The NCAA oversees the NCAA Division III recruiting operations. The Division III recruiting rules are more relaxed than the other NCAA divisions. There are no set NCAA Division III Recruiting Calendars. College coaches at the NCAA Division 3 level can contact and recruit without certain dead periods, contact periods, and quiet periods. Without the big athletic recruiting budgets like at the Division I level, the flexibility in recruiting at the Division III level helps level the playing field. Division III schools cannot offer athletic scholarship money, only academic monies. Recruits with good grads have a better chance at getting recruited and scholarship money at the Division III level. Each year nearly 184,000 student-athletes from 450 member colleges compete in 28 different sports at the Division III level.
When can Division III coaches contact athletes?
DIII schools have the most relaxed NCAA recruiting rules of all the division levels. Similar to NCAA DII, they are the same for all sports:
- Recruiting materials: Athletes can receive recruiting materials at any time.
- Telephone calls: There is no limit on when college coaches can call athletes.
- Digital communications: There is no limit on when college coaches can contact athletes digitally.
- Off-campus contact: After the athlete’s sophomore year, college coaches may begin to conduct off-campus communications.
- Official visits: Athletes can begin taking official visits after January 1 of their junior year.
- Unofficial visits: Athletes can make an unlimited number of unofficial visits at any time.
Other important Division III Recruiting information
- Division III does not have any rules on the number of evaluations/contacts per student-athlete.
- College coaches cannot contact you on competition or practice days until your event is finished, and you are dismissed by the proper authority (like your high school coach or athletic director).
- During a contact period college coaches can make only one visit per week to your high school.
- A college coach can evaluate a potential recruit at all-star games throughout the year. There are no limitations for the college coach except that the game has to occur within the state that their university is located.
