TEXAS A&M ATHLETIC COMPLIANCE OFFICE WHAT'S NEW Gambling Reminder for Basketball Tournaments Compliance News for Athletic Coaches & Staff

WINNING WITH INTEGRITY

"I have told the Athletic Director and all of our coaches that I have three priorities for our athletic program: Maintaining the integrity of the program and the clean reputation of the University; The academic success of our student athletes; and Winning. They are all important, but they are important in that order. Compliance with the rules is essential – I’d rather lose everything than compromise the integrity of Texas A&M athletics." Robert M. Gates Former President Texas A&M University

FORMER STUDENTS & FANS

Compliance 101 General Information May I Take this Kid to the Game? What's a Pre-existing Relationship? Winning with Integrity

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT-ATHLETES

Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete

EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS

Coaching Staff Administrative Staff Student-Athletes Compliance News for Coaches and Staff

POLICIES & PROCEDURES

Compliance Policies and Procedures Compliance is Everyone's Responsibility Mission of Texas A&M Athletic Compliance Office Structure and Job Descriptions

LINKS

NCAA Homepage New Legislation Current NCAA Recruiting Calendars Certified Basketball Events

Unless you appear on Texas A&M's list of coaches or unless you're a Texas A&M strength coach who is coaching only in strength and conditioning, you are not allowed to coach for Texas A&M.

But what does the NCAA consider coaching? Attending coaches-only meetings where analysis of the sport and athletes occurs is coaching. Analyzing video involving the institution's or an opponent's team) and providing that analysis to coaches or student-athletes is coaching. Off-campus recruitment of prospects is coaching. In-person scouting of opponents is also coaching. 

Often, personnel involved in administrative positions within a sport used to be or want to be coaches. Therefore, they are inclined to coach. For this reason, sport-specific non-coaching staff members may only observe practice.

Just as sport-specific administrators may not recruit off-campus, they also may not attend or speak at banquets and meetings that are conducted primarily to recognize prospects (e.g., high-school awards banquet, high-school all-star banquet).

In one respect sport-specific administrators are like coaches: non-coaching sport-specific staffers may not participate with or observe student-athletes in the staff member's sport who are engaged in unorganized voluntary athletically related activities (e.g., pick-up games).

Sport-specific non-coaching staff are also limited in what athletics events they may observe in-person. Generally, such staff may not attend any athletics events in their sport in which prospective student-athletes are participating unless: (a) the staff member is an immediate family member (sibling, child, parent/guardian) of a prospect or coach involved in the activity or (b) the athletic event is a competition (as opposed to a camp) conducted in the locale (i.e., Bryan-College Station) of the institution. Still, in neither of the latter may the staffer evaluate or contact prospects for the institution or report their observations of the athletic event back to A&M coaches.

If you wish to review the NCAA Manual on today's subject (Bylaw 11.7) or others, please click here for a searchable, PDF-version of the NCAA Manual.

If you have any questions on this subject or have a topic you would like to see presented, please contact Athletic Compliance at compliance@athletics.tamu.edu, 845-1904 or 1-800-615-5317.

Gig 'em.