[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DM: Let’s just do one hypothetical. Let’s say that you lived in Kansas City, Missouri, and you have a next door neighbor that’s a good friend of yours that you’ve known for 20 years, and their son or daughter just happens to be a good athlete that could potentially be recruited at Nebraska and you’ve been friends with that family for that whole length of time, are you prohibited from inviting them over and showing them all your Nebraska memorabilia?[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]GB: Let’s say you live next door and that young man or young lady has been in your house many times over the first 14 years of their life. You have developed a pre-existing relationship with that young person and their family because you are their next door neighbors. You have developed that relationship with the prospect before they became a prospect as a freshman in high school. You would be considered a representative of an institution’s athletics interest because of the fact that you promote Nebraska athletics in some way. You don not have to sever that relationship when that person becomes a prospect since you have known them before the prospect became a ninth grader. It’s just that you are not permitted to try to recruit that individual to the University of Nebraska or encourage them to be a prospective student athlete for Nebraska. It is not a problem for you to contact Nebraska and tell them about the prospect, but to try to convince the prospect to go to Nebraska, to get them to be interested in Nebraska, and promote Nebraska to them, that would be a violation in itself.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Anyone that is a representative of an institution’s athletics interest, once that individual or that independent agency or corporate entity or organization is identified as being a representative of an institution’s athletics interest, that individual or organization retains that identity indefinitely. There’s basically only two ways that you are no longer considered to be a representative of that institution’s athletics interest, when you die, and if that individual is involved in some issue to the point where either the institution or the NCAA has to tell that individual that they no longer can be identified with the institution’s athletic program. Other than that, they will to continue to be a representative of the institution’s athletics interest indefinitely. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The representative of an institution’s athletics interest is an individual, independent agency, corporate entity, such as apparel or equipment manufacturer or other organization who is known or should have been known by a member of the institution’s executive or athletic administration to:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1. have participated in or be a member of an agency or organization promoting the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2. have made financial contributions to the athletics department or to an athletics booster organization of that institution,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]3. be assisting or to have been requested by the athletics department staff to assist in the recruitment of prospects,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]4. be assisting or to have assisted in providing benefits to enroll student athletes or their family, or[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]5. have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution’s athletics program. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]So a person that has a website, who predominantly promotes one certain institution’s athletic program could be considered a representative of an institution’s athletics interest. Even though they have never been a season ticket holder, they did not graduate from the University of Nebraska, they do not belong to the alumni association, and they have never belonged to any booster club, they could still be considered a representative of an institution’s athletics interest.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Let me give you one example of individuals who got to be a representative of an institution’s athletics interest by just providing a job for a student athlete, even though that individual, couple, or family never had tickets to a football game, basketball game, has never been a booster club member, is not an alumni association member, but through an affiliation with another person met a student-athlete, and provided them a summer job. By providing a student-athlete a summer job, even if it is a very minimal summer job, that person becomes a representative of an institution’s athletics interest. If later on, this person then because of the friendship established with that student athlete, provides the student-athlete any kind of extra benefit, he would be committing a violation of NCAA rules. [/FONT]