The NCAA may consider limiting the number of support staff coaches a program can hire
The NCAA may consider limiting the number of support staff assistants college football programs can hire moving forward, according to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. On field staffs are, as you know, limited to a head coach, nine assistants and four graduate assistants, but are unlimited beyond that.
And, thus, hysteria among coaches trained by the NCAA to agree anything unregulated is inherently unfair.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, chairman of the NCAA's football oversight committee, acknowledged the trend and its potentially troubling side effects. "I would say that there are some universities where it’s gotten out of control, and I think there’s probably some appetite for some limitations,” he told the paper.
Ever the statesman that he is, Bowlsby also nodded to the other side of the argument.
“But then, the other side of it, we aren’t all created equal and we never have been created all equally. You don’t want to go too far down the path of trying to legislate competitive equity, because it’s largely a mirage," he said.
The ACC presents a representative battleground for this issue, where Florida State and Clemson have acquired 20-something off-the-field staffers and other schools like Boston College and Virginia Tech remain closer to 10.
“There shouldn’t be any reason why one Power Five (conference) team or staff has more staff,” Boston College head coach Steve Addazio said. “I mean, they regulate how many (graduate assistants), they regulate how many full-time coaches you can have, they should be regulating all this other nonsense, all the quality controls, interns and whatever else they call this.”
Presenting the dissenting opinion, Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher: “You develop young coaches, you get guys in the business, and it makes your players and coaches better.”
It's an issue where both sides truly make valid points. Where will the NCAA come down? That's anyone's guess.
