Breaking News: NCAA Extends Dead Period Through April 15, 2021

A week ago today, Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reported that the NCAA dead period, which has been in place since March because of COVID-19, will be extended well into Spring of 2021 in an article titled Recruiting dead period will be extended to April 15, keeping coaches away from recruits for over a year.

We talked to several club and college coaches over the weekend who had heard the same news and Robby Wilson of NSA, in his Inside Pitch article on Tuesday about the Current State of College Softball Recruiting, wrote:

“… everyone is up in arms trying to determine whether or not the NCAA D1 dead period will get extended. I can’t say much, but there will be a vote tomorrow (November 18) that will answer everything.”

That question was answered today as the NCAA Council approved the move pushing the dead period back from Jan. 1 to April 15

DI Council extends recruiting dead period for all sports through April 15: https://t.co/znkRinZ2CQ pic.twitter.com/36C4JP5cip

— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) November 18, 2020

It was previously set for New Year’s on Sept. 19, 2020 as detailed in our article: College News: As Expected, Recruited Dead Period Extended Again… Through Jan. 1, 2021 which was the 6^th time it had been extended.

As we wrote then:

“What this means, simply, is there can be no in-person or face-to-face contact between the prospective recruit and families with college coaches, although communications still can occur through phone calls, emails, FaceTime, Zoom meetings, etc. Athletes still can visit college campuses, but can’t have direct contact with coaches.”

Dodd added: “The date has been extended multiple times as COVID-19 has swept across the country in the last nine months. This next extension would mean coaches will not meet in person with recruits for more than a year”.

“Since spring prospects have also been prohibited from making official visits on campus because of the coronavirus, there is momentum to expand the use of Zoom,” the writer adds. “For example, perhaps coaches could ask the NCAA to allow parents to interact on Zoom and compare notes about the recruiting process. That suggestion was made by Todd Berry, executive director of American Football Coaches Association.”

Here is the full release from the NCAA which was published this afternoon on NCAA.org:

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Recruiting dead period in all sports extended by DI Council

November 18, 2020 6:20 pm EST

The Division I Council on Wednesday extended the recruiting dead period for all Division I sports through April 15.

“The COVID-19 numbers are not trending in the right direction for the Council to allow in-person recruiting and the associated long-distance travel for coaches, prospective student-athletes and their families,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Pennsylvania.

“We acknowledge the impact the restrictions are having on student-athletes who dream of being Division I athletes, but we must prioritize the health and safety of current and potential student-athletes and their families, as well as coaches and others on campus.”

Members also voted to permit additional flexibility in virtual recruiting in football by allowing all coaches, full-time school staff members and current students to conduct recruiting calls (telephone calls and video calls) without a countable coach being present.

This flexibility, proposed by the Football Oversight Committee, includes volunteer coaches in the Football Championship Subdivision. The Council plans to address similar flexibility for other sports at its December meeting.

The dead period extension was supported by the oversight committees for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. Members acknowledged that while Divisions II and III had loosened recruiting restrictions, Division I schools are managing active fall sport seasons, which is not the case at most schools in Divisions II and III.