Reasons why compliance offices always insist you #AskBeforeYouAct. A THREAD :

1) Access to information: Did you know there’s A LOT more to NCAA rules than just the manual? Compliance officers have access to thousands of interpretations, educational columns, tip sheets, flow charts, among other resources to advise their institutions on how to proceed?

2) Network: Let’s say a compliance officer gets a question they haven’t seen before. We ALL know each other. At any time we can call old classmates, friends, coworkers from prior stops, NCAA staff, and other conference schools to see what they would say. Shout out to #PeachJam.

3) Experience: There are lots of compliance officers who have worked at multiple institutions, maybe even the NCAA itself. The longer you work, the more you see. You get to a point where you’ve seen enough that you can call on past experience to guide decisions.

4) Ulterior motives: Another little-known fact is that compliance offices aren’t coaching staff members. We don’t get win/loss bonuses, or contract extensions based on waiver outcomes. We simply love what we do and want to do our best, both for ourselves and our schools.

4.5) Ulterior motives: If you’re confused and you aren’t talking to compliance, the chances of you getting bad information is huge! Nobody knows it like the pros. Even if that other person does know the rules, they may have things to gain by giving bad info. Don’t buy into it!

5) Media: This could be its own thread, tbh. The media doesn’t know. They just don’t. Certain “reporters” claim they’re confused about rules but guess what? We aren’t! Why not ask us and get the right info? I read articles/tweets that make me facepalm regularly. Tune them out.

6) Changes: Did you know rules change yearly? This year was even more frequent! It’s our job to keep up with those changes. We are well-educated on them. I still see people complaining about bagels and cream cheese! The 70s called. They want their NCAA rules back. Times change.

7) Coaches: We work really closely with our coaches, and we love it! They always check with us about paths forward, rule clarifications, and more! Don’t try and convince our coaches they’re wrong, because they have us in their corner.

We could go on, but I think we’ve made our point. The long story short is ask early, ask often, and ASK US! #AskBeforeYouAct #Subtweet