NCAA Tightens Up Rules for Recruiting : Scholarships: The number of paid visits by recruits that a campus can have is reduced.

Delegates to the 85th annual NCAA convention voted overwhelmingly today to place new restrictions on the recruitment of athletes.

The delegates voted to keep coaches away from recruits on national scholarship signing days and to reduce the number of paid campus visits recruits can make.

As a cost-cutting measure, the NCAA voted 97 to 9 for Division I-A and 86 to 6 for Division I-AA to cut the total number of campus visits by football recruits from 85 to 70 per year.

The delegates voted 298 to 19 to limit the number of paid campus visits by basketball players from 18 to 15 a year for all Division I schools.

“The proposed limitations remain high enough to accommodate the concerns of those institutions that bring larger numbers of prospects to campus for official visits,” said Gene Corrigan, commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference and chairman of the NCAA Special Committee on Cost Reduction, which sponsored the proposal.

The delegates voted 299 to 13 to expand the so-called “dead period” surrounding the first day of the national signing periods for football and basketball scholarships.

Universities cannot have any contact with recruits during that period, which was increased to five days by today’s vote.

The dead period had been the two days before the first day of a national signing period. The delegates voted to add the first three days of the signing period.

Also today, delegates voted 277 to 13 to require exit interviews for athletes in each sport.

The sample of interviews was proposed as a way to encourage schools to be responsive to the needs of athletes. The exit interviews must include questions about the students’ athletic experiences, the extent of time demanded by sports participation, proposed changes in intercollegiate athletics and any concerns related to the athletes’ specific sport.

The NCAA also voted today to eliminate one of the most abused rules in college sports--setting a date that bowl bids can be extended.

Bowl executives anticipated today’s vote at the NCAA convention and took action on their own Monday.

The Bowl Assn., composed of all 19 certified postseason games, announced it would fine any member $250,000 for breaking their now self-imposed invitation date of Nov. 17 for next season.