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NCAA prohibits coaches from visiting programs deemed to be ‘non-scholastic’

Jake Thomas

Marquette guard Jake Thomas moves over the NCAA logo during practice for a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in Washington. Marquette plays Miami on Thursday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

AP

With college coaches in the portion of their recruiting calendar where they’re allowed to visit high schools throughout the country, this is an important time for many young players across the country. Those open gym sessions can be a game-changer of sorts, as a player who performs well could land himself a scholarship offer that otherwise would not have been available.

However those opportunities aren’t available to all, especially if the school in question has been deemed to be “non-scholastic” by the NCAA. According to Yahoo! Sports the NCAA sent a list to Division I programs across the country listing programs that have been given that label, with two such institutions being Huntington Prep (W. Va.) and Findlay Prep (Nev.).

The “non-scholastic” designation means that college coaches are prohibited from visiting those schools, and that can be an issue for some when considering the amount of talent that programs such as Huntington and Findlay Prep currently possess.

Highlighted in the NCAA directive was the following fromJamie Israel in its department of academic and membership affairs:

“A team that is affiliated with a scholastic institution, but not subject to the rules and regulations of a scholastic governing body would be considered a non-scholastic team for purposes of applying the evaluation legislation set forth in Bylaw 13.1.7.8.1-(a). … At this time, the AMA staff has been presented fact situations involving two teams, Findlay Prep and Huntington Prep, and has determined that based on the facts presented and the above mentioned legislation and interpretation, both of those teams would be considered non-scholastic teams …"


The hope is that this situation is remedied in short order, with the end result being that coaches will be able to visit these schools. And with highly regarded uncommitted players such as JaQuan Lyle (Huntington Prep), Kelly Oubre and Rashad Vaughn (both are at Findlay Prep) at these institutions it’s easy to figure out why college coaches would want this situation to be addressed quickly.

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