It’s that time of the year again; school is starting up and fall sports are in full swing. With 
the change in season comes the many eligibility stories about how recruits are inching by and meeting their last minute eligibility requirements, or about how they must sit out a season until they are able to meet eligibility requirements.
Why does registering with the eligibility center take so long?
The NCAA eligibility process is in place to help make sure college athletes are all competing on fair grounds. Because the NCAA is the governing body for all NCAA college athletics, it’s the job of the organization to ensure all athletes are eligible to compete without any person having an unfair advantage. You may think the NCAA rules are strict and unnecessary, but if it was not for the rules then anyone would be able to compete at the college level; professionals and non-students. The NCAA is there to enforce eligibility rules and keep everyone on fair playing grounds.
Make sure you are prepared to meet eligibility requirements
As a student-athlete you have worked your hardest through high school in hopes of securing a spot on a college team. This is great, college coaches want to recruit serious players, but they also need to know you are able to meet the academic requirements too. This is where most eligibility miscommunications happen; high school athletes don’t consider what courses or college tests they need to take until the last minute.
Don’t get caught in the waiting game with the Eligibility Center
We hear it all the time; senior year high school student’s frantically call us up to see if we can help them get registered with the Eligibility Center. Of course we are here to help and to walk you through the steps you need to take to become eligible, but it is up to you to get all the information to the NCAA Eligibility Center PRONTO!
Not knowing about the registering process is not the only reason eligibility is delayed: recruits across the nation and around the world all have to go through the eligibility process if they plan to compete at an NCAA college, so make sure you know how it works and what you need so you don’t have to wait around to be cleared.
Some other reasons for the delay in eligibility include:
- Retaking a course during summer school
- Your high school information has not been updated with the NCAA Eligibility Center
- You did not have your high school send in your official transcripts,
- You did not have your ACT, SAT sent to the NCAA Eligibility Center,
- You did not complete all the sections in your NCAA online profile
The list can go on and on; the moral is to make sure you have everything up to date and ready when it comes time to register with the Eligibility Center.
If you have any other questions about preparing to register with the NCAA eligibility center than leave your comment below and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
When should I sign up for the eligibility center? Do I have to be signed up to even be concerned for recruiting?
Hi Cassaundra, Thanks for your question.
You do not need to sign up with the NCAA or NAIA eligibility center until you are in talks with or our committed to competing at a DI or DII or NAIA college. There are many athletes, who sign up too early with their eligibility and end up wasting money because they do not even go to a DI or DII college.
Where are you at in your recruiting process? Have you reached out to any college coaches? I would be happy to help with any other recruiting questions, just ask.
is a college head college allowed to be a coach of another team at a different level of play within the same sport and gender?
Hi Christi, You have an interesting question. A college coach for a Men’s or Women’s team would be unable to coach at another school because the seasons would most likely be held at the same time. Also I don’t think a college would want to splint time of a head coach at a different division level.
If a player sat out for two years after junior college, does a player still have two years of eligibilityto play
Once you start playing, you have 5 years to play four years. So if you went to 2 years at a JC and sat out for another 2 you would have one year left. Good luck.