ACS News

ACS Athletics hosts informational webinar announcing the new InControl Baseline bundled package.

Presenters:

Bo Kerin, Collegiate Athletics Consultant; Regional Director of Sales

Kevin Bresser, Vice-President of Sales

Dates:

Monday, November 16th – 1:00 – 1:45 PM Central Time (To register for this session, click here)

Tuesday, November 17th – 10:30 – 11:15 AM Central Time (To register for this session, click here)

Mark your calendars! ACS Athletics will conduct two Webinar presentations to introduce the recently released InControl Baseline, a standardized technology solution for student-athlete records management, forms, recruiting, compliance monitoring and student-athlete life-cycle management. The presentation will provide a comprehensive overview detailing the following features of InControl Baseline:

Centralized Student-Athlete Records Management

Coaches and staff are constantly frustrated and confused when it comes time to find critical student-athlete information. InControl Baseline has taken an industry best-practice approach to consolidating critical student-athlete information related to eligibility, academics, admissions, sports medicine, roster management, employment, housing, and much more. InControl Baseline will reduce the duplicate spreadsheets and emails that typically litter the athletic department by having information in one location.

Student-Athlete Communication

InControl Baseline will allow coaches and approved department staff to quickly communicate with student-athletes through email, text messaging, and mail-merge capabilities. Whether it’s a slight change to a practice schedule or an important emergency notice, InControl will allow your athletics department to communicate with your student-athletes with a push of a button.

Student-Athlete Forms

InControl Baseline will allow your department to shed the piles of paper collected from student-athletes, and the system frees these student-athletes from the burden of completing information in duplicate copy. InControl Baseline has helped coaches and compliance reduce the time spent in beginning-of-year team meetings by having all forms completed well before student-athletes arrive at the team meeting.

Complimentary Admissions

Through their secure web-based portal, student-athletes can submit their complimentary admissions guest list and request tickets for an entire season at one time, if deemed appropriate by the department.

Practice Logs

Coaches and staff can submit practice logs for Countable Athletically Related Activities (CARA) online. These logs can be sent for student-athlete review and approval through their secure web-based portal. Compliance can then approve logs through the online system.

Recruiting

Recruiting is critical to the success of any athletic department. The top programs in the country are implementing the InControl suite specifically for the powerful and unique recruitment management tools. Coaches have the ability to manage their PSA data, access the information via their Blackberry/iPhone/Smartphone, send and manage email campaigns, tile prospects through recruiting depth charts, log compliance activity and more.

Compliance Monitoring

InControl is the leading software suite to collect and, more importantly, analyze Bylaw 13 recruiting activity. Coaches will have the ability to log phone calls through the Blackberry/iPhone/Smartphone application. The system proactively reviews each prospect’s previous recruiting activity and compares it with the NCAA rules and recruiting calendars. On the spot, your coaches will be alerted if that call would result in a potential violation. The system will analyze all recruiting activity and report any potential violations.

ACS Athletics employs a holistic approach in developing technology solutions for athletics departments of all types and sizes. Please join us on and discover how ACS Athletics can help your athletics department maintain a recruiting edge, meet industry standards in compliance monitoring and institutional control, and increase efficiency in managing the student-athlete life-cycle.

We hope you will join us to learn more about the new InControl Baseline bundled package!

Sincerely,

The ACS Team

http://www.acsathletics.com

(800) 343-6220 x302

8213-A Shoal Creek Blvd., Suite 204

Austin, Texas 78757

Advances in Technology Cited as Reason to Deregulate Telephone Call Restrictions in Recruiting

By Bo Kerin

During its September 2009 meeting, the NCAA Recruiting and Athletics Personnel Issues Cabinet supported Pacific-10 Conference Proposal No. 2010-32, which if adopted, would permit coaches to make unlimited telephone calls to prospective student-athletes during sport-specific recruiting contact periods.  In addition to agreeing with the Pac-10 rationale that monitoring recruiting telephone calls has become overly burdensome on institutional compliance administrators, the cabinet also noted, “…the many forms of communication available in today’s culture, with electronic means increasingly becoming the preferred method among high school students.”

Historically, NCAA recruiting rules related to telephone calls to prospective student-athletes have been crafted to minimize intrusion into the lives of prospects and their families.  However, this rationale appears to be losing its hold on the NCAA Division I membership, in part, due to advances in technology and the changing culture of today’s youth.

