UC San Diego Athletics coaches and their staff members play a vital role in assisting UC San Diego to maintain a strong athletics compliance culture. The Compliance Office is committed to designing and creating departmentally integrated policies and procedures that include compliance as one part of Triton Athletics collective decision-making process. This approach allows coaches and staff to focus their attention on their core responsibilities. That said, coaches and staff have an obligation to understand the rules that apply to their areas. However, if you have any questions about NCAA rules and regulations, please contact the Athletics Compliance Office.
NCAA Division I Manual
You can download a free PDF copy of the 2025-26 Division I Manual here (DI Manual) or search the web-based version on LSDBI here (LSDBi).
Countable Athletically-Related Activities
As is outlined in Bylaw 17 of the NCAA Manual, a student-athlete's participation in countable athletically related activities (CARA) shall be limited to the following:
During the Playing Season
Daily Limit: 4 hours
Weekly Limit: 20 hours
At least one (1) day off per week
NOTE: A competition day is considered three (3) hours of activity regardless of the actual duration of the event (this includes pre-game warm-ups, shoot-around, etc.). No countable activities may take place after a competition.
Outside the Playing Season
Daily Limit: 4 hours
Weekly Limit: 8 hours
At least two (2) days off per week
Coaches are required to log their team's weekly playing/practice hours through ARMS.
Voluntary activities do not count toward the limitations displayed above. However, any activity at which a coach is present must count against daily and weekly hour limits (other than meetings initiated by student-athletes during which no other countable activities occur). Compliance and academic meetings do not count against daily and weekly limits.
See our Tip Sheet below for details on permissible athletically-related activities during institutional vacation periods and finals week.
ARMS & Teamworks (Compliance + Recruiting):
UCSD's Athletics Compliance Office partners with Teamworks to provide software solutions to its coaches, staff, and scholar-athletes. ARMS software assists the Athletics Compliance Office in monitoring and managing CARA, Playing & Practice Seasons, Recruiting Contacts/Evaluations/Visits/Phone Calls, and more. Coaches and staff can log into ARMS by clicking HERE.
Recruiting Calendar
Recruiting calendars help promote the well-being of prospective scholar-athletes and coaches and ensure competitive equity by defining certain time periods in which recruiting may or may not occur in a particular sport. The NCAA Recruiting Calendar for each sport can be found HERE.
Recruiting Periods Defined:
