Excerpts from the article:
“Most conversations have been in favor of adding helmet communication,” said Shaw, who sits on the NCAA’s football rules committee. “Most coaches are in favor of having this.”
For a long time, the concern was about the logistics and cost. The NFL is one organization of 32 teams owned by billionaires, while college football at the Football Bowl Subdivision level has 10 conferences and 131 teams. Implementing it has been considered too complicated or expensive.
Another concern among some SEC coaches wasn’t expressed publicly but has been suspected privately: Headsets would eliminate the ability to steal signals. The concept of
stealing signals is an open secret in coaching, and some programs have elaborate operations. In a sport in which most rule changes benefit the offense, this could put the sides on the same level of an issue.
Told of that suspicion, David Shaw said it was comforting to hear someone admit that stealing signals exists. Bielema brought it up as well.
“There are certain places that put a premium on stealing signals, and that gets some people known as great play callers, but you can be a great play caller if you know what the other team is doing,” Shaw said.
One other issue is the helmet liability and warranty, something Steve Shaw has continually pointed to. The concern is if helmets are modified to fit the communication system, the liability or warranty could be voided, opening up potential issues in lawsuits for head injuries. The NFL has a players union and collective bargaining and a limit on the number of different helmets a team can use in a season. College football has no players union, and some schools use several different helmets in a season.
Excerpt from the article:
The specifics of what type of trial run will take place during bowl season are still to be determined by FBS conference administrators, including what kind of technology would be allowed, from in-helmet communication to wristband communication tools. It’s likely that both teams would need to agree to use such tools in a bowl, but whether they’d have to use the same technology is also to be determined. Many schools already use helmet or wristband technology in practice with their scout teams.
FBS conference football administrators are currently in the stage of gathering feedback from their coaches on preferences, one conference administrator told
The Athletic. Another administrator-level call is scheduled this week.
“The rules of the road, we’re still setting up,” Shaw said of the bowl experiment. “Do both teams have to do it? Can they use different technologies? What if one team doesn’t want to use it? Dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s is still yet to be done.”
Multiple Big Ten sources told
The Athletic that the
Michigan allegations have fueled another push within the conference to enact these changes next season. The Big Ten also proposed the use of tablets on the sideline this summer, but that was not approved by the committee either.
If communication technology is used in bowl games and the feedback is positive, it could be proposed and approved on a much larger scale next year. Whether that’s conference-by-conference or division-by-division would be decided at that time.
