Lindenwood University Athletics

An award is any item given in recognition of athletics participation or performance.

• Award may not include cash, gift certificates, or gift cards redeemable for cash.
• Participation awards may be provided at any time.
• Only student-athletes who were eligible to compete in conference, NCAA or other post-season tournaments or events may receive awards in conjunction with those events.

Expenses to Receive Noninstitutional Awards
A conference, an institution, the U.S. Olympic Committee, or a national governing body may provide actual and necessary expenses for a student-athlete to receive a noninstitutional award or recognition for athletics or academic accomplishments. Actual and necessary expenses may be provided for the student-athlete’s family members to attend.

Types of Awards
NCAA rules require that all awards provided to member of a team be uniform. Values of those awards may not exceed the NCAA limits listed below. However, one type of award may be provided to groups of student-athletes within a team (i.e., all seniors get rings, all underclassmen get watches).

Countable Athletically Related Activities:

Voluntary Activities: 
Student-athletes are permitted to participate in voluntary activities as much as they would like. For an activity to be considered voluntary, the following must be satisfied:

• The student-athlete must not be required to report back to a coach or other athletics department staff member any information related to the activity;
• Staff members who observe the activity (i.e., strength coaches) may not report back to the student-athletes’ coach any information related to the activity – coaches may not observe voluntary activities (except for safety exception sports);
• The activity must be initiated and requested solely by the student-athlete;
• Attendance and participation (or lack thereof) may not be recorded for the purposes of reporting such information to coaching staff members; and
• Student-athletes may not be subjected to a penalty if they choose not to participate in the activity or rewarded if they do choose to participate.

• Tuition & Fees
• Room & Board
• Required Course Related Books
• Amount up to Cost of Attendance (only for certain sports) 

• Legal Services Fee
• Fines/Tickets, Lock Change Fees, and Room Damages
• International Room & Board Tax
• Student Health Insurance

• Athletics aid may be increased for any reason at any time.,
• Athletics aid may be reduced on canceled during the period of the award if the recipient:
• Renders himself or herself ineligible for intercollegiate competition;
• Fraudulently misrepresents any information on an application, letter of intent, or financial aid agreement;
• Engages in serious misconduct warranting substantial disciplinary penalty; or
• Voluntarily withdraws from a sport at any time for personal reasons; however, the recipient’s financial aid may not be awarded to another student-athlete in the academic term in which the aid was reduced or canceled.
• Athletics aid may not be reduced or canceled during the period of its award:
• On the basis of a student-athlete’s athletics ability, performance, or contribution to a team’s success;
• Because of an injury, illness, or physical or mental condition; or
• For any other athletics reason.

The Lindenwood University Athletic Department has partnered with Teamworks: Compliance and Recruiting to help coaches, staff, administrators, and compliance personnel with compliance monitoring activities, including:

• Countable Athletically Related Activities (CARA)
• Playing & Practice Seasons
• Prospect Questionnaires
• Recruiting Databases
• Recruiting Phone Calls
• Recruiting Contacts/Evaluations
• Recruiting Visits (Official and Unofficial)
• Student-Athlete Mass Email and Texting
• Roster Management
• Student-Athlete Institutional, OVC, and NCAA Forms

With the help of Teamworks: Compliance and Recruiting, the Lindenwood Athletic Department is better equipped to manage all the aspects of monitoring athletic compliance.
Coaches and staff can log in to Teamworks: Compliance and Recruiting by clicking: Teamworks | Compliance & Recruiting

• Made available to all institutions desiring to subscribe and at the same fee rate;
• Information is provided in a standardized format to ensure consistent distribution to all subscribers;
• Particular contests are not recorded on demand from a particular coaching staff; and
• May subscribe to a service that provides scholastic and/or non-scholastic video.

