Post-collegiates with NCAA teams

Suppose you want to play on a high school basketball team - do you expect to be allowed to play?

And if you do get to play, who has the right to tell you to bounce the ball when you walk? Shouldn't you be free to walk however you like? Isn't that an infringement on your rights as a citizen?

And as a college coach, shouldn't I be free to give extra money to athletes I coach, so that they will be happy to run on my team? Shouldn't I be able to get them plane tickets and maybe a car so that they will feel better looked after? And if I want to provide rent free housing to them, surely that's nobody's business but my own.

Judges should also be allowed to take large sums of money from whomever chooses to give it to them as well. It's a free country after all.

The ex-student can do what he/she wants without fear of punishment. However, the NCAA athlete will, or at least could, be punished. Once they've been rule ineligible, then they, too, can do what they want.

By your argument, I have a right to get paid for my work, but am not obliged to show up for 8 hours a day. Sure, I have this little contract, but the Constitution doesn't make me work, so I don't have to.

perspective wrote:

A volunteer assistant may not provide transportation to a redshirt athlete under any circumstance. He is providing free transportation which is in direct conflict with rules against extra benefits.

When he signs on as a volunteer coach, he agress to abide by NCAA rules. There is no such thing as personal favors after that.

This is not correct.

Redshirt athletes are allowed to practice with the team, just for fewer contact hours per week. Off the top of my head, the allowabale limits are 8 hr/wk for redshirts and 20 for those using eligibility (the rulebook is online as a pdf file at ncaa.org).

Volunteer assistants (three maximum per team, no certification is required) can drive athletes, including redshirts, to practice.

Redshirts can\'t travel with the team for competitions (though they can race unattached in the same races).

There are also a bunch of incorrect statements in this thread about what can be done for an athlete, by a coach, outside of university activities. Believe it or not, the NCAA does still allow human interaction between athletes and coaches outside of university sponsored activities. A lot of people seem to think that the rules about recruiting apply to other contexts.

We were discussing redshirt athletes being driven to competition - which, as you reinforce, is expressly forbidden.

Old thread but I still don't see anyone with a clear example of how strict the NCAA is of past athletes competing with a team. Another question would be the limit of assistant coaching spots, is it 3 for track and field or 3 for men and 3 for women, is cross separate from track and so on?