The Michael L. Buckner Law Firm recommends NCAA institutions consider the following compliance strategies to address recruiting issues involving high-profile prospective student-athletes:

1. Develop (for adoption by the institution's governing board) a high-profile student-athlete due-diligence policy. Click here to review a description of a due-diligence policy.
 

2. Create an objective (non-discriminatory) set of criteria to identify high-profile student-athletes (prospective and enrolled).
 

3. Create a daily Google search/alert for compliance-related news on identified high-profile student-athletes.
 

4. Enhance rules-education sessions for prospective student-athlete during official and unofficial visits.
 

5. Increase rules education for coaching staff members, booster organizations and other relevant parties pertaining to off-campus contacts, permissible recruiters, official and unofficial visits, occasional meals, telephone calls, reporting of violations, and ethical-conduct expectations.
 

6. Incorporate compliance software systems into the athletics compliance program (such technology is available from several commercial vendors and should greatly enhance the abilities of the compliance office and coaching staffs to organize, track and record telephone recruiting calls, contacts and evaluations).
 

7. Review policies and procedures concerning the use of student host organizations during recruiting activities to ensure the institution complies with NCAA legislation.
 

Contact Michael L. Buckner (954-941-1844; mbuckner@michaelbucknerlaw.com) for additional recommendations to enhance compliance programs.

Divisions II and III Column:

Implementing a Rules-Interpretation Process at Your Institution

One of the many responsibilities of athletics compliance offices is to timely and efficiently respond to questions regarding NCAA, conference and institutional regulations. In order to manage the interpretation process, all questions should be directed to the athletics compliance office, which should ultimately be responsible for obtaining, making and documenting all rules-interpretations. In order to effectively implement a rules-interpretation system at your institution the Michael L. Buckner Law Firm recommends the following process:
 

1. Institutional employees should first seek guidance from their supervisors (i.e., staff members in the Marketing Office should first raise any questions concerning NCAA legislation with the Director of Marketing). If the supervisor is unable to respond to a staff member's question, then the issue should be presented to the athletics compliance office.
 

2. Notwithstanding Step 1, athletics department staff members also should have the opportunity to direct questions concerning NCAA legislation and requests for interpretations at any time directly to the athletics compliance office. Questions and requests for interpretations may be presented orally or by written request. [Note: The Michael L. Buckner Law firm recommends that all rules-interpretations requests and questions be submitted via a written request.] All questions and requests should list the pertinent facts at issue, as well as the appropriate bylaws or regulations. Any written request should be made using an interpretation request form that is developed by the athletics compliance office. These forms should be readily available to all necessary parties.

3. If the rules-interpretation question or request is made orally, the athletics compliance office staff member receiving the question or request should document it in writing using the interpretation request form and check with the questioning/requesting party that they have recorded the question or request accurately.
 

4. Any responses to rules-interpretations that may be applicable to other institutional parties should be forwarded to the appropriate parties. In many instances when one person has a question another person will have the same question as well.
 

5. If necessary, the athletics compliance office should consult with the NCAA Legislative Services Database (LSDBi), which is an on-line database containing information on all past NCAA legislative assistance columns, staff and official interpretations, case-precedent and other compliance-related information, or may also contact the conference compliance administrator or the NCAA academic and membership affairs staff for assistance.

6. If the interpretation is considered significant, the athletics compliance office should confirm the interpretation with the conference and/or the NCAA in writing.

7. The athletics compliance office should document all requests and responses to requests for interpretations (whether written or oral). These files should be made readily available to administrators and coaches. 

Contact Justin P. Sievert (954-941-1844; jsievert@michaelbucknerlaw.com) for more recommendations on implementing a rules interpretation process at your institution. 

Divisions I, II and III Column:

One of the best skills an investigator can possess is a knack to get an interview subject (also referred to as a "witness") to talk and to keep the interview going. In fact, author Ragnar Benson notes a basic guideline for an investigator is to "never fail to learn something about the case from every witness, as long as that witness will talk even briefly". All investigators, on at least one occasion, will face a roadblock in maintaining a talkative interview subject. In response, Benson recommends an investigator:
 

1. Possess an easy-going interview manner conducive for an interview subject to talk freely.
 

2. Become a master listener.
 

3. Obtain detailed answers to the "five Ws"-who, what, where, when and why. [Note: The Michael L. Buckner Law Firm also recommends asking "how".]

[Source: Ragnar Benson, Interviews, Investigations, and Interrogations: How to Conduct Them, How to Survive Them (2000), at 9.]

Contact Michael L. Buckner (954-941-1844; mbuckner@michaelbucknerlaw.com) for more recommendations pertaining to conducting internal investigations of alleged NCAA rules-violations.