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Compliance · Boosters and donors

Support us, the right way

If you give to Biola Athletics, promote it, or help our coaches, the NCAA considers you a booster. Here is what that means and where the lines are.

This is a guide, not the rulebook. It answers frequently asked questions, not every NCAA rule. If you have a question about NCAA rules and regulations, contact the compliance office before you act. The complete NCAA Division II Manual is the authoritative source.

Who counts as a booster

NCAA Bylaw 13.02.1.

You are a booster if a member of Biola's executive or athletics administration knows, or should have known, that you have:

  • Participated in, or been a member of, an agency or organization including corporate entities that promotes Biola's intercollegiate athletics program
  • Made financial contributions to the athletics department or to a Biola athletics booster organization
  • Assisted, or been asked by Biola athletics staff to assist, in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes
  • Assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes or their families
  • Been involved otherwise in promoting the institution's athletics program

This does not expireOnce you trigger booster status you are always considered a booster, and you remain responsible for NCAA rules. Bylaw 13.02.1.1 puts it plainly: once an individual is identified as a booster, the person retains that identity indefinitely.

A note on wording. NCAA legislation replaced the term "representative of athletics interests" with "booster" effective August 1, 2024. Same people, plainer word.

Why Biola answers for what you do

NCAA Constitution Articles 4 and 6, and Bylaw 7.3.3.2.

NCAA Constitution Article 6 places control and responsibility for intercollegiate athletics with the institution itself. Article 4 requires Biola to ensure that its staff, its student-athletes and other individuals and groups representing the institution's athletics interests comply with the rules. Bylaw 7.3.3.2 names boosters specifically.

What a violation can cost

  • The prospect or student-athlete involved can be declared ineligible to compete for Biola (Bylaw 13.01.5)
  • Biola must withhold them from competition until their eligibility is restored, and may have to vacate records, results and awards (Bylaw 14.1.3.1)
  • The booster can lose benefits and privileges, including tickets, and can be disassociated from the university

Extra benefits

NCAA Bylaws 16.02.3 and 16.11.1.

An extra benefit is any special arrangement by an institutional employee or a booster that provides a student-athlete, or their relative or friend, a benefit not expressly authorized by NCAA legislation.

One test settles most questions

Would the same benefit be generally available to Biola students, or to their relatives and friends, or to a segment of the student body determined on a basis unrelated to athletics ability? If yes, it is generally permissible. If no, or if you are not sure, do not do it. Contact the compliance office first.

What changedDivision II deregulated much of Bylaw 16 effective August 1, 2025. The Manual no longer carries an itemized list of prohibited benefits, so the general rule above is what governs. The examples below are Biola guidance for the questions that come up most, not a list from the Manual.

Toward enrolled student-athletes, ask before you do any of these

  • Cash or loans in any amount, or co-signing a loan
  • Gifts, merchandise or awards of any kind
  • Special discounts or free services
  • Free or reduced rent, housing, or use of a car
  • Paying for a trip, a ticket or an entry fee
  • An honorarium for a speaking appearance

Toward prospects, these are offers or inducements and they are prohibited

NCAA Bylaw 13.2.1

  • Employment for a prospect's relatives
  • Sponsoring an awards banquet at a high school, prep school or two-year college
  • Athletics camp registration fees
  • Payment tied to enrollment, or to participation in a sport
  • Any other financial aid or benefit beyond what NCAA rules expressly permit

Recruiting

NCAA Bylaws 13.01.4, 13.02.12 and 13.02.13.

Recruiting is any solicitation of a prospective student-athlete, or their relatives or legal guardians, by an institutional staff member or by a booster, for the purpose of securing that prospect's enrollment and participation in the institution's athletics program.

Boosters are prohibited from making in-person off-campus recruiting contacts or telephone calls with a prospect or their relatives or legal guardians. On-campus contact is permitted, as is written communication, and no booster may communicate with a prospect in any form before June 15 immediately preceding that prospect's junior year of high school. Recruiting contact by boosters during a prospect's official visit is confined to campus.

