Board of Visitors minutes :: June 8, 2007 :: University of Virginia Library

The control and responsibility for the conduct of intercollegiate athletics shall be exercised by the institution itself and by the conference(s), if any, of which it is a member. Administrative control or faculty control, or a combination of the two, shall constitute institutional control.

Four Pillars of Institutional Control

1. Compliance Systems
2. Monitoring/Enforcement
3. Commitment to Compliance
4. Rules Education

Definition of Representative of Athletics Interests (Booster)

NCAA legislation defines a booster as an individual who is known (or who should have been known) by a member of the institutions executive or athletics administration to:

(a) Have participated in or to be a member of an agency or organization promoting the institution's intercollegiate athletics program;

(b) Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or to an athletics booster organization of that institution;

(d) Be assisting or to have assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes or their families or;

(e) Have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution's athletics program.

Once an individual is identified as such a booster, the person retains that identity indefinitely.

Rules for Boosters Regarding Prospective Student-Athletes

A Booster May NOT:

Contact a prospect or his/her relatives, by telephone, mail, email (includes hat roomsor nstant messaging, or fax, along with any face-to-face contact, for the purpose of recruiting.
Provide a prospect (no current student-athletes) or his/her relatives and friends with any benefits (e.g., clothing, special discounts, lodging, meals, transportation, tickets, loans of money).
Make contact with a prospect or his/her relatives when the prospect is on campus for an official or unofficial visit.
Contact a prospect to congratulate him/her on signing a National Letter of Intent to attend UVA.
Provide transportation or arrange payment for transportation for a prospect or his/her relatives or friends to visit campus.
Earmark funds for specific prospects to attend a UVA summer camp. You may donate the funds to the high school, and the school and the students will decide which camps they attend.
Employ or arrange for employment of a prospect before the completion of his/her senior year in high school or official withdrawal/graduation from junior college or prep school. Also, you may only do so if the compensation is for work actually performed and at a rate commensurate with experience and the going rate.

A Booster May:

Continue contact with a prospect as long as the booster has an established relationship prior to the student being a prospect and as long as there is not effort to recruit the prospect.
Forward information about prospects to the appropriate coaching staff member.
Speak to a prospect on the telephone ONLY if the prospect initiates the call. The call cannot be arranged or initiated by UVA coaching staff members, and you are not allowed to have a recruiting conversation. You must refer all questions regarding the athletics program to the coaching staff.

Rules for Boosters Regarding Enrolled Student-Athletes

A Booster May NOT:

Pay for/ arrange for payment of room, board, or any type of transportation AT ANY TIME for currently enrolled student- athletes, their relatives or friends.

Provide student-athletes or their relatives or friends with any extra benefit (a benefit that would be unavailable to the general student population).
Provide student-athletes with any special discounts, payment arrangements, credits on purchases, or services.
Provide awards or gifts to student-athletes for any reason. This also prohibits honorariums for speaking engagements.
Entertain student-athletes or their family or friends. The only exception is the provision of an occasional meal for a student- athlete at the booster home. You must first notify the coach and receive prior approval from the Compliance Office.

A Booster May:

Employ/ arrange for the employment of student-athletes during the academic year and summer if and only if:
- The compensation must not place any value on the student- athlete publicity, reputation, fame or personal following due to his/her athletic ability;
- Compensation is only for work actually performed; and
- Compensation is at a rate commensurate with the going rate for similar services in that locale.
- Please remind the student-athlete to contact the Compliance Office before starting employment.

Rules for Boosters Regarding Former Student-Athletes

A Booster May NOT:

Provide a benefit of more than nominal value.

A Booster May:

Provide a benefit of nominal value (e.g., meal, ride, overnight lodging) on an occasional basis, provided the institution is not engaged in recruiting any relative of the former student- athlete.
Employ or arrange for employment of a former student-athlete.

Contact Information

Steve Flippen
Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance
434-982-5018
athleticscompliance@virginia.edu