The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved a rule on Friday which limited the number of staff members who can communicate through headsets during a game to 20. The rule will take effect this fall.
“We’re seeing very large staff,” Big XII commissioner and Division I Football Oversight Committee chairman Bob Bowlsby said last month. “We see non-coaching personnel doing coaching duties. It is one of our two priorities for the Football Oversight Committee for the coming year [to look] at personnel and how personnel should be deployed in the football coaching staff environment.”
Fifteen headsets will be be designated for the coaching staff — including the head coach, assistants and graduate assistants. Four will be designated for use by players, while the remaining device can be used by someone for non-coaching activities, such as charting plays.
Headsets used for game operations, technicians, security or medical purposes do not count among the 20 per team.
There was previously no limit on the number of non-coaching staff members who could wear headsets, which favored programs with bigger budgets. But that said, he NCAA continues to have discussions regarding every-growing staff sizes, which includes limiting the total number of individuals who can participate in on-campus recruiting activities.
