For Compliance Officials, Some Guidance Beyond ‘Fruit and Nuts’

Compliance folks have a tough job. These are the people in every athletics department who know the vast universe of NCAA bylaws inside and out. It’s their duty to make sure athletes and coaches stay within the rules while competing, recruiting, and even eating. (See the infamous bylaw 16.5.2.h, adopted by the NCAA last year and known informally as the “fruit, nuts, and bagels rule”: “An institution may provide fruit, nuts, and bagels to a student-athlete at any time.”)

Fruit and nuts aside, the job comes with high stakes: NCAA investigations of programs that flout the rules can trigger stiff penalties and an onslaught of unwanted media attention. Enter the National Association for Athletics Compliance, which is expected to announce today a new set of standards aimed at helping compliance staffs focus their attention on key sections of NCAA rules.

After surveying compliance officials throughout Division I to identify the hot spots, the group settled on three areas it thinks should be at the top of any compliance professional’s checklist: the number of “countable athletically related activities” a program can provide (practices, competitions, meetings with coaches, etc.); complimentary admissions to athletic events (a perk often used during recruits’ official visits to campus); and coaches’ in-person visits with and evaluation of prospective athletes.

The new guidance should help compliance officials, particularly those who are shorthanded, answer two key questions, says Kate Hickey, senior associate athletic director at Rutgers and first vice-president of the compliance group: “What should I be doing? Where should I focus my time?”

And while Hickey points out that following the guidelines “is not going to save people from an infractions case,” it might come in handy if the NCAA comes knocking: Enforcement staff have given the new standards their blessing, and say that during future investigations, they will consider whether an institution followed them.