I done got schooled earlier today about recruiting..

But I read in another thread someone mentioning that some of these schools had to notify the conference if they were changing.

Is there any kind of truth to this? Does a school that has been wined and dined by another conference have to let their current conference know?

I believe it was more of a CUSA rule. It's clear Pitt and Syracuse didn't tell the Big East it had sent application to the ACC. (via ND's reaction to the news)

CUSA AD's have been pretty open about every step of the process tho. I think USM's AD even issued a statement once it had begun looking into expansion options. CUSA commissioner was well aware of teams potentially leaving and has even commented multiple times about it to the media.

There is no requirement that a school notify its current conference that it is having discussion with any other league. Likewise, there is no requirement that the commissioner of a conference tells the current conference of a team it is talking to that it wants to maybe take the team. It is the civil thing to do in both cases, but is not required and is not always done. That's why you hear stories like the Big East commissioner saying he had no idea that Pitt and Syracuse were leaving until he saw the news report.

The only requirement is that the school that is leaving has to officially withdraw from its current conference and live up to the bylaws which govern such withdrawal. With the Big East, for instance, a team has to pay a $5 million exit fee and wait 27 months to join a new conference once it officially notifies the Big East that it plans to withdraw. Any changes to the terms and conditions specified in each conference's bylaws has to either be settled through negotiation (the route most schools take) or lawsuit (the route WVU is taking).