NCAA Dead Period Extended On Wednesday, November 18th, the NCAA Division I Council met and extended the Dead Period through April 15, 2021. Coaches expected this to happen as many had been told by their administrators that the decision was forthcoming. As of Wednesday’s ruling, Division I coaches are unable to have in-person contacts with prospective student-athletes. This means no in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations, no campus visits to meet the coach (you can visit campuses on your own if it’s safe to do so), and no camps.
While it may be disheartening to know that Division I coaches will not be on the recruiting trail until April 2021, you should continue your recruitment in the spirit of pandemic communication. Lots of Zoom calls are happening right now, and what better way to get to know a coach than to see them with their campus on a beautiful, sunny day as their background photo? Permissible activities during a dead period include emails, texts, phone calls, FaceTimes, yes Zoom calls, and social media communication.
College Golf This Fall Despite shutdowns in states like California, college golf did happen this fall. In some conferences, teams were able to travel and play. In speaking to college coaches about their experiences, they said that it was tough and a huge sacrifice on behalf of their students. Many athletic departments required that their student-athletes sign waivers and agree to certain conduct. Many of them lived in their own “bubbles” to ensure that they would pass weekly Covid testing protocols.
You can find the official college golf rankings on Golfstat.com where you can toggle between association, gender, and division. Listed below is the total number of teams that competed in official tournaments this fall. The Number 1 ranked team is listed in parentheses.
Division I Men: 58 teams (Vanderbilt); Division I Women: 45 teams (Baylor)
Division II Men: 68 teams (South Carolina - Aiken); Division II Women: 53 teams (Dallas Baptist)
Division III Men: 27 teams (Piedmont College); Division III Women: 22 teams (Mary Hardin-Baylor)
NAIA Men: 131 teams (Point University); NAIA Women: 104 teams (William Cary University)
NJCAA Men: 15 teams (Hutchinson Community College); NJCAA Women: 13 teams (Redlands Community College)
Connect with Golf Globally, LLC
Golf Globally, LLC is a San Francisco-based college placement company. After 11 years coaching NCAA Division I Women’s Golf, Dr. Katie Brophy Miles founded Golf Globally to simplify the recruiting process for families. Contact Katie if you have additional questions about playing college golf!