The Official Site of the Ferrum College Panthers

Ferrum College is committed to abide by NCAA rules and regulations as they relate to all aspects of its athletic program. The College will ensure all of its coaches, administrators, faculty and staff, and student-athletes are aware of and follow NCAA rules. In addition, Ferrum College will be responsible for educating individuals who are representatives of the institution's athletics interests. Compliance with  NCAA rules requires the effort of everyone associated with the Ferrum College athletic program and requires a shared responsibility for the education of and compliance with NCAA and College policies and procedures. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the athletic compliance office.

STAFF
Alexis Anderson
Deputy Athletic Director for Compliance
540-365-4451
ananderson@ferrum.edu

Karen Harvey
Assistant Compliance Director 
540-365-4511
kharvey@ferrum.edu

Faculty Athletic Rep
Dr. Karen Carpenter
Faculty Athletic Representative
(540) 365-4335
ktcarpenter@ferrum.edu

 

Who Is A Representative Of Ferrum's Athletics Interests?

A representative of Ferrum College athletics interests is an individual, business, or organization who is known (or who should have been known) by a member of the institution's executive or athletics administration to:

• Have participated in or have been a member of an agency, group, or organizations, including corporate entities (e.g., apparel and equipment companies), that promotes Ferrum College athletics program.
• Have made a financial and/or in-kind donation to the Panther Club, the Department of Athletics, and/or Development Office.
• Be assisting or to have assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes or their families.
• Have been involved, in any way promoting Ferrum College athletics. Any Ferrum faculty or staff member is typically viewed as an representative of athletics interests even if they do not have any tie to Ferrum College Athletics.

The NCAA stipulates that once an individual has been identified as a "Representatives of Athletics Interests" of the University's athletics programs, he or she retains this status forever. This is true even if the individual no longer contributes to the athletics program

As a "Representatives of Athletics Interests", Ferrum College is responsible for anything you do relating to prospects, student-athletes, and their families or friends, whether it is accidental or intentional.

Who Is A Prospect? 

A prospective student-athlete or "prospect" is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade, including students in prep schools and junior colleges, and individuals who have officially withdrawn or been released from four-year schools. Any student not yet in the ninth grade becomes a prospect if an institution provides the student with any financial assistance or other benefits that are generally not provided to prospective students.

A student-athlete remains a prospect until he/she reports for regular squad practice or attends the first day of class as a full-time student during any regular academic term.

As A Representative of Athletics Interests, What Interaction Am I allowed With Prospects?

You CAN: 

• Observe a prospect's athletics contest as long as no contact is made with the prospect.
• Give Ferrum's coaches leads on prospective student-athletes.
• Make arrangements for a prospect's employment after their senior year in high school. This is the only exception that allows a booster to contact a prospect before the prospect enrolls at Ferrum. Compensation must be paid only for work performed and at a rate commensurate with the going rate in that locality for services of like character.

You CANNOT: 

• Provide any benefit to prospective student-athletes, even if it is available to all students.  This includes, but is not limited to, cash or loans, promise of employment after college, use of an automobile, tangible items, etc.
• Contribute to the payment of transportation costs for prospects or their friends or families to visit Ferrum College.
• Pay any fees associated with sports camps for a prospect.
• Have off-campus contact recruits or their parents, in person or by telephone. 
• Contact the prospect's high school coach, principal, or guidance counselor for the purposes of evaluating or recruiting the prospect.
• Visit the prospect's educational institution to pick up film/videotape or transcripts regarding the evaluation of the prospect's academic eligibility or athletic ability.
• Invite prospective student-athletes, their high school coaches, or their parents to receptions.
• Provide a meal at a restaurant for prospects and their parents.
• Provide a prospect with free transportation to and from a summer job unless providing transportation is the employer's established policy for al employees.
• Invite a prospect to a booster meeting. If a prospect attends a meeting on his or her own they would be permitted to stay, but they must pay all fees charged for non-members to attend the meeting, including the meal.
• Place an advertisement that is targeted at local prospective student-athletes in a newspaper or other publication (even if the advertisement does not specifically mention USCB).
• Employ relatives of prospects as an inducement for enrollment.
• Employ or arrange for the employment of a prospect without checking first with the athletic department.

 What Is An Extra Benefit?

An extra benefit is defined as any special arrangement by an institutional employee or a representative of the institution's athletics interests to provide a student-athlete or the student-athlete's relatives or friends a benefit not expressly authorized by the NCAA.  Receipt of a benefit by student-athletes or their relatives is not a violation of NCAA legislation if it is demonstrated that the same benefit is generally available to the institution's students or their relatives or friends or to a particular segment of the student body (e.g. foreign students, minority students) determined on a basis unrelated to athletic ability.

If a student-athlete accepts any benefit based on his or her athletic ability, that athlete may lose all eligibility for intercollegiate athletics participation. Additionally, boosters involved may be forced to disassociate from the university's athletic program. 

