When can college coaches first call, text, visit, and send materials to my child? Division I vs. II vs. III

Three divisions, three different systems

The NCAA does not run all three divisions the same way. Division I uses recruiting calendars. Division II follows what the NCAA calls recruiting reminders. Division III uses no recruiting calendars or reminders. That difference matters: a coach at a Division III school is not bound by the same period-by-period rules that a Division I coach is.

Division I: what is allowed depends on your child's grade

During freshman and sophomore years, Division I coaches may not call your child, text, email, or make off-campus contact. Your child may call coaches. Coaches may send only questionnaires, NCAA educational materials, camp brochures, and general school information — nothing else.

Freshmen may not take unofficial visits at all. Sophomores may take unofficial visits beginning August 1 of their sophomore year.

The first major date is June 15 after your child's sophomore year. Starting that date, coaches may call at any time, and your child may send and receive unlimited texts, emails, and direct social media messages. Recruiting materials may also be sent beginning that date.

Juniors may take a maximum of five expense-paid official visits to Division I schools. Off-campus contact is permitted during junior year, and coaches are allowed seven off-campus, in-person contacts with each recruit during that year.

The Division I calendar sets specific periods — recruiting periods, evaluation periods, quiet periods, and dead periods — throughout the year. The dates of those periods change each year; the NCAA publishes the current calendar and parents should check it directly rather than rely on any date printed here.

Division I: what the named periods mean

During a recruiting period, coaches may make in-person, off-campus contacts and evaluations. During an evaluation period, coaches may assess your child off campus but may not make in-person recruiting contact. During a quiet period, in-person contact is allowed only on the college's campus. During a dead period, no in-person contact or evaluations are allowed anywhere, and official and unofficial visits to campus are not permitted.

Division II: earlier access, fewer period restrictions

Division II coaches may send athletically related recruiting materials at any time — there is no waiting period tied to grade level the way there is in Division I. Off-campus contacts and in-person contacts are permitted after June 15 immediately before your child's junior year in high school, with no limits on the number of contacts from that point forward outside of dead periods. Division II follows recruiting reminders rather than a full calendar, so the period structure is less rigid than Division I.

Division III: no calendar, no reminders

Division III does not use recruiting calendars or reminders. The sources provided do not describe grade-level restrictions or named contact periods for Division III. If you are focused on Division III programs, the NCAA's own guidance says contact rules at that level are not organized the same way, but this page cannot tell you more than that because the sources are silent on the specifics.

What this means in practice: school record matters

Depth Chart tracks which programs players actually reach. Among players from high schools in the bottom 25% by record of sending players on, 8% reached Division I, 13% reached Division II, and 78% reached Division III. Among players from the top 10% of high schools by that same record, 77% reached Division I, 13% reached Division II, and 10% reached Division III. Knowing which division is realistic for your child changes which recruiting timeline applies.