BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Bring back athlete-only dorms with unlimited food. Let coaches talk publicly about their recruits. Allow transfers in all sports to immediately play.

Those are among the ideas being discussed as the NCAA tries to produce a slimmer and more efficient rulebook, according to documents obtained by The Birmingham News.

An NCAA working group that's studying current rules released concepts to schools last week for discussion. The goal is to crack down on what the NCAA perceives as major threats to its principle of amateurism while legalizing smaller issues, some of which are currently unenforceable. "It's very complicated to take a 400-plus-page rule book and shrink it down to something sensible," NCAA President Mark Emmert said in The Indianapolis Star last month. "But we're going to do it."

For instance, the working group cautioned that its guiding principles related to academic standards could result in transfers being allowed to play immediately. That could happen in all sports by ending the residency requirement that makes transfers attend a new school for one year before becoming eligible to play.

The working group wrote that transfers could play immediately if leaving a school doesn't affect progress toward graduation, but noted that current transfer limits could be included in a new bylaw. Football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey currently have the most restrictive transfer rules, although waivers are sometimes granted for graduates.

WORKING GROUP PROPOSALS

An NCAA working group studying current rules has released some concepts to member schools for discussion of changes. The goal is to crack down on what the organization sees as major threats to amateurism while legalizing some smaller issues. Click on the links to read the documents supporting the changes:

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, among other things, would eliminate coaching categories, outside compensation restrictions and remove the restriction on the number of coaches who can recruit off-campus.

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, among other things, would create a standard for "actual and necessary" expenses, allow training expenses to be paid by entities other than just the U.S. Olympic Committee.

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, would allow for earlier contact with prospective student-athletes and reduce NCAA restrictions on official visits.

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, relates to academic standards and would eliminate legislation that is duplicative, inconsequential and/or is unenforceable.

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, deals with athletic aid and would eliminate duplicative legislation.

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, would modify academic counseling and support services, medical expenses and allow athletic dorms.

Another topic up for discussion is athletic dorms. Once enormously popular, especially in the South as Bear Bryant mastered the concept at Alabama, athletic dorms were banned in 1991 when the NCAA adopted a rule to phase them out by 1996.

The NCAA working group wants to eliminate those restrictions and require schools to establish their own policies on housing athletes. The group said that deregulating living arrangements supports the idea that athletes should be treated the same as all students, meaning school policies related to housing blocks should apply.

Many of the working group's suggestions are related to recruiting rules. For instance, the group wants to let coaches talk publicly about unsigned recruits, either throughout the recruiting process or once the player has committed. Current rules that prevent publicizing interest in a recruit stemmed from a desire to minimize a "keep up with the Joneses mentality" and not give schools a recruiting edge, the group wrote.

The working group said technology and social media make such comments difficult to monitor and enforce, and it's "arguable" whether the publicity influences a recruit's college decision. It may be necessary to still ban media presence during recruiting contacts and visits, the group said.

As the NCAA tries to deregulate itself, it also wants to expand restrictions against third-party individuals involved in the recruiting process who get hired by schools for non-coaching jobs. There's a current rule in men's basketball, but the NCAA working group believes this third-party trend extends to other sports or soon will.

Other suggestions by the working group include:

* Eliminate restrictions on the number of off-campus recruiters at one time. The rule was adopted to contain costs, but the group found no evidence that it has worked and said it's hard to enforce.

* Give schools more freedom to govern what happens on official visits by recruits. Eliminate rules once put in place to address isolated cases of perceived recruiting advantages.

* Eliminate rules about how to scout opponents since video is now widespread. The Division I Legislative Council still prefers prohibiting live scouting in all sports except for same-site competition games.

* No longer require coaches to become annually certified on NCAA rules. Schools would be responsible for educating coaches about recruiting rules.

* Let schools have earlier access to recruits in all sports, starting on June 15 after the recruit's sophomore year of high school. The idea is for recruits and schools to make more informed decisions.

* Remove restrictions on what schools, conferences and the NCAA can provide for team entertainment, such as professional sports tickets and movie tickets.

* Give schools greater discretion to provide financial relief to family members of an athlete who are sick or injured. The bylaws would remove the reference of "life-threatening."

There's even a suggestion to let schools provide unlimited food to athletes. This appears to be the offspring of a Big East proposal last August that would allow schools to provide unlimited fruit, nuts and bagels -- "including bagel spreads" -- to athletes. The proposal, which became public during the messy conference realignment process, was mocked nationally as a rare issue that the NCAA could control.

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