AFCA’s stance on the major issues ahead of monumental NCAA vote

[Harry]

As the college football news hunkers down and waits for white smoke to emerge from the NCAA conclave on the biggest set of legislation in a generation — no one seems to know exactly when the vote will go down, but it’ll be before the country breaks for the holiday weekend — Todd Berry conducted a radio interview to give one last stump speech for the AFCA’s stance on the issues. And what are those issues, you ask? Adding a 10th assistant coach. A December signing period. The so-called IAWP rule. Drastic changes to the summer camp schedule. Small things like that.

The IAWP rule is a great place to start. With the backing of the AFCA (more on this in a moment), the Division I Council will vote on a rule that bans IAWPs — individuals associated with prospects — from being hired to support staff roles, lest all prospects associated with that new hire be ineligible to play for said program for two years after his hiring and two years after the player’s eligibility has expired. There are a number of potential issues with this role, which we touched on yesterday, but I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version here: Chip Lindsey and Jeremy Pruitt were hired to Auburn and Alabama, respectively, from the high school ranks to support staff roles. Lindsey is now the offensive coordinator at Auburn, and Pruitt is now the defensive coordinator at Alabama. The two coaches in charge at this November’s Iron Bowl may still be in the Alabama high school ranks had this rule been in effect a decade ago.

Here’s another problematic situation: a Division III assistant is let go in December and unable to find a job in that cycle. To remain in the game and feed his family, he takes a high school coaching job. The following December, an FBS program would like to hire him to a support staff role but now must weigh whether it wants to recruit that high school for the next two years before hiring him. If the program happens to be, say, Texas and the high school in question happens to be Southlake Carroll, the career college assistant may have his path to college football blocked as part of legislation not targeted at him and didn’t exist a year ago. A hypothetical situation, sure, but the powers that be voting on this week’s legislation take responsibility over this situation and others like it in their thumbs when they hoist them up or down when voting time starts.

Berry is aware of those exceptions and still supports the IAWP rule as a necessary means of stopping adults from leeching themselves onto teenagers’ college decisions.

“Our board of trustees started looking at this six years ago knowing we were having a growing problem, potentially,” Berry said in an interview Wednesday with the ESPN Radio affiliate in Waco. “Obviously there’s some temptation in hiring someone in a support role that has some association with a prospect and their employment basically assists in recruiting that individual. And with the burgeoning number of support staff that we’re seeing across the country, our board looked at this years ago and said we have an oncoming problem. Unfortunately, again I don’t know that it’s rampant, but we are seeing a trend that all of us would like to stay away from. Basketball, even though it’s a different sport, the reality is they’ve been utilizing this in NCAA basketball for a couple years now. So we looked at that model and said, ‘Is this going to solve some of our problems in relation to this?’ And we felt like this was a good step.

Read more:  http://footballscoop.com/news/todd-berry-explains-afcas-stance-major-issues-ahead-monumental-ncaa-vote/

[MCMLXXX]

Under the IAWP rule we would not have been able to sign Lance Dunbar.

[El Paso Eagle]

I plead ignorance here ... is this good or bad of UNT?

[greenminer]

1 hour ago, MCMLXXX said:

Under the IAWP rule we would not have been able to sign Lance Dunbar.

The way I understand things, we could have but it would require firing that coach.

Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Edited April 13, 2017 by greenminer

[97and03]

19 hours ago, greenminer said:

The way I understand things, we could have but it would require firing that coach.

Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Incorrect. That was a coach, not support staff (quality control asst, recruiting coord., high school relations, etc.).

[oldguystudent]

On 4/12/2017 at 4:43 PM, Harry said:

. If the program happens to be, say, Texas and the high school in question happens to be Southlake Carroll, the career college assistant may have his path to college football blocked as part of legislation not targeted at him and didn’t exist a year ago.

I am 100% ok with placing a permanent ban on ever hiring anybody remotely related to coaching from that place again. 

[Mean Green 93-98]

On 4/12/2017 at 8:33 PM, greenminer said:

The way I understand things, we could have but it would require firing that coach.

Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Another problem is that the very reason we were able to sign Lance Dunbar is the fact that Clayton George joined our staff.  So, no, we couldn't have.

Edited April 14, 2017 by Mean Green 93-98

[Cerebus]

Sigh.

Was really hoping they would get around to clarifying the proper booster contact rules for social media.  

[Harry]

25 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

Sigh.

Was really hoping they would get around to clarifying the proper booster contact rules for social media.  

It's just too hard to manage.  They don't have the personnel or budget the constantly monitor the interwebs and social media.  I personally would prefer they focus on actual pay for play and more heinous areas of infraction.

i sort of liken it to Dallas' recent change on marijuana infractions.  Why put our officers and limited budget towards booking and jailing a guy for a having a small amount of marijuana?  Now they are doing cite and release.  This allows them to focus on finding and jailing more violent criminals.  Our jails are full enough as it is and it is costly to the taxpayers.

 This social media is extremely hard to manage and the NCAA has a withering budget in the future with streaming etc affecting the amount ESPN is going to pay.  

[MeanGreenTexan]

44 minutes ago, Harry said:

It's just too hard to manage.  They don't have the personnel or budget the constantly monitor the interwebs and social media.  I personally would prefer they focus on actual pay for play and more heinous areas of infraction.

i sort of liken it to Dallas' recent change on marijuana infractions.  Why put our officers and limited budget towards booking and jailing a guy for a having a small amount of marijuana?  Now they are doing cite and release.  This allows them to focus on finding and jailing more violent criminals.  Our jails are full enough as it is and it is costly to the taxpayers.

 This social media is extremely hard to manage and the NCAA has a withering budget in the future with streaming etc affecting the amount ESPN is going to pay.  

Just make the rules.  

Fans will help enforce it.

Heck, if the PGA allows Joe Hawkeye to call in and report a micro rule violation and they turn around and punish the player, I'm betting Joe Hawkeye also has a killer screenshot game on Twitter.

Can you imagine how many SEC fans would patrol Alabama's recruits looking for booster contact?