{"id":437981,"date":"2020-06-30T10:36:01","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T17:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=437981"},"modified":"2020-06-30T14:11:05","modified_gmt":"2020-06-30T21:11:05","slug":"swimming-diving-coaches-ask-ncaa-to-delay-recruiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-diving-coaches-ask-ncaa-to-delay-recruiting\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming & Diving Coaches Ask NCAA to Delay Recruiting"},"content":{"rendered":"

The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association (CSCAA<\/a>) is calling on the NCAA to limit recruiting in the upcoming year. In a letter to members of the NCAA\u2019s Student-Athlete Experience Committee (SAEC) and Division I Council Coordination Committee (CCC), the association requested an extension of the current recruiting dead period until December and a prohibition on on-campus visits through March of 2021.<\/p>\n

The request follows last week’s decision by the CCC to extend the dead period in all sports through July 31. In a release, Council chair M. Grace Calhoun<\/strong>, athletics director at Pennsylvania noted that the decision was made to allow “coaches to focus on the student-athletes who may be returning to campus:”<\/p>\n

CSCAA Executive Director Greg Earhart<\/strong><\/a> explained that doing so would provide a measure of certainty to coaches, prospective student-athletes (PSA\u2019s), and their parents during an unsettling time. The cancellation of college entrance exams and lack of Spring and Summer seasons coupled with the expansion of recruiting into swimmers and divers juniors years have placed coaches and PSA’s in the difficult position of trying to figure out where they fit academically and athletically.<\/p>\n

“Taking this step would remove pressure, provide PSAs time to train and compete, and allow coaches some breathing room to address more pressing needs.”<\/p>\n

Specifically, many PSA’s were unable to do any on-campus visitation, either officially or unofficially, since the March shutdowns. Swimming and diving coaches have had a crutch in that regard in trying to showcase their campus and team culture – something that cannot simply be recreated virtually. For incoming seniors that have not committed to a school yet, they are running out of time to find safe opportunities to learn about schools in person – and setting a rule across all institutions would only be fair for swimming and diving coaches.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the CSCAA cited three concerns:<\/strong><\/p>\n