Who is a prospect

A prospective student-athlete is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade. A younger student becomes a prospect if Biola provides them, or their relatives or friends, financial assistance or benefits it does not provide to prospective students generally.

Prospect status does not end at signing. It ends only when the student officially registers, enrolls in a minimum full-time program of studies and attends classes in a term of a four-year college's regular academic year, excluding summer, or participates in a regular-squad practice or competition at a four-year college.

Boosters can
  • Observe a prospect's athletic contest, provided there is no contact with the prospect or their family
  • Notify the coaching staff of outstanding prospects in the area
  • Send written communication to a prospect on or after June 15 preceding their junior year of high school
  • Continue normal contact with a neighbor, relative or family friend who happens to be a prospect, as long as you do not engage in recruiting
  • Refer any and all recruiting questions to an athletics department staff member
  • Meet with a recruit on campus, but only at the direction of the athletics department
Boosters cannot
  • Call a prospect or their parents or legal guardians
  • Contact a coach, high school principal or counselor to evaluate a prospect
  • Visit a prospect's school to pick up transcripts or video
  • Affect, directly or indirectly, the admission or financial assistance awarded to a prospect
  • Provide extra benefits to prospects, enrolled student-athletes, or their relatives or friends
  • Meet a prospect or their family off campus, or have any off-campus recruiting contact
  • Communicate with a prospect who has signed a written offer of athletics aid with another NCAA institution, or with anyone associated with that prospect
  • Communicate in any form with a prospect who has not yet reached June 15 prior to their junior year
  • Provide expenses or entertainment during unofficial visits, which would trigger an official visit
  • Pay a prospect's registration fees for athletics camps
  • Hire a prospect, or drive one to and from a summer job. Employing prospects is an institutional permission, not a booster one

Also worth knowing

Four rules that catch people out.

Name, image and likeness (Bylaw 14.1.5)

Student-athletes may engage in NIL activity subject to state law and Biola policy, and disclose it through Biola's NIL reporting process. The line that matters most for boosters is Bylaw 14.1.5.2: an NIL agreement, or the payments under it, may not be guaranteed or promised contingent on enrolling at, or staying at, a particular school. That is a recruiting inducement. Contact the compliance office before any NIL arrangement involving a Biola student-athlete or prospect.

Sports wagering (Bylaw 10.3)

Student-athletes and athletics staff may not wager on intercollegiate, amateur or professional athletics, and may not give information to anyone involved in sports wagering. The booster-facing rule follows from that. Never ask a Biola student-athlete, coach or staff member about injuries, lineups or anything else that could inform a bet, and never pass such information along.

Academic assistance (Bylaws 14.2.10.4.2, 14.2.10.4.3)

A staff member, current or former, or a booster may not be involved in academic misconduct related to a student-athlete, or in altering or falsifying a transcript or academic record, with or without the student-athlete's knowledge. Impermissible academic assistance is prohibited outright, so arrange any tutoring or academic help through the athletics department rather than on your own.

High school fundraising (Bylaw 13.12.1.2)

A booster may fund a high school athletics program in the community where the booster resides, provided the booster acts independently of Biola, the funds move through channels the high school or the fundraising organization established, and none of it is earmarked for a specific prospective student-athlete.

Booster FAQ

1 A prospect or their family approaches me off campus with questions about playing for Biola. What do I do?

Do not speak with them beyond a friendly greeting. Explain that NCAA rules prohibit you from talking with them further, tell them to contact the coach, and take steps to end the conversation. An encounter you did not prearrange is not a contact so long as you keep it to a greeting and move to end it promptly.

2 What if a prospect calls me with general questions about the university?

Boosters may not place calls to prospects. If a prospect initiates the call you may answer questions about attending Biola, as long as there is no discussion of the athletics program. If they ask about Biola athletics, refer them to the appropriate coaching staff member. Away from campus, written communication is the only booster contact permitted, and not before June 15 preceding the prospect's junior year.

