The Division I Football Oversight Committee will spend the upcoming months taking an overall comprehensive look at all aspects of the sport as the recently formed committee identifies its priorities for its develolpment.
As part of the newly established Division I governance structure, the committee is in the process of reviewing past work from committees that made up the previous governance system and identifying areas of the sport it feels need to be addressed, including aspects of recruiting and playing rules. During its quarterly meeting Monday and Tuesday in Indianapolis, the committee took the first steps in setting those priorities by establishing subcommittees to examine several specific areas.
“It may be presumptuous for us to think we can tackle everything all at once,” said Bob Bowlsby, the Division I Football Oversight Committee chair and commissioner of the Big 12 Conference. “But it seems that a comprehensive approach allows for a give-and-take and could yield the best outcome. That's our aspiration.”
One of the committee's priorities will be examining the satellite camps and clinics that occur during the summer. Those camps are often held outside a school's geographic region, and questions have been raised about whether they offer unfair recruiting advantages. The oversight committee formed a subcommittee to review the camps and clinics to see if any legislation should be proposed to address any issues. The subcommittee hopes to complete its work in 2016.
The committee will also look into aspects of recruiting. The Football Oversight Committee will look at the work done by the former Division I Leadership Council Football Recruiting Subcommittee over the last couple years. It will also examine the number of official visits each individual prospective student-athlete takes and the number of recruits each school brings in on official recruiting visits.
The Football Oversight Committee also formed a subcommittee to look at the playing rules process and structure. The NCAA Football Rules Committee, which consists of coaches and administrators from Divisions I, II and III, now adopts rules proposals that are approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, also an Association-wide group.
The Division I Football Oversight Committee is exploring options to see if the process can be enhanced, particularly by ensuring greater involvement by and focus on Division I football.
Committee members also want to engage more with coaches and athletics directors to make sure they are receiving feedback on the pressing matters in college football.
