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Copyright © 1999 The Seattle Times Company
Posted at 05:41 a.m. PDT; Wednesday, July 28, 1999
Prep basketball
Letter-of-intent rules clearly spelled out for recruits, colleges
The National Letter of Intent (NLI) program was designed to create certainty in the recruiting process. More than 500 Division I and II institutions belong to the program. These schools are bound by the program's rules, which are straightforward:
- A recruit who signs a letter of intent offered by an institution is guaranteed one year of financial aid in exchange for the promise to attend that school for one year.
- Once a recruit signs a letter of intent, other schools are prohibited from contacting the player.
- If a player doesn't complete a year at the school, the player is ineligible to play for another school in the letter-of-intent program for two years.
- The only exception to that penalty is if the original school releases the player from the commitment. This agreement is called a qualified release.
- A qualified release reduces the penalty for violating the letter of intent to a loss of one year of eligibility. The player must appeal to the NLI steering committee to have all eligibility restored.
- A recruit commits to a school, not a coach. The commitment is binding even if the coach leaves. Similarly, a letter of intent covers all sports. A player can not commit to play football at one school and later decide he wants to play basketball at another.
- Once a player attends a class, NCAA transfer rules apply. In order to play at another Division I school, the player must sit out one season.
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