DESTIN, Fla. — A proposed rule change to lift the limit on official visits a player can take during their recruitment could benefit Oregon but also be particularly costly.
NCAA Division I Proposal 2022-5 would eliminate the limit of official visits for recruits — presently five for football, men’s basketball and several other sports, and four in women’s basketball. It was tabled in April “based on the pending work of the (Division I) Transformation Committee.”
Should that proposal eventually be adopted, Oregon could stand to benefit. Ducks football coach Dan Lanning and his staff have taken a national approach to recruiting, and getting players from the Southeast to visit UO when they might be considering several SEC programs as well presents a small challenge with the present limit on visits. However, the change would come with an increased cost burden.
“If the cap were to get lifted, it would have a significant impact on cost and it would be one that would be tough to manage,” Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said. “There’s no question when we have prospective student-athletes visit and see our staff, the support systems that are set in place to support the student-athlete experience and help them be successful in every phase of their life, in addition to the amazing facility infrastructure and what a great community and university we are within — absolutely, our yield rate is pretty high. It would be advantageous for us to get more visits. We just have to weigh that against the budget impact.”
As aggressive as Lanning and his staff have been on the recruiting trail, quickly piecing together a top 20 class amid the short timetable during this transition and assembling a top 15 class so far for 2023, lifting the cap on official visits would also create more demands on the coaches and support staff.
“I’m in favor of seeing my family every once in a while,” Lanning said. “If we have unlimited official visits, I’ll be the first coach to say, ‘Hey, it would be OK if we could every once in a while see my wife and kids.’ I think every other coach would say the same thing.
“I want to get kids here as much as possible on campus; we’re going to do that. We’re going to use every rule that we can to get players here and it certainly makes sense for players to be able to have the opportunity to see places that they would be interested in being. But on the same note, it would be nice to be able to hang out with my crew every once in a while.”
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Ohio athletic director Julie Cromer are co-chairs of the 21-member committee, which also included Washington State athletic director Pat Chun and Cal faculty athletic rep Bob Jacobsen from the Pac-12.
The Transformation Committee was to have its work completed by August, but Sankey said the group has a “longer runway” into January 2023 to complete its process of recommended changes.
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