SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Forget Everything We Just Said: NCAA Summer
Coaching Approval Simplified--(May 15, 2002)

The "quick facts" about summer coaching "approval" under SECA

1.  You will not be required to make any financial disclosures;

2.  There will be no criminal background checks;

3. There is no 21-day advance certification requirement; 

4. You only need to fill out a one-page application form, pay $50, and take a short 30 question quiz; and

5.  There is a July 3 deadline to get "approved."  

Period.

Sound easy?  It is. 

Sound better than the horror show we described yesterday?  You bet.

Why What We Told You Yesterday Was Wrong....

Now, here's the long-winded explanation about why what we told you yesterday was wrong, and why you should now believe what we're telling you.....read on for more.... 

Yesterday, we posted two articles about the summer event coaching "approval" process.  We utilized information which had been developed and distributed by the NCAA. 

The forms we posted were distributed to each of the executive directors of all 50 state high school athletic associations by the National Federation of High Schools, which in turn, had developed those forms and the process described therein working hand-in-glove with the NCAA commencing sometime in mid-April through the end of April. 

But apparently between the end of April, sometime last week, the NCAA and the NFHS realized that they were creating a Frankenstein monster, a beast that couldn't be controlled, and that they'd never get anyone to be able to comply with the requirements, much less administer, the "program" as originally conceived.  So, the NFHS told the NCAA that if they were going to develop the "criteria consistent with" the new NCAA bylaws, that the criteria would have to be theirs, and not the NCAA's criteria because the latter's would be literally impossible to administer in a timely fashion, and presented too many open issues.   

Remember, the NCAA bylaw amendment which deals with the "coaching approval" requirement, reads as follows:

"Individuals involved in coaching activities must have been approved in accordance with guidelines established by an athletics organization involved in the oversight of prospective student-athletes (e.g., Amateur Athletics Union, National Federation of State High School Associations)."   [NCAA Bylaw 30.16 (C) (j)].

If you read this carefully, it says that the guidelines have to be "established" by the outside oversight organization, not by the NCAA.  In fact, the NCAA itself has no such "guidelines" for either approving or disapproving coaches who can or cannot participate in these summer events.

So, when the NFHS-ASEP folks determined that they couldn't really do what the NCAA was asking them to do, they revamped the application form, jettisoned the criminal background checks, the financial disclosure requirments, and the affirmations about criminal background activity, thus streamlining the "approval" process to one simple form and a simple test.  No financial disclosures.  No criminal background check. No intrusive personal questions.   Bim-bam-boom...You're approved.

SECA Modifies The Plan Proposed By The NCAA

This afternoon, we had a lengthy conversation with Jennifer Nass, who is the Marketing Manager for the American Sport Education Program (AESP).   For those who don't know, the AESP is the educational arm of the NFHS.   It's job is to educate coaches, and they offer a wide variety of courses in all sports, not just basketball.  In fact, coaches who are "certified" and permitted to coach at the CIF level, are (according to the AESP) required to take a course and test in "Coaching Principles"....we've never really checked out the veracity of that statement, but we'll assume it's true and can be verified by the coaches who teach at the high school level.

Anyway, what we learned in our discussion with Ms. Nass is that what you read about yesterday here at SoCalHoops is what the NCAA proposed as its ideal to the NFHS, not the plan as it will be implemented.

That means:  No criminal background checks, no DMV checks, no personal financial information disclosures from summer coaches, and no "waiting period" or 21-day advance requirement for certification.    Under the SECA program being administered by NFHS & ASEP, it's a simple one-page form,

So what's required to be "approved" under the SECA program?

1.  Go to the SECA website and download their application form and their testing materials.  It will cost $50.00 if you get the documents online, $59 if you order by mail.

2.  About the "application":    We've seen it, and while we're not going to post it here, we want to assure everyone that it has none of the language contained in the forms we posted yesterday.   Those forms have been withdrawn by the NCAA. THE S.E.C.A. FORMS DO NOT ASK ABOUT ANY FINANCIAL INFORMATION, AND THERE IS NO CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK BEING CONDUCTED.

The only information asked is the following:

            A.     Whether you are male or female
            B.     Last name and first name
            C.     Middle name
            D.     Any nickname
            E.     Your e-mail address
            F.     Your daytime phone number
            G.     Your physical street address
            H.     The name of the team(s) you will be coaching.