As A Representative of Athletics Interests, What Interaction Am I allowed With Student-Athletes Enrolled At Ferrum?

You CAN/DO’s:

• Provide an occasional home meal to enrolled student-athletes (not prospects) and provide local transportation to your home with the Athletic Director's permission on special occasions (e.g., birthday, Thanksgiving).
• Provide a home meal and lodging at your home, and/or reasonable entertainment within 100 miles of the competition site to a Ferrum College team competing in your area on an away trip.
• Provide lodging, meals, and transportation to Ferrum's coaches when they come to you community to contact and evaluate prospects.
• Arrange for employment for enrolled student-athletes as long as there is no preferential treatment and the student only gets paid that going rate for work activities actually performed.
• The NCAA permits student-athletes AS A TEAM to receive special benefits not permitted as individuals. Arrangements for such events must be made in advance with the athletic department. 
• Pay student-athletes employed by you only for work actually performed and at the same rate for similar service in the community and your own business.
• Notify the athletic department of employment possibilities for student-athletes. 

You CANNOT/DON'T’s:

• Provide any benefit to enrolled student-athletes that is not equally available to all students, even after their eligibility is exhausted.
• Provide a meal at a restaurant for enrolled student-athletes or their parents.
• Provide cash or other tangible items (e.g. clothes, cars, shoes) to a student-athlete or his/her.
• Providing professional services at no charge or a reduced rate.
• Purchase items or services from a student-athlete's family at inflated prices.
• Provide the use of a car (including official visits to student hosts) or any free or reduced cost services to student-athlete or his/her family.
• Provide a loan, co-signing a loan or guaranteeing a bond for a prospect/student athlete.
• Provide tickets to an athletic event (institutional or community), or free admission to an institution's away from home contest for a prospect/student-athlete or his/her family or friends.
• Promise employment after graduation or promising financial aid for post graduate education.
• Pay or arrange for the payment of transportation costs incurred by student-athlete's family to visit the campus or elsewhere.
• Entertain relatives of a student athlete including at your home or another facility (e.g. restaurant).
• Employing relatives of prospects as an inducement for enrollment.
• Buy Christmas, birthday gifts or any gifts or awards for athletic performance.
• Use the name or image of an enrolled student-athlete to directly advertise, recommend or promote sales or the use of a commercial product or service of any kind. 
• Employ or arrange for the employment of a student-athlete without checking first with the athletic department. 
• Provide transportation for a student-athlete whom you employ unless transportation is provided for all others employees. 
• Provide student-athletes employment during the academic year without contacting the athletic department. 

CARA REGULATIONS

NCAA rules regulate the number of hours a student-athlete can participate in countable athletically related activity (CARA) per week and per day. The amount of CARA that a student-athlete is allowed to participate in varies from championship season to out of season to non-championship season. Below is a review of the NCAA rules pertaining to CARA.

What is countable athletically related activity (CARA)?

CARA is any required activity with an athletics purpose, involving student-athletes and at the direction of, or supervised by, any member or members of an institution’s coaching staff.

What are the limitations on CARA?

Championship Season/ Traditional	Non-Championship Season/ Non-Traditional*	Out of Season
Practice, Games, Strength & Conditioning Limited to 20 hours/week (Games count as 3 hours towards this maximum)	Practice, Games, Strength & Conditioning Limited to 20 hours/week (Games count as 3 hours towards this maximum)	No Competition 8 hours/week for weight training, individual workouts/ team activities and conditioning supervised by staff
Maximum 4 hours/day	Maximum 4 hours/day	No more than 2 of the 8 hours can be used for individual workouts/team activities
One day off/week	One day off/week	Two days off/week
Student-athlete cannot miss class for practice	Student-athlete cannot miss class for practice	Student-athlete cannot miss class for practice
	Student-athlete cannot miss class time for competition in team sports

*In general the Non-Championship/Non-Traditional Seasons restrict activity to 24 days that occur within a period of 45 consecutive calendar days. The Championship/Traditional Season is the season that concludes with the NCAA championships. 

What are some examples of CARA?

• Competition (always counts as 3 hours)
• Individual workouts (as required or supervised by a member of the coaching staff)
• Participation of student-athletes in permissible tryouts involving prospective student-athletes
• Required weight training and conditioning activities held at the direction of or supervised by an institutional staff member
• Chalk talk (as required or supervised by a member of the coaching staff)
• Visiting the competition site
• Captains practice that was required by a member of the coaching staff

What are some examples of activities that would NOT be considered CARA?

• Study hall
• Compliance meetings
• Attendance at an awards or celebratory banquet
• Voluntary weight training and conditioning activities monitored by the institution’s strength and conditioning coach (a student-athlete’s attendance at such an activity cannot be recorded for purposes of reporting their attendance back to a coach)
• Fundraising activities
• Community engagement
• Student-athlete requested individual summer workout session with a member of the coaching staff (in golf and track and field)
• Captains practice that is not required or directed to occur by a member of the coaching staff

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