NCAA Contact Periods: Quiet, Dead, Evaluation, and Contact |
There are four types of “contact periods” that dictate which kind of contact a college baseball coach is allowed to have with a recruit during a certain time of the year.
The NCAA publishes recruiting calendars with specific restrictions and rules that dictate when, where and how coaches can reach out to you.
Knowing this information will help you better understand responses or lack of responses you get from college coaches during a certain time of the year.
Here are the four types of recruiting contact periods and what is allowed during each:
Contact Period
The Contact Period doesn’t have many restrictions, and just about every type of contact is allowed between the college coach and the baseball recruit. You can meet off or on campus, and the coach is allowed to attend your games.
These are the types of contact that are allowed during this NCAA Contact Period:
- Unofficial Visits
- Official Visits
- Off campus / home visits
- Letters
- Emails
- Calls
- Event viewing / evaluations during your club or high school competition
Quiet Period
The Quiet Period is a restricted time, typically before the National Letter of Intent (NLI) day that prevents a coach from having any off campus viewing or interaction with the recruit or their parents. Here is what is allowed during this NCAA Quiet Period:
- Unofficial visits
- Official visits
- Letters
- Emails
- Calls
Evaluation Period
The Evaluation Period is a tad more restrictive than the open Contact Period, and is primarily for the coach to "evaluate" you. The big difference is that the coach cannot have any off campus contact with the athlete or parent. Here is what is allowed:
- Unofficial visits
- Official visits
- Off campus / home visits
- Letters
- Emails
- Event viewing / evaluations during your club or high school competition
- Calls
Dead Period
The NCAA Dead Period is the most restrictive time for communication between the coach and the high school recruit, and only allows the following:
- Letters
- Emails
- Calls
- College visits are allowed, but you cannot meet the coaches