National Letter of Intent

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The National Letter of Intent program is administered jointly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Collegiate Commissioners Association to regulate the recruitment of high school athletes into collegiate athletic programs. Under this program, prospective student-athletes sign a binding contract, known as a letter of intent, or LOI, under which they agree to attend a participating institution for one academic year in exchange for a year of athletic financial aid.[1] The program forbids a prospective student athlete (PSA) from being recruited after signing an LOI; because LOIs are binding, an athlete's decision to sign marks the end of the recruiting process.

The program specifies certain periods during which recruits may sign an LOI,[2] but recruits are allowed to give nonbinding verbal commitments at any time during their recruitment.[3]

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[edit] History

Dr. J. William Davis, Professor of Government and Faculty Athletics Representative at Texas Tech University, created the National Letter of Intent program in 1964. He was assisted by Howard Grubbs, who was Commissioner of the Southwest Conference at the time. In October 2007, the NCAA became responsible for the administration of the program.[4]

[edit] LOIs and the recruiting process

Letters of intent may only be signed by prospective student-athletes who will be entering a four-year institution for the first time in the academic year after they sign the LOI.[5] Recruits who have signed LOIs must attend the schools they have signed with in order to receive financial aid, and NCAA rules forbid coaches from recruiting them further; these restrictions aim to add certainty to the recruiting process for both players (who are certain to receive aid) and coaches (who are certain that a recruit will attend their school) alike.[1] By contrast, verbal commitments are nonbinding; recruits may change or revoke a verbal commitment at any time, and coaches may continue to recruit a verbally committed player.[3]

The restrictive nature of the LOI is designed to be advantageous to both prospective student-athletes and collegiate athletic programs. However, PSAs are not required to sign an LOI to receive an athletic scholarship from a particular school.[citation needed] Moreover, athletic departments are not required to provide financial aid in cases where a student-athlete is not admitted for academic reasons. Seth Davis, a columnist for Sports Illustrated, has suggested that this arrangement is actually disadvantageous to student-athletes, as they have no recourse if an athletic department decides not to admit a player for non-academic reasons; for example, an athletic department could replace a signed recruit with another recruit by claiming that the first one was not admitted for academic reasons.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b National Letter of Intent: Overview. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
  2. ^ National Letter of Intent: Signing Dates. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
  3. ^ a b Inside the Verbal Commitment Circle. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
  4. ^ History of the National Letter of Intent Program
  5. ^ National Letter of Intent: Text of the National Letter of Intent. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
  6. ^ Seth Davis: For recruits, letters of intent are not the best option. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.

[edit] External links