One of the most highly-anticipated meetings of the NFCA Convention held last week in Las Vegas was the Softball Summit on Friday at 1:30 pm PST.

Last year, this open forum meeting was surprisingly contentious as club and college coaches debated topics including early recruiting and the recruiting open window to evaluate players in person.

This year, the hot issue was expected to be the fall recruiting window as college coaches had indicated they wanted it shrunk to a smaller time period and club coaches and event producers were expected to fight this.

The structure of the Softball Summit was such that coaches at each level spoke and recapped proposals and suggestions that were arrived at in earlier meetings held by each group.

Here is the list of coaches who spoke in behalf of their constituents at the Softball Summit:

• Division I – Natalie Poole (Memphis)
• Division II – Don Kennedy (Missouri SNT)
• Division III – Kris Herman (Williams College)
• NAIA – Hal Wynn (Faulkner College)
• Juco – Tommy Ramos (Midland College)
• Cal Juco – Darcy Bronwell (Sierra College)
• Travel Ball – Kevin Shelton (Texas Glory)
• High School – Carrie Augsten (Deer Park H.S., Texas)

The meeting was blocked out for two hours and the recaps took 45 minutes. The expected fireworks, however, failed to materialize as no one—repeat, no one—spoke up as the moderator went through each level asking for comments.

There was a buzz among the crowd as the meeting ended and one coach was heard to say, “Wow, I expected a dogfight and this wasn’t even a dog show!”

However, that didn’t mean there weren’t some major changes proposed, especially around recruiting windows, contact periods and transfer rules.

Here are some of the key items that were mentioned; note, that even if these suggestions/proposals would be advanced, they still would have to be voted on and approved later which many feel could take at least two years to finalize and implement.

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Division I: Recruiting Window

* The D1 college coaches propose that the fall recruiting window (to go out and see prospects) would go from Oct. 17 to Thanksgiving.

* The “Quiet Period” would run from August 8 to October 9 and then Nov. 21 to Jan 8 (meaning right after Nationals end for the summer).

* The recruiting contact period would run from the Women’s College World Series in the summer through the first weekend in August.

* Camps and clinics would be included in the legislation and recruiting camps, both institutional and non-institutional, would run during this proposed window and fit within the recruiting contact period.

* There would be a certification of recruiting events to have promote having structure and efficiency in these tournaments, camps, showcases, etc. This wouldn’t restrict who runs the events and who gets the money.

* Certification would also include allowing equal access to player information and the best contact information for the recruits.

* In a straw vote 75% of the coaches felt it was definitely worth looking into forwarding these issues although there are unresolved questions as to who would monitor the certification process.

Division I: Early Recruiting

* It was proposed that legislation be formed to help stop recruiting conversations from happening so early.

* There was strong support from the coaches that there should not be recruiting contact, official visits, texts and phone calls until July 1 after the player’s sophomore year.

* There would be no contact with a third party, club or high school coaches, regarding unofficial visits or scholarship offers.

* There were five straw votes on these and other issues:

• 1^st: no recruiting contact with contact until July 1 of sophomore year: 95% in favor
• 2^nd: recruiting conversations to not take place at camps for sophomores or younger: 95% in favor
• 3^rd: allowing official visits during junior year: 90% in favor
• 4^th: July 1 first time period to allow offers in writing: 20% yes, 10% no, 70% didn’t participate
• 5^th: National Letter of Intent moved up to junior year: 20% yes, 80% no

Division I: One-Time Transfer Rule

* The growing problem of college players transferring more frequently was discussed and the suggestion that transfers wouldn’t be allowed to compete for one year was voted on with 90% in favor.

* It was mentioned that 80 percent of players who transfer do it for softball issues or reasons.

* The idea was it wouldn’t take away eligibility but allow the college coaches to “make better decisions on pursuing them.”

Travel Ball: Recruiting Window

* The travel ball coaches are “adamantly opposed” to no fall window, but as a group supports the idea of a shorter window of events where college coaches could evaluate.

* They like the idea of the window being from October 1 to Thanksgiving versus the six weeks before Thanksgiving because it would help those in weather-impacted areas.

* They are OK with the reduced window as long as September and December don’t turn into “college camp fests.” It was felt by the group that the activity outside the allowed recruiting window would be moved to college campuses resulting in recruits and their families spending a lot more money (on college camps).

* One concert was the unintended consequent would be helping the “travel ball haves” or better teams getting the better fields because there would be few elite events.

* Regarding certifying events, “everyone but one (coach)” was against this. It was said that, “basketball events are certified, but there hasn’t be a positive impact on those events.”

Travel Ball: Early Recruiting

* The travel coaches were in support of the proposed idea of no recruiting contact or visits before July 1 after the sophomore year. A vote was in favor of this.

* The primary concern was the language that would be around an offer given after July 1 so it would be understood by all. It was felt by the club coaches that if a player can’t get a scholarship offer until after July 1 of the sophomore year “it would make a big difference.”

Travel Ball: Standards & Measurables

* Regarding testing athletes at events so there is a standardization of measurable such as home-to-first speed, it was stated that “TCS (Triple Crown Sports) and PGF (Premier Girls Fastpitch) are working on this and everyone sees it as a positive.”