NAIA Schools & Recruiting Process

All About the NAIA Schools & Recruiting Process 

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, or NAIA. The NAIAs rules regarding athletic scholarships are designed to level the playing field among its divisions. That is not to say that attending an NAIA school and playing sports is a lesser experience; indeed’ many NAIA programs are highly competitive with NCAA teams and are academically excellent. These schools have simply chosen to compete in a less-restrictive and generally less-expensive environment.The NAIA offers many opportunities for student athletes who are looking to receive scholarships and about 90 percent of NAIA schools offer athletic scholarships. Also, if an athlete is not comfortable at one institution, they can transfer to another without being penalized athletically.

There are also many opportunities available in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (or NAIA), a completely separate body from the NCAA. With almost 300 member schools, it is the second-largest athletic conference after Division III. NAIA schools are generally small (most have less than 5,000 students), and their recruiting rules are much less strict.

3 Things to Know About NAIA Recruiting

Like Division III, most programs have small recruiting budgets. Unlike Division III, NAIA schools can offer athletic scholarships. This means that, despite their small size, NAIA schools have very competitive sports – about on the level of NCAA Division II.
There are no restrictions at all on coach communications. Coaches can call, email, or text potential recruits. They can write on their Facebook walls or tweet at them. They can visit their houses or go to their games. There are no time or age restrictions. Even more so than Division III, being proactive can lead to huge benefits when it comes to recruiting.

Although they don’t use the National Letter of Intent that Division I and II schools do, NAIA schools can draft their own binding letters of intent. This can give confidence to the school and the athlete about where they will be playing.