Compliance Stadium Guide 2025
NCAA Rules Every Michigan Fan Should Know
- ALWAYS ASK BEFORE YOU ACT! Breaking NCAA rules can render prospects and student-athletes ineligible for competition at the University of Michigan. The NCAA and College Sports Commission (CSC) hold the University of Michigan accountable for the actions of its fans and friends. Providing gifts to a student-athlete, a recruit, or their family/friends could be considered an NCAA or CSC violation, so please ask before you act! Examples of benefits include: cash, gifts, meals, transportation, clothing, discounts not available to the general public, etc.
- You MAY NOT make recruiting contacts with prospects, their relatives or legal guardians. A prospective student-athlete is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade (7th grade for volleyball) or above. This prohibition includes written and telephone communications.
- You MAY NOT contact a prospect’s coach, principal, or counselor in an attempt to evaluate the prospect.
- You MAY send articles and other information about talented prospects to the Michigan coaching staff. Also, you MAY continue established relationships with friends and neighbors whose children are prospects or current student-athletes, provided the relationship pre-dates reaching prospect status and is not based on their status as an athlete.
- You MAY attend high school or junior college competitions provided no contact occurs with the prospect or the prospect’s relatives.
- You MAY NOT entertain any coach from a junior or senior high school, preparatory school, or junior college or provide them with tickets or any other type of benefit.
- You MAY compensate a student-athlete or prospective student-athlete for the use of their Name, Image and/or Likeness, provided the student-athlete is providing you a product or service in exchange for that compensation, the NIL deal has a legitimate business purpose and the NIL deal is reported to NIL Go. For more information, please visit www.collegesportscommission.org/nil.
- Student-athletes MAY NOT sell game tickets, jerseys, apparel, equipment or awards given to them by Michigan during their eligibility. As such, please refrain from asking to buy these items from our student-athletes.
- Athletic department staff and student-athletes MAY NOT wager on sports sponsored by the NCAA or share information (e.g., injury updates, who is likely to play) with those who do, so please do not make those requests of our student-athletes.
NCAA
As part of our NCAA sanctions, we are required to inform you that Michigan Athletics is on probation until April, 2031, because of violations which occurred in the football program. During spring practice in 2021, football staff members engaged in coaching activities who were not permitted to do so and noncoaching staff members were impermissibly present during on-campus evaluations. In addition, members of the football staff also had impermissible on- and off-campus contact with three prospective student-athletes during the COVID-19 Dead Period. The full details regarding these violations and the resulting penalties can be found at https://www.ncaa.org.
The NCAA Committee on Infractions (COI) also determined that between 2021 and 2023 the Michigan football program committed violations involving off-campus, in-person scouting, impermissible recruiting inducements and communications, head coach responsibility rules by a former head coach, individuals' failures to cooperate and Michigan's failure to monitor. The scouting violations by a former football staff member, along with the former head football coach's head coach responsibility violation and most of the failure to cooperate violations, were determined to be Level I by the NCAA. The recruiting violations, one staff member's failure to cooperate violation and Michigan's failure to monitor violation are Level II. Two involved individuals, both former football staff members, agreed to violations and penalties associated with their actions in agreements approved by the committee via the negotiated resolution process. As a result of the violations, the COI imposed penalties on the institution which include four years of probation, reductions in recruiting communications and official visits, and significant financial penalties. The probation period will run consecutively to a probation period the institution is currently serving and will conclude in 2031. In addition, show cause orders were imposed on several involved individuals. The full report of the COI's findings in this matter can be accessed at https://www.ncaa.org.
More Information
For more information regarding NCAA rules, please visit the Compliance Services Office website at MGoBlue.com/compliance and follow @umichcompliance on X (formerly Twitter).
If you have any questions, you may contact the Compliance Services Office at (734) 615-7341 or compliance@umich.edu.
Maintaining the Integrity of Michigan Athletics is a team effort. Be part of the team!
