOREVER!

Who is a Prospective Student-Athlete?
A prospective student-athlete, commonly known as a "prospect", is any individual who has started classes for the 9th grade. In addition, student-athletes enrolled in preparatory school or two-year colleges are considered prospects. Ultimately, a student remains a prospect until enrollment at a four-year collegiate institution.

What kind of contact may I have with a prospect?

    YOU MAY NOT:
  • make any recruiting contacts with prospects or their relatives. This includes telephone calls, letters, emails, text messages, chat rooms and facsimiles, along with any face-to-face contact either on or off-campus.
  • assist Brown coaches by picking up transcripts, films, or any other information pertaining to a prospect's ability from the prospect's educational institution.
  • provide financial aid or benefit or any kind (e.g., clothing, special discounts, lodging, meals, transportation, tickets, loans of money) to prospects or their relatives.
  • make contact with a prospective student-athlete or his/her parents when the prospect is on campus for and official or unofficial recruiting visit.
  • contact a prospective student-athlete to congratulate him/her on an offer of admission to Brown University
  • provide transportation or arrange for payment of transportation costs for a prospect or his/her relatives or friends to visit campus.
  • earmark funds for specific prospects to attend a Brown summer camp.
  • employ or arrange for employment of a prospect before the completion of his/her senior year. After graduation, you may employ a prospect at a rate commensurate with experience and also the going rate.  This is the only exception which allows you to contact a prospect before he or she enrolls at Brown. Please contact the Compliance Office for more details.
  • provide ANYTHING to a prospect or the prospect's family or friends without prior approval from the Compliance Office.
  • bring any guest to an alumni gathering or booster event if he or she is participating in athletics at the high school or junior college level.  Your own son or daughter would be an exception, but limits to the type of interaction your son or daughter could have with coaching staff members at the event still apply.
    YOU MAY:
  • forward information about prospects to the appropriate coaching staff member.
  • view a prospect's athletics contest on you own initiative, provided you do not contact the prospect or his/her relatives, coach, principal, or counselor in an attempt to evaluate the academic or athletic abilities of the prospect. If contact is unavoidable, only greetings may be exchanged. Additionally, you are responsible for all incurred costs or fees at a contest.
  • speak to a prospect on the telephone ONLY if the prospect initiates the call. Such a call cannot be prearranged by the athletic department. You MAY NOT have a recruiting conversation, but you may refer questions about the athletics program to the athletics department staff.
  • provide lodging, meals and transportation to coaching staff members when they are recruiting in your area.
  • join a friends group to help provide support and funding for recruiting, special trips and receptions at home and away contests.
  • invite a team to meet with alumni or friends in a city where they play. Student-athletes may receive benefits as a team which individual student-athletes may not, but such arrangements must be made through the head coach.

What if I have a pre-established relationship with a prospect?
If you have an established relationship with a prospect, her or her parents or relatives, you may continue normal contacts with the understanding that such contacts are not made for recruiting purposes and are not arranged by members of Brown’s coaching staff.  Essentially, a relationship is established if it predates the individual’s status as a prospect, if it predates the athlete’s status as a result of her or her athletic ability or reputation and the relationship did not develop as a result of the individual’s participation in athletics.

What kind of involvement may I have with enrolled student-athletes?

    YOU MAY NOT
  • pay for or arrange for payment of room, board, or any type of transportation at anytime for currently enrolled student-athletes, their relatives, or their friends.
  • provide student-athletes with any sort of extra benefit, which refers to any special arrangement to provide a student-athlete or his/her relatives or friends with a benefit unavailable to the general student population.
  • provide student-athletes their relatives, or their friends with any special discount, payment arrangements (e.g., cosigning a loan), credits on a purchase (e.g., airline ticket, clothing), or services (e.g., dry-cleaning, transportation).
  • allow student-athletes to use you telephone to make free calls.
  • provide awards or gifts to student-athletes for any reason. This also prohibits honorariums for speaking engagements. All awards to student-athletes must meet all NCAA legislation and be approved by the Compliance Office.
  • use the name, picture or appearance of an enrolled student-athlete to advertise, recommend or promote sales or use of a commercial product or service of any kind. Any use of the name, picture or appearance of a student-athlete must receive authorization from the Compliance Office.
  • entertain student-athletes or their family and friends. The only exception to this is that YOU MAY, on an occasional basis, provide a student-athlete or team (not family members or friends) with a meal. The meal can be catered, but it must be in your home and be approved in advance by the Compliance Office.