38 The Sports Scholarships Insider’s Guide
competition. Consult your NCAA Guide for the College-Bound
Student-Athlete for telephone football and basketball contact
rules. You or your parents may contact a coach by phone at
any time. After the aforementioned July 1 date, if available,
you may contact a coach via a provided toll-free number. No
student or athlete from the school may make a recruiting call
to you, but you can call them after the July 1 date.
evaluations
An evaluation is “any off-campus activity used to assess your
academic qualifications or your athletic ability, including a
visit to your high school (during which no contact occurs) or
watching you practice or compete at any site.” Sound confus-
ing? It can be. That’s why it’s important to own an NCAA
Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete so that you can refer
to it on an as-needed basis.
Contacts and evaluations are both considered by the NCAA
as “recruiting opportunities.” All sports other than football
and basketball must limit recruiting opportunities to seven.
Basketball has a limit of five and football three. And with many
sports contacts and evaluations are limited to certain calendar
dates. Other times are designated as “dead time.” Again the
need to consult your NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-
Athlete becomes essential to be successfully recruited.
There are many other Byzantine restrictions and regulations
explained in the Guide. Each school can require even more robust
standards than the NCAA, if they choose—but very few do.