NCAA president Mark Emmert wanted to make the recruiting rules simpler and easier to understand.

He and the NCAA Division I Board of Directors did just that this weekend when they passed 25 of 26 rule change proposals brought to them. With these alterations, Emmert said regulations will allow schools to “focus the rules on those things that are real threats to the integrity of sport rather than things that are mostly annoying.”

One of the more dramatic changes passed Saturday was the deregulation of the number of phone calls, text messages and other forms of communication a coach can have with a recruit. Coach Pat Fitzgerald had been very vocal about his opposition to this rule change and how it would affect his coaching staff. But Emmert said that proposal was passed easily.

“There was virtually no debate on it. Everyone agreed that those rules need to be changed,” Emmert said. “That was probably the least controversial issue in this whole process.”

Some of the other major proposals passed this weekend include abandoning the limit of coaches who can recruit off campus at the same time, permitting athletes $300 per year beyond normal expenses to go to non-scholastic events — assuming they are from a permissible source and requiring institutions to provide necessary expenses to student-athletes when they represent the institution in practice, competition and non-competitive events such as goodwill tours and media appearances.

To see the other proposals passed, click here.