Concordia University Chicago Athletics strives to give student-athletes and fans a positive and meaningful experience during their time in River Forest. All Cougar student-athletes, coaches, administrators, support staff, alumni and friends must follow all NCAA regulations to make sure the department and all of its teams meet eligibility standards. There are links listed below that will provide more information about NCAA compliance rules. This is not a representation of all NCAA bylaws and conditions.Â
If you have any questions or concerns regarding compliance, please reach out to members of our athletic administration:
Kathy Gebhardt | Interim Director of Compliance, Interim Director of Athletics
(708) 209-3498Â |Â kathy.gebhardt@cuchicago.edu
NCAA Compliance at Concordia University Chicago
In accordance with NCAA bylaw 2.8.1, "each institution shall comply with all applicable rules and regulations of the Association in the conduct of its intercollegiate athletics programs. It shall monitor its programs to ensure compliance and to identify and report to the Association instances in which compliance has not been achieved. In any such instance, the institution shall cooperate fully with the Association and shall take appropriate corrective actions. Members of an institution's staff, student-athletes, and other individuals and groups representing the institution's athletics interests shall comply with the applicable Association rules, and the member institution shall be responsible for such compliance."
The purpose of this guide is to compile all necessary items and information to remain compliant with the NCAA and ensure that CUC maintains institutional control of the intercollegiate athletics department. The NCAA holds coaches and administrative staff to a high standard of compliance with all applicable rules and regulations. Compliance issues are the responsibility of all athletics department staff members.Â
Compliance Definitions and Guidelines
1. Prospective Student-Athlete (Bylaw 13.02.5) - A prospective student athlete is any student who has started classes for the ninth grade. Student-athletes enrolled in prep schools or two-year colleges are prospective athletes. An individual is considered a prospect until the first day of initial college enrollment or the first day he/she reports for practice, whichever comes first. All NCAA legislation governing prospects applies until this time.
2. Current Student-Athlete (Bylaw 13.02.3) - An individual becomes a student-athlete when he/she participates in an intercollegiate squad practice or contest that is under the jurisdiction of the athletics department.
3. Contact (Bylaw 13.02.2) - A contact is any face-to-face encounter between a prospective student athlete or the prospective student-athlete's relatives, guardian(s) or individual of a comparable relationship and an institutional athletics department staff member or athletics representative during which any dialog occurs in excess of an exchange of a greeting. Any such contact that is prearranged or that takes place on the grounds of the prospective student-athlete's educational institution or at the site of an organized competition or practice involving the prospective student-athlete's high school, preparatory school, two-year college or all-star team shall be considered a contact, regardless of the conversation that occurred.
4. Recruiting (Bylaw 13.02.6) - Recruiting is any solicitation of a prospective student athlete or a prospective student-athlete's relatives [or guardian(s)] by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institutions athletic interests for the purpose of securing the prospective student-athlete's enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution's intercollegiate athletics program.
Actions by staff members or athletic representatives that cause a prospective student-athlete to become a recruited prospective student-athlete at that institution are:
- Providing the prospective student-athlete with an official visit;
- Having an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with the prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete's relatives, guardian(s) or individual of a comparable relationship, or
- Initiating or arranging a telephone contact with the prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete's relatives, guardian(s) or individual of a comparable relationship on more that one occasion for the purpose of recruitment.
5. Representative of Athletics Interest (Bylaw 13.02.7) - A "representative of the institution's athletics interests" is an individual who is know (or who should have been know) by a member of the institution's executive or athletics administration to:
- Have participated in or to be a member of an agency or organization promoting the institution's intercollegiate athletics program;Â
- Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or to an athletics booster organization of that institution;
- Be assisting or to have been requested (by the athletics department staff) to assist in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes;
- Be assisting or to have assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes, or
- Have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution's athletics program.
Ethical Conduct
Sportsmanship, Unethical Conduct and Gambling Activities
Standards of Honesty and Sportsmanship (Bylaw 10.01.1) – Individuals employed by (or associated with) a member institution to administer, conduct or coach intercollegiate athletics and all participating student-athletes shall act with honesty and sportsmanship at all times so that intercollegiate athletics as a whole, their institutions and they, as individuals shall represent the honor and dignity of fair play and the generally recognized high standards associate with wholesome competitive sports.
Unethical Conduct (Bylaw 10.1) - Unethical conduct by a prospective or enrolled student-athlete or a current or former institutional staff member may include, but is not limited to, the following:
- Refusal to furnish information relevant to an investigation of a possible violation of an NCAA regulation when requested to do so by the NCAA or the individual's institution;
- Knowing involvement in arranging for fraudulent academic credit or false transcripts for a prospective or an enrolled student-athlete;
- Knowing involvement in offering or providing a prospective or enrolled student-athlete an improper inducement or extra benefit or improper financial aid;
- Knowingly furnishing the NCAA or the individual's institution false or misleading information concerning the individual's involvement in or knowledge or matters relevant to a possible violation of an NCAA regulation;
- Receipt of benefits by an institutional staff member for facilitation or arranging a meeting between a student-athlete and an agent, financial advisor or a representative of an agent of advisor (e.g., "runner"), or
- Knowing involvement in providing a banned substance or impermissible supplement to student-athletes, or knowingly providing medications to student-athletes contrary to medical licensure, commonly accepted standards of care in sports practice, or state or federal law.
Gambling Activities (Bylaw 10.3) - Staff members of a member conference, staff members of the athletics department of a member institution and student-athletes shall not knowingly:
- Provide information to individuals involved in organized gambling activities concerning intercollegiate athletic competition;
- Solicit a bet on any intercollegiate team;
- Accept a bet on any team representing the institution;
- Solicit of accept a bet on any intercollegiate competition for any item (e.g., cash, shirt, dinner, etc.) that has tangible value, or
- Participate in any gambling activity that involves intercollegiate athletics or professional athletics, through a bookmaker, a parlay card, or any other method employed by organized gambling.
Here is general information to help you learn about NCAA Division III and being apart of Division III athletics:
