Post by elp525 on May 25, 2011 5:20:05 GMT -5
May 24, 2011
By Greg Auman
For the Gazette
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - The second full day of the Big East's annual spring meetings included a marathon session with the league's athletic directors, running from morning until 7 p.m., with the conference's football coaches sitting in for much of the discussion.
Football and basketball coaches have returned to campuses, and commissioner John Marinatto didn't address specific topics of conversation that came up during the extensive meetings.
Two things that came up in meetings of the league's football coaches were new changes in officiating and a new NCAA proposal that could have players who pass fewer than nine credit-hours in the fall suspended for the first four games of the following season if they aren't able to pass 27 credit hours during the school year.
Terry McAuley, the league's coordinator of football officials, met extensively with football coaches, discussing changes to block-below-the-waist rules, as well as a relaxing of the intentional-grounding rules and a new policy allowing for a 10-second runoff when a team commits a foul that stops the clock in the final minute of a half.
Officials have moved from identifying restriction in blocks below the waist to a new approach where such blocks are illegal except in certain specific circumstances.
"Anything in the initial line play [is legal], a player leading the sweep going toward someone that sees it coming and can protect themselves," McAuley said. "The real problems we eliminated over the years were open-field ones on change of possessions and kicks, which are illegal, or the blind side, which is really the most crucial one, where you get the wide receiver and it's the low crack-back [block]. The guy doesn't know he's coming, can't defend himself and loses a knee or an ACL or something like that. We have some more restrictions we'd like to get in."
The NCAA academic proposal, approved pending completion of a 60-day "override period," challenges football players during the time of year when their schedule is busiest with the demands of football season. The first time a player doesn't pass nine hours in a fall semester, he can regain his eligibility for the first four games by passing 27 credit hours in that school year, but any subsequent instances will have at least a two-game suspension regardless of the credit hours passed in the year.
The league's basketball coaches have recommended a proposal that all 17 schools participate in the league's men's basketball tournament at Madison Square Gardens in 2013, when TCU joins the league. The decision is ultimately made by the university presidents, who last year did not follow the coaches' recommendation for a change in format.
By Greg Auman
For the Gazette
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - The second full day of the Big East's annual spring meetings included a marathon session with the league's athletic directors, running from morning until 7 p.m., with the conference's football coaches sitting in for much of the discussion.
Football and basketball coaches have returned to campuses, and commissioner John Marinatto didn't address specific topics of conversation that came up during the extensive meetings.
Two things that came up in meetings of the league's football coaches were new changes in officiating and a new NCAA proposal that could have players who pass fewer than nine credit-hours in the fall suspended for the first four games of the following season if they aren't able to pass 27 credit hours during the school year.
Terry McAuley, the league's coordinator of football officials, met extensively with football coaches, discussing changes to block-below-the-waist rules, as well as a relaxing of the intentional-grounding rules and a new policy allowing for a 10-second runoff when a team commits a foul that stops the clock in the final minute of a half.
Officials have moved from identifying restriction in blocks below the waist to a new approach where such blocks are illegal except in certain specific circumstances.
"Anything in the initial line play [is legal], a player leading the sweep going toward someone that sees it coming and can protect themselves," McAuley said. "The real problems we eliminated over the years were open-field ones on change of possessions and kicks, which are illegal, or the blind side, which is really the most crucial one, where you get the wide receiver and it's the low crack-back [block]. The guy doesn't know he's coming, can't defend himself and loses a knee or an ACL or something like that. We have some more restrictions we'd like to get in."
The NCAA academic proposal, approved pending completion of a 60-day "override period," challenges football players during the time of year when their schedule is busiest with the demands of football season. The first time a player doesn't pass nine hours in a fall semester, he can regain his eligibility for the first four games by passing 27 credit hours in that school year, but any subsequent instances will have at least a two-game suspension regardless of the credit hours passed in the year.
The league's basketball coaches have recommended a proposal that all 17 schools participate in the league's men's basketball tournament at Madison Square Gardens in 2013, when TCU joins the league. The decision is ultimately made by the university presidents, who last year did not follow the coaches' recommendation for a change in format.
