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DI Council approves unlimited on-field coaches in college football
By Andrew Olson
Published:
A big change could be in store for college football coaching staffs.
The NCAA announced Tuesday that the Division I Council approved a rule change adopted by the FBS and FCS Oversight Committees to permit any staff member to provide technical and tactical instruction to student-athletes.
Under previous rules, only on-field assistant coaches such as coordinators, position coaches and the head coach could provide such instruction. Analysts and quality control assistants have long been considered “off-field” staffers who were not allowed to provide said instruction.
“NCAA members continue efforts to modernize support for student-athletes, and removing restrictions on skill instruction in football will provide those student-athletes with increased resources to achieve their greatest on-field potential,” Josh Whitman, chair of the council and athletics director at Illinois, said in an NCAA release. “At the same time, the council determined that maintaining limits on recruiting personnel will preserve competitive balance in recruiting while also localizing decision-making around how best to maximize support for student-athletes.”
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Number of recruiters remains unchanged
While the new rule will allow for unlimited on-field coaches, there is still an important distinction for the recruiting trail. Only 11 coaches (head coach and 10 assistants) will be allowed to conduct off-campus recruiting. The restrictions do not apply to on-campus recruiting.
The rule change could still lead to some recruiter shakeups. An assistant could maintain a more senior on-field coaching position, while a junior colleague could handle the time and travel demands of off-campus recruiting visits.
In May, Chris Vannini of The Athletic noted that the “unlimited coaches” policy could potentially see college football staffs look more like the pros. Many NFL teams have a position coach and an assistant position coach for all the personnel groupings.
Under the previous rule allowing 10 on-field assistants, many programs assigned special teams to analysts. Special teams coordinators are expected to return to those staffs.
Limits will still apply to graduate assistants (4), strength and conditioning coaches (5) and student assistants (11) on FBS staffs.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