3 May I provide anything to a recruit?

No. The extra benefit rule prohibits you from providing any tangible benefit to a prospect or their family or friends when that benefit is not available to the general public or to all Biola students, for example tickets to an athletic, institutional or community event.

4 I have family friends whose child is a prospect. Do the rules change our relationship?

Not necessarily. The rules are not meant to alter relationships that exist for reasons unrelated to athletics, so you may continue normal contact through church or family events. You cannot encourage the prospect's participation in Biola athletics, or provide benefits you were not already providing before they became a prospect.

5 Do extra benefit rules apply to enrolled student-athletes I already knew?

Yes. A pre-existing relationship may continue, but any benefit has to clear both tests: it must be the same kind you provided before that student-athlete enrolled at Biola, and one you would provide to any Biola student. Not tickets to a sporting event or concert, a meal, an award or gift for athletic performance, or special discounts that started once they enrolled.

6 I am a parent who would like to host my child's team for a meal while they travel through our hometown. Is that allowed?

Yes. Parents of current student-athletes can provide an occasional meal to their child's team, and other boosters can as well. It can only happen occasionally, and the program's head coach must submit it to the compliance office for approval before the meal takes place. Start with the coach, not with the calendar.

7 Can a booster have contact with a prospect during an official or unofficial visit?

Yes, but only on campus during the visit. Off-campus contact is prohibited. If any component of the trip is paid for or provided by a booster, it converts the trip into an official visit Biola never authorized, which is a violation.

8 May a booster provide summer employment for student-athletes?

Yes, for enrolled student-athletes. Compensation must be paid only for work actually performed, at a rate commensurate with the going rate in that locality for services of like character, and absent an NIL agreement an employer may not use a student-athlete's athletics reputation to promote the business. Employing a prospect is a different rule, and free transportation to and from a summer job is prohibited unless the employer does that for every employee. Contact the compliance office first.

9 Can I contact prospects to encourage them to attend Biola?

No. Any such contact could result in the prospect being declared ineligible to participate in athletics at Biola.

10 May I evaluate prospects on behalf of the institution?

You may view a prospect's contest on your own initiative, provided you make no contact with the prospect or their family. It may not take place at the request or direction of an institutional staff member, and you may not contact anyone associated with the prospect in an effort to evaluate them.

11 May I attend a public event where prospects are present, such as a high school awards banquet?

Yes. Contact with prospects or their families may not occur, and no attempt can be made to recruit the prospect.

12 May a student-athlete's name, picture or appearance be used in a promotional activity?

Student-athletes are permitted to participate in NIL activities subject to state law and Biola policy, and have access to Biola's NIL policy and to a process for reporting and disclosing NIL activity. For boosters, one rule governs: an NIL agreement, or the payments under it, may not be guaranteed or promised contingent on a student-athlete's initial or continuing enrollment at a particular school. That is a recruiting inducement. Contact the compliance office before any NIL arrangement.

Strategic plan

Biola University Athletics has strategic priorities available on request. The PacWest Conference strategic plan also shapes the Biola Athletics experience.

Request a copy

Contact the compliance office

This is not a complete list of NCAA rules. Contact the compliance office before taking any action that may conflict with them. The current NCAA Division II Manual is always the best source for how a rule applies today.

Neil Morgan
Associate AD for Compliance & Communications
neil.morgan@biola.edu
Dr. Bethany Miller
Associate Vice President for Student Development, Senior Director of Athletics
bethany.miller@biola.edu

If you become aware of a possible violation, report it to the compliance office or the Senior Director of Athletics with as much detail as you can give. Biola reviews the information, investigates as needed, and reports violations to the PacWest Conference and the NCAA. Reports made anonymously are taken just as seriously, though giving your name lets us follow up.

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