Applicants are then asked to sign the form three times, attesting to three separate statements:

(1) Statement No. 1:  Applicants are Asked to acknowledge that the personal information (above) is being provided by them in order to obtain approval to engage in coaching activities during an NCAA summer men's certified event.    Applicants are also asked to acknowledge that they have read the NCAA legislation concerning summer events, that they understand the rules, and that they agree to  comply with them.   They are also asked to attest that their personal info (above) is true and accurate and complete.

(2)  Statement No. 2:    Applicants are asked to acknowledge that "this approval may be withheld, suspended, or revoked at any time by the NFHS or ASEP for any reason as deemed sufficient."

(3)   Statement No. 3:    Applicants are asked to acknowledge that they "agree to allow this information to be released to the NCAA and/or its designated agent or representative."   Applicants are also asked to agree that in the event they receive approval to coach, they will allow their "first and last name, state, and zip code to be posted on the Internet."

And that's it.   Pay $50, agree to the above three statements, take a 30-question test (which we haven't seen, but which we're told takes about an hour to read the materials and complete the test), and you will receive approval.   Your name will be listed on the SECA website, thus giving instant verification to any and all certified men's basketball event operators with a computer, that you are "certified" and "approved" to coach.

No financial disclosures.  No criminal background checks.  No intrusive questions about what you do for a living, about your driving record, any run-ins you may have had with the criminal justice system, and no one cares what color your shorts are either.

Simple, painless and really, almost meaningless, except for the testing requirement.

Who Is ASEP and why SECA?

The ASEP (American Sport Education Program) is the educational arm of the National Federation of High School Associations.  The NFHS is the national governing body which enacts national rules for sports, including basketball.  If you have a question about the rules of the game itself, be assured that virtually every state follows the rules contained in the NFHS rulebook.    The NFHS is composed of members of every state high school athletic association (including the CIF) and they also have "affiliate" members, which include most of the Canadian provincial high school athletic associations.

According to Ms. Nass at ASEP, the NCAA began to try to work with three separate organizations which the NCAA believed fit the model of their legislation.  That legislation required coaches to be certified by an organization which has "oversight for prospective student-athletes."    Examples mentioned in the legislation were the NFHS and the AAU, specifically.   The legislation didn't imit the certification to these particular agencies, and in fact there is a third group, the "United States Sports Specialty Association" which is also reportedly working with the NCAA to devise their own approval program (separate from ASEP and SECA), but for now, it appears SECA is the only one which is up and running.

According to Ms. Nass, SECA decided to go with a very much simplified process rather than the form which we posted yesterday.   "We decided that if we weren't going to use the information for any purpose, and that includes financial information, we didn't want to keep it or compile it," Ms. Nass explained.  "While we believe the NCAA wanted us to gather the information, we were never clear about why it wanted some of the information.  So we decided it did not fit our goal, which really is coaching education, and we decided to go in a different direction this year."  said Ms. Nass.   "Ultimately, the NCAA will review the program and undoubtedly there will be changes or modifications next year." 

Ms. Nass further explained why SECA is not asking for criminal background information:  "As originally devised, the program had the applicants being responsible for obtaining criminal background checks from local or state police agencies.  But we found that many state agencies either could not or would not provide the information in any timely fashion,"  Ms. Nass explained.   "The criteria just wasn't workable this year."

Anyway, that's the long and the short of it for now.  Check the SECA website.  Everything you need to know is there, including a very informative FAQ section about the program.

Are there other organizations which are approved by the NCAA to perform coaching "approvals?" 

Yes and no.   Here's what's happened:

According to the NCAA people we talked to today, the AAU, one of the three organizations designated by the NCAA,  has completely backed away from certifying coaches for approval specifically with respect to the NCAA requirments.  We attempted to contact the AAU to verify this information, but they didn't return our calls.  The word on the street though is that the AAU were concerned about potential liability as a result of collecting highly personal and confidential, but that's just rumor and we haven't actually confirmed that yet with the AAU.

So, that left just two organizations, the NFHS, and one other, the United States Sports Specialty Association (USSSA), as the two groups "designated" by the CIF to "approve" summer event coaches.   

However, to our knowledge, only the NFHS (working with ASEP)  has actually devised and put into place anything which remotely resembles a "system" for approval of coaches.

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