re: Here are some reasons I think we need to increase our recruiting budget

I think it was in this thread someone mentioned doing a crawfish boil to get the N and S La kids together. Either way, I contacted LSU Compliance to see if this was feasible. Basically it is not, because of food being an impermissible benefit from a booster. The contact didn't seem to be the biggest concern. Here is the response:

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I appreciate you contacting us ahead of time. Unfortunately an event in which fans of LSU and known boosters would cause a serious concern for the program and the signed prospects. As it stands the definition of a booster is very broad and does not just include individuals who donate to the university. Once a “fan” engages in anything beyond saying hello to a prospect (ex: feeding a prospect, providing a gift) they too become “boosters” in the eyes of the NCAA. Some of these NCAA rules are unreasonable and outdated but they are what they are. If you were to do something like this it’s a concern because you would be providing the prospect what the NCAA calls an “extra benefit” (the food) and you would have impermissible contact with the recruit because you would then be considered a “booster.” As fans/boosters you really can’t do anything like that until they start during summer school and are considered “student-athletes” under NCAA regulations. Below are some of the NCAA Bylaws we dealing with. Please note that a “Representative of Athletics Interest” is just a bigger word for “booster.” Also note “e” below…that’s kind of the catch all language the NCAA uses to pretty much categorize a “fan” in this scenario as a booster.

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Alabama built a new facility to house recruiting staff and has roughly 25 employed and growing.

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According to the new rules, I believe you can have a recruiting staff up to 30. Saban hit the ground running and had a staff in place the first day this was legal. We really are falling behind here and it is no joke.