“So much has changed since the one-call-per-week rule was enacted many years ago,” said Mike Matthews, Associate Commissioner for Compliance at the Pac-10 Conference. “That rule was created at a time when families only had one phone in the house and it could be tied up at night with recruiting calls from college coaches. Now, prospects walk around with mobile phones that include things like caller ID and forwarding to voice mail. Since prospects have much more control over the phone calls they receive, it makes sense to bring this rule into the 21st century.”

Despite support from the cabinet, some coaches are leery of heading down this road.  The Women’s Basketball Issues Committee opposes Proposal No. 2010-32 and expressed concern that, “this legislation would cause telephone calls to become more intrusive on prospective student-athletes and have a negative impact on the work/life balance of coaches due to the increase in the number of telephone calls they would feel they must make during contact periods.”

The proposal may be the first step in additional deregulation as it relates to communication with prospects and their families.  The cabinet has announced plans to review current Division I recruiting rules for potential deregulation over the course of this academic year, so regardless of the position to which one subscribes, this issue appears to be one that will be debated heavily in the near future.  In the interim, coaches will continue to be expected to adhere to telephone call restrictions and institutions will continue to be expected to monitor such communication.  While the current proposal would deregulate recruiting telephone calls during contact periods if adopted, restrictions will continue to remain outside of those periods.  As a result, institutions will need to evaluate monitoring activities and implement technological solutions to adhere to this standard for the foreseeable future.

The University of Louisiana-Lafayette Revamps Student-Athlete Complimentary Admission Procedures with ACS InControl

In addition to implementing ACS InControl for recruiting efforts and compliance monitoring, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette also uses the product suite to proactively monitor student-athlete complimentary admissions.  In previous years, the process was tedious and time-consuming for both student-athletes and athletics department staff.  Student-athletes were limited to specified time periods for assigning complimentary admissions and athletics department staff spent numerous hours reviewing the lists and making changes on the fly.

“Implementing ACS InControl has allowed us to reduce preparation time for creating complimentary admissions lists drastically,“ said Jessica Clarke, Louisiana’s Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance.  “(Prior to using ACS InControl) approximately ten hours were spent each week prior to game time creating the (football) complimentary admissions list.  (Now), we spend approximately one hour setting up our event list for the entire season, and we only spend about thirty minutes each week printing the final list and reviewing it for accuracy,” Clarke said.

Clarke also indicated that not only does the system assist in more efficient compliance procedures, it provides more flexibility for student-athletes.  “The student-athletes have also benefited as their time can now be spent on academics and athletics, rather than constantly reporting in person to sign for complimentary admissions.  Completing their guest list online has allowed the student-athletes to finish this task when it is convenient for them, rather than when our staff is available during office hours,” Clarke said.

According to Clarke, in addition to increasing efficiency and reducing the burden on the student-athletes, the compliance office now has an additional tool to assist in monitoring the relationships between student-athletes and complimentary admissions recipients.  When adding a new complimentary admission recipient, the student-athlete is required to answer a series of questions to aid the compliance staff in ensuring the student-athlete has not received improper benefits in exchange for the admission.

“Monitoring complimentary admissions lists has always been a challenge, simply as a result of the nature of the process,” Clarke said.  “We now have a streamlined, online system, capable of being accessed 24 hours/day.  The compliance office can spend more time monitoring the relationship of student-athletes to their guests and be more proactive in preventing potential violations after reviewing student-athletes’ answers to questions asked by (the) ACS (system) when requesting complimentary admissions.  Reports can be generated in a matter of seconds indicating our monitoring efforts.”

Funding Technology Solutions for Your Athletics Department

In an effort to increase efficiency, improve recruiting efforts and maintain compliance with NCAA rules, athletics departments are turning to technology solutions to meet these standards.  Progressive, cost conscious athletic departments are now looking to transform their athletics business processes, making communication and information delivery more automated and collaborative. Increased efficiencies means athletics departments can get more productivity out of the staff they already have in place.  When athletics administrators and coaches engage in evaluating these solutions, funding is a primary concern.  In many instances, individual units of the athletics department are free to explore ways in which to operate more efficiently, but are then responsible for identifying the funding method.  For revenue sports, this does not always present much of an obstacle, but for non-revenue sports and other areas within the athletics department that are not self-sustaining, the challenge is much greater.  Generally, funds will have to be reallocated from an existing budget line item, such as salaries, travel or other services that may affect the well-being of student-athletes.  When this occurs, the institution is too often forced to choose between cutting one area or project to fund another, selecting a technology solution that is inferior or does not meet the needs of the department or sport, or abandoning the technology solution altogether.  So, how does an athletics department fund a technology solution without detracting from other areas?

