In many ways, college athletics is steadily expanding.
For example, the College Football Playoff will move from four teams to 12 teams. Next year, the four major conferences will increase to a total of 13 teams. The league's television contracts continue to grow, coaches' salaries are soaring, and schedules are getting longer.
Next up is the coaching staff.
The NCAA Football Oversight Committee introduced legislation this month that would expand the capacity of football support staff and allow all staff members to provide player skills and tactical coaching guidance both during practices and games. . The proposal, introduced for the second year in a row after failing to win approval last spring, would limit coaching instruction to the NCAA's maximum of 11 “countable” coaches (10 assistants and the head coach). Eliminate the policy that limits the number of employees to
The proposal would keep the number of extramural recruiters at a strict 11, but would give head coaches more flexibility and designate 10 staff members as “countable” coaches eligible to recruit from off-campus. It gives you the possibility to specify.
The proposal is currently in a six-week review phase, with oversight committee members receiving feedback from their respective meetings. The committee is scheduled to meet in mid-May to evaluate feedback and consider possible adoption of the bill. Adoption from the committee requires approval from the DI Council, the main NCAA governing body, which is made up of her 40 members from all 32 conferences.
Craig Ball, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, said the proposal, if adopted, would go into effect in time for summer training or the start of fall camp. Mr. Ball, a member of the oversight committee, said AFCA supports the proposal “100%.”
“This is probably the most common sense approach we can take,” he told Yahoo Sports. “For years, we've had analysts and quality control coaches who have a desire to coach. Now that players can get compensated, things have changed a lot. We've had assistant quarterback coaches. Coaching is counterproductive when you're worried you're going to put it down. It's been a compliance nightmare.”
For years, coaches have encouraged administrative leaders to expand coaching capabilities beyond the 11 counting coaches to the entire staff. Most FBS programs have 20 or more support staff members with a variety of titles, including analysts, recruiting coordinators, quality control coaches, director of player personnel, player development, and player relations.
According to NCAA rules, these staff members, many of whom are former position assistants or head coaches, are not allowed to provide coaching guidance to players in the building, during practices or games. This is an unenforceable rule that many schools already violate to some degree.
“This removes all the gray areas of what each role can and cannot do,” said AFCA board member and West Virginia coach Neil Brown. “There's a little bit of a gray area in some leagues and some compliance departments have a different view than others. I think that's a really good thing for the profession. Our job as coaches is , to grow and grow our staff.”
But once this restriction is lifted, it opens the door to further expansion of the workforce that has ballooned over the years.
The Division I Board of Regents rejected a similar proposal last spring in a surprising move that angered many in the leadership. The council, which was primarily comprised of administrators and representatives from the FCS and non-competitive soccer leagues, did not adopt the proposal, primarily due to the policy change that would have resulted in an increase in the coaching staff.
Coaches reject such notions. Auburn coach Hugh Freeze, one of the most vocal proponents of the change, said most teams at the major conference level hire a second assistant for each position group and a separate coach for special teams. I believe it is.
This policy change will likely result in more coaches being given NFL-like titles, such as assistant offensive line coach or assistant quarterbacks coach.
“It could be too many. We don't need 40 coaches,” Freese told Yahoo Sports. “We need more people than ever to keep the team together. We need bodies to capture the kids and the culture and help manage the 85-man (men's roster). At that point, we end up limiting their growth.”
In addition to staff bloat, there are several potential unintended consequences.
The change could also be seen as a new way for better-resourced programs to become independent and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars stockpiling coaches. Many expect this move to lead to more leadership movements from Group Five companies to Power Four.
There are also questions about the impact this proposal would have on graduate assistantships. Each team will be assigned two graduate assistants who can provide coaching to the players. Opening up the coaching ability to all staff members eliminates the unique benefits of GA.
Ball, who is responsible for scrutinizing the issue by an oversight committee, believes there is still a sustainable and healthy path for graduate assistantships under the academic model if the proposal is adopted.
The proposal comes weeks after the NCAA rules committee recommended implementing a communication system between players and helmets this season. A coach can communicate with his one player on each side of the ball via a helmet microphone that turns off with his 15 seconds left on the play clock. Players will also be able to watch past plays from the sideline on a digital tablet. This is why the coaching proposal extends to in-game coaching, Ball said.
The committee considered several versions of the proposal, including one that would allow only 10 coaches and head coaches to provide skills instruction on game day. The current version of the proposal may change as committee members receive feedback.
“With tablets on the sidelines, it seems counterproductive for coaches to not allow coaching duties during games,” Ball said.
In the recruitment space, 11 staff members will be designated for off-campus recruitment. Those 11 players must follow NCAA protocols and current recruiting restrictions. That could extend beyond position assistants, but Ball believes most position assistants will want to be hired as a way to start building relationships with prospective players.
“Some people say if you hire a bunch of quality control guys as a coach, you'll be able to hire other guys as well. That's the NFL model,” Ball said. “What I've seen is that even when you're recruiting, you're still projecting relationships…people who hire people like this are going to want to coach them. .”
Brown said the recruitment portion of the proposal allows for flexibility similar to the NFL. Coaches who have held non-coaching roles will be allowed to teach.
“It gives experienced staff who don't want the hassle of recruitment the opportunity to go back into on-the-ground coaching rather than an advisory role,” he said.
