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Article 3 – March 2024

As a member of the Big 12 Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), UCF is committed to and responsible for ensuring that its coaches, student-athletes, faculty, staff, former students, donors, boosters, and friends abide by Conference and NCAA regulations. A unit within University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk, the Athletics Compliance Office, is charged with oversight of monitoring and verifying compliance with NCAA requirements.

The primary function of the Athletics Compliance Office is to educate and to partner with members of the university community to foster compliance with NCAA rules. The office of seven collaborates with coaches, athletes, and university staff to educate them on the rules, interpret guidelines, and provide guidance to ensure adherence to the established standards. They also have the independence to conduct investigations, oversee eligibility certifications, and manage the documentation required for recruiting student-athletes.

While NCAA compliance is overseen by the Athletics Compliance Office, compliance is everyone’s responsibility. Ask before you act. Breaking NCAA rules can render prospects and student-athletes ineligible for competition. The NCAA holds UCF accountable for the actions of its fans, friends, and employees.

As the UCF athletics department strives for academic and athletics excellence, we must always seek the highest standard of ethical conduct. If you interact with members of the university’s athletics programs, here are the top 10 things every Knights fan needs to know:

  1. You MAY NOT make recruiting contacts with prospects, their relatives or legal guardians.
  2. You MAY NOT contact a prospect’s coach, principal, or counselor in an attempt to evaluate the prospect.
  3. You MAY send newspaper clippings and other information about talented prospects to the designated UCF coaching staff.
  4. You MAY continue established relationships with friends and neighbors whose children are prospects or current student-athletes, provided the relationship pre-dates reaching prospect status and is not based on their status as an athlete.
  5. You MAY attend high school or junior college competitions provided no contact occurs with the prospect or the prospect’s relatives.
  6. You MAY NOT entertain any coach from a junior or senior high school, preparatory school, or junior college or provide them with tickets or any other type of benefit.
  7. You MAY NOT become involved in arranging for a prospect, a current student-athlete or their family to receive gifts, money or financial benefits of any kind.
  8. You MAY NOT provide transportation to a prospect, student-athlete or their friends and family. Also, you MAY NOT spend funds to entertain prospects, student-athletes or their friends or family.
  9. You MAY NOT use a photo or name of a student-athlete for commercial purposes or sell student athlete memorabilia unless it is part of a name, image, & likeness deal with the student-athlete. Seek approval for such activities through Athletics Compliance.
  10. You MAY employ a student-athlete provided you are paying them only for the work they actually perform, and/ or for the use of their Name, Image, or Likeness provided there is a quid pro quo.

The university is responsible for ensuring that all student-athletes, university employees, and representatives of the university’s athletics interests (i.e., boosters) abide by NCAA rules and regulations. Any inappropriate, even inadvertent, activity on your part could result in:

  1. A currently enrolled student-athlete being declared ineligible to participate for UCF.
  2. The eligibility of a prospective student-athlete(s) being jeopardized.
  3. Violations of NCAA regulations and sanctions placed on the university and the athletics programs.
  4. Restrictions placed upon your involvement with UCF’s athletics program.
  5. Disciplinary or corrective action as set forth in both university policy and the provisions of the NCAA enforcement procedures.

UCF’s sports programs have enjoyed tremendous success on the field, in the classroom and in our community. We are eager to build on those traditions and are committed to doing so with integrity. Our coaches, administrators, staff, and student-athletes are working together to strengthen UCF Athletics’ culture of compliance to NCAA, Conference, and UCF regulations and policies. We need you – our fans, donors, and friends – to join us in that important effort. Your compliance ensures that our 16 programs and more than 500 student-athletes have the best opportunities to succeed.

We encourage you to visit the UCF Athletics Compliance Website for more information. The frequently asked questions section of this edition also includes more information on Boosters. If you have additional questions, please reach out to the UCF Athletics Compliance Office at UCFCompliance@athletics.ucf.edu.