First, evaluate what is being spent on existing software within each individual unit (e.g., football, track, volleyball, compliance, equipment operations) in the athletics department.  For those areas that do not employ a software program in daily operations, consider calculating the number of person hours required to maintain appropriate record-keeping, compliance monitoring, recruiting records, equipment inventory and student-athlete information.  Follow that exercise by estimating the number of person hours saved by implementing a technology solution in that area.  Once the cost of existing operations is determined, consider a holistic approach to a technology solution, whereas, each area improved by implementing such a program is responsible for only a small portion of the total cost.

The ACS InControl product suite provides a department-wide technology solution for all types of athletics departments.  In addition, the system helps athletics organizations reach their peak productivity and increase institutional control by automating and enhancing inefficient, paper-driven processes. Coaches maintain a recruiting edge through use of branded email templates, a comprehensive prospective student-athlete database and more efficient record keeping.  Through the use of the recruiting and team manager modules, coaches will no longer need to submit recruiting logs or playing and practice season hourly summaries, as this information is entered directly into the system for review by the compliance office.  The compliance module contains a rules engine which evaluates recruiting activities in accordance with NCAA rules in real time.  Student-athlete forms are pushed directly to the student-athlete for completion prior to beginning of the year team meetings, which saves time and paper!  This information is then permanently stored in the student-athlete’s individual system file.  Equipment inventory can be electronically tracked so as to reduce the potential for increased costs due to lost or stolen equipment.

This is only a snapshot of the services the ACS InControl product suite provides and with the release of the new “Baseline” product, athletics departments have an affordable solution to address the day-to-day challenges of tracking hundreds of student-athletes, thousands of activities and tens of thousands of records, all of which may be accessed with a few clicks of the mouse.

“Instead of adding more people, athletic departments are adopting ACS InControl™ to help their current staff perform at a higher level,” said Kevin Bresser, Vice President of Sales, ACS Athletics. “It’s exciting to be in a position to offer performance improving solutions that are both budget and environmentally friendly.”

“The mass of paperwork is too much for stakeholders like coaches and compliance administrators to wade through,” said Phillip Engle, President, ACS Athletics. “Through partnerships with the top collegiate athletic programs across the country, we know firsthand that ACS InControl™ helps coaches and administrators do their jobs more effectively, giving their teams and athletic department a competitive advantage.”

Finally, by absorbing the cost of the ACS InControl product suite across the entire department, the effect on individual sport or unit budgets in minimal.  In the long run, the system will actually lower operating costs and reduce inefficiencies that stifle productivity by transforming and automating athletic business processes.

For more information on how ACS Athletics can help athletic departments improve performance, visit http://www.acsathletics.com.

ACS Athletics

Phone: 512-343-8811×302

Fax: 512-857-0316

Blog: Tales from the Road – War Board Memories of Yore

By Bo Kerin

During a recent visit to a Sun Belt Conference school, I had the opportunity to observe Melanie Carter Cabezas, ACS Athletics Director of Client Relations, assist the football staff with the implementation of the ACS InControl Recruiting Coordinator module.  In the process of observing Melanie configure viewing preferences and cell phone settings for each individual coach, I noticed the “War Board” feature she was demonstrating.  During the mid-1990s, I served as an undergraduate student assistant in the University of Tennessee football office and I am very familiar with a recruiting “War Board.”  During the peak of the recruiting season, coaches would provide student assistants with changes and updates to the “War Board,” and we would go into the staff meeting room between gatherings and move the tiles around to reflect the changes.  The magnetic tiles included name, height, weight and a ranking and were organized by position on a very large dry-erase board.

Fifteen years later, I’m now witnessing the latest version of the “War Board” on a computer screen.  Now, all it takes to shift prospects around is using a mouse to click and drag the “tile” into its desired location.  In addition, the coaches have the ability to select specific information to be displayed on each “tile.”  As a result, the defensive line coach has the ability to organize his prospects and include information pertinent to his position.  The head coach and the recruiting coordinator have the ability to access this information collectively, which allows for more efficient recruiting organization and operations.  Definitely a much improved process from the days of magnets and dry-erase boards.