Basketball and Football
Basketball and football programs may only use NCAA-approved recruiting services and may only purchase one annual subscription that meet the following requirements:

• Made available to all institutions desiring to subscribe and at the same fee rate;
• Publicly identifiable rates;
• Information is disseminated at least four times a year;
• Publicly identifiable geographical scope;
• Analysis is provided beyond demographic information or rankings;
• Samples of information are provided to potential subscribers; and
• Information is provided in a standardized format to ensure consistent distribution to all subscribers;
• Does not provide information about prospects in any form (e.g., oral reports, electronic messages) beyond standardized, consistent information provided to all subscribers.

Basketball and football programs are permitted to subscribe to video-only services. If you want to know if a recruiting or scouting service has been approved by the NCAA, contact the Compliance Office.

Recruiting Publicity and Social Media
Presence of Media During Recruiting Contact:
No media entity may be present during any recruiting contact made between an Lindenwood coaching staff member and a prospective student-athlete.
Publicity Before Commitment:
An institution may comment publicly on a prospective student-athlete only to confirm the institution’s recruitment of that prospect. It is not permissible to comment on the prospect’s ability or potential contribution to the team. This restriction is in place until the prospect has:

• Signed the institution’s written offer of athletic aid; or
• Paid a financial deposit in response to an offer of admission.

Social Media and Recruiting:
Social media has become increasingly important in the recruitment process. Below are the rules surrounding the use of social media when recruiting prospective student-athletes.
Recruiting Terms to Know:

• Contact Period: Coaches may have face-to-face contact with prospective student-athletes or their parents, watch student-athletes compete, visit their high schools, and write or telephone prospective student-athletes or their parents.
• Evaluation Period: Coaches may watch prospective student-athletes compete, visit their high schools, and write or telephone prospective student-athletes or their parents. However, a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with prospective student-athletes or their parents off the institution’s campus at this time.
• Quiet Period: Coaches may not have face-to-face contact with prospective student-athletes or their parents, and may not watch prospective student-athletes compete or visit their high schools. However, it is permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts on the institution’s campus. Coaches may also write or telephone prospective student-athletes or their parents during this time.
• Dead Period: Coaches may not have face-to-face contact with prospective student-athletes or their parents, and may not watch prospective student-athletes compete or visit their high schools. Further, coaches may not have in-person recruiting contacts on the institution’s campus. Coaches may write and telephone prospective student-athletes or their parents during this time.

Recruiting Rules:
Coaches recruiting activities with prospective student-athletes (e.g., providing recruiting materials, calling on the telephone, contacting off-campus) are governed by NCAA recruiting rules, which limit these communications based on the prospective student-athlete’s year in school.

Recruiting Calendars:
Recruiting calendars help to promote the well-being of prospective student-athletes and coaches and ensure competitive equity by defining certain time periods in which recruiting may or may not occur in a particular sport.
The 2024-2025 Division I Recruiting Calendar (Sport by Sport) can be found: Division I Recruiting Calendars and Guides
Academic Progress Rate (APR)
The Academic Progress Rate (APR) was developed by the NCAA to track the academic achievement and retention of teams each academic term.
Each term, student-athletes receiving athletically related financial aid can earn:

• One retention point for staying in school; and
• One eligibility point for being academically eligible

A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by one thousand to equal the team’s APR score.
The Benchmark:
Beginning with the 2024-25 academic year, teams must earn a four-year APR of 930 to compete in NCAA championships.

Student-Athletes Going Pro:
Teams with student-athletes who leave in good academic standing to pursue a professional career do not hurt a team’s APR score. If a student-athlete leaves a team in poor academic standing the team loses two points.

Possible penalties for APR violations:
Level 1: Limits teams to 16 hours of practice a week over five days, with the lost four hours to be replaced with academic activities.
Level 2: Includes level 1 penalties, plus competition reductions, either in the traditional or nontraditional season
Level 3: Coaching suspensions, financial aid reductions and restricted NCAA membership. The Committee on Academic Performance has the discretion to apply appropriate penalties once teams have fallen below the benchmark for three consecutive years.
For More Information, visit the NCAA Website: NCAA APR Website

Helpful Links
Teamworks Compliance & Recruiting: ARMS Software
NCAA Initial Eligibility Toolkit: Initial Eligibility
NCAA Division I Manual: D1 Manual