THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Information every K-State booster, alumnus, and fan should know about NCAA and Conference rules and regulations.

Are you a Representative of K-State's Athletic Interests (i.e., Booster)?

You are a representative of K-State's athletic interests, commonly referred to as a booster, if you meet any of the following conditions:

-You have participated in or you are a member of an agency or organization that promotes Kansas State Athletics;
-You have made financial contributions to the athletic department or to an athletic booster organization of Kansas State University;
-You have been involved in promoting K-State's athletic program;
-You have provided benefits (i.e., summer employment or occasional family meals) to enrolled student-athletes;
-You are the parent or legal guardian of an enrolled student-athlete;
-You have purchased or received tickets to a Kansas State athletics event.

It is important to note: Once deemed an athletic representative ('booster'), he or she retains that title indefinitely.

Common Questions for Boosters 

As a Booster of Kansas State University, what can I do?

If you know of a high school or junior college student-athlete who might want to attend Kansas State, the only permissible activity for a representative is to call the appropriate K-State coach.

What is an "Extra Benefit?"

An extra benefit is any special arrangement to provide a student-athlete or their relatives or friends with a benefit not expressly authorized by NCAA legislation.  Such benefits include, but are not limited to, the provision of any transportation, meals, clothes, entertainment, preferential loan terms, wages not commensurate with duties, or other benefits offered to a prospect or current student-athlete which is unavailable to the general student population.

Who is a Prospect?

A prospective student-athlete ("prospect") is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade. Additionally, a student who has not started classes for the ninth grade becomes a prospective student-athlete if the institution provides such an individual (or the individual's relatives or friends) any financial assistance or other benefits that the institution does not provide to prospective students generally.

How long is a prospective student-athlete considered a prospect?

A prospective student-athlete remains a prospect even after signing a National Letter of Intent to attend Kansas State University.  Consequently, both K-State and the prospective student-athlete continue to be governed by NCAA recruiting legislation until:

a) the individual officially registers and enrolls in a minimum full-time program of studies and attends classes in any term of a four-year collegiate institution's regular academic year (excluding summer);
b) the individual participates in a regular squad practice or competition at a four-year collegiate institution that occurs before the beginning of any term; or
c) the individual officially registers and enrolls and attends classes during the summer prior to initial enrollment.

What can an Athletics Representative do with prospects?

• An athletics representative may attend a prospective student-athlete's athletics contest (i.e., high school or two-year college) on his or her own initiative.  However, it should be understood that the athletics representative may not have contact with the prospect (or his or her family members) on such occasions. If you are ever put in a position where a prospect, or their parents, begin raising questions about K-State Athletics, please explain that NCAA legislation prohibits you from discussing athletics with them. Please direct their inquiries to the K-State Athletic Department. 

• You may continue established family relationships with friends and neighbors. Contacts with sons and daughters of those families are permitted as long as they are not made for recruiting purposes and are not prompted by K-State coaching staff members. You are permitted to engage in your normal activities with prospects and their parents who are family friends.

• Feel free to attend a public event (i.e. awards dinner) at which prospects are in attendance. No attempt should be made to contact or recruit the prospect at these events.

Please note that it would be permissible for you to notify K-State coaching staff members regarding any prospective student-athletes you know about. 

May I have contact with prospects?

• No. Contact with prospective student-athletes for recruiting purposes is prohibited. Contact includes emails, phone calls, letters, face-to-face contact, and social media websites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, MySpace). 

• You may not have contact with a prospect's coach, principal, or counselor in an attempt to evaluate the prospect.

What can I do for current K-State athletes?

• As outlined below, feel free to invite a student-athlete to your home for an occasional meal.  However, before you provide the meal at your home, you must first complete the occasional meal request form, which can be found in the occasional meal section below.  Please complete the form and submit it to the K-State Compliance Office for approval.

How can I assist with summer employment?

• You may pay student-athletes who are employed by you for work actually performed and at a rate commensurate for similar services in the community and your business.

• You may and are encouraged to notify the head coaches or the athletic department of job possibilities for student-athletes.

**For more information regarding permissible and impermissible relations between boosters and student-athletes, please read the short education piece that is linked below.**

Booster Education (What Can I Do Within the Limitations of the NCAA Rules?) 

• NCAA UPDATE: Funneling of Money to Advance Recruiting Purposes 

• K-STATE: Compliance IN THE NEWS - UNC recieves postseason ban, scholarship reductions   
                 HOT TOPIC   -- Playing and Practice Season