Some might not be aware, but there has been an ongoing debate going on since Thursday when Nick Saban made it known on a Zoom conference call that Alabama had sent its players Apple watches to track their workouts.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s difficult for coaches, especially new strength and condition coach David Ballou, to monitor the progress being made by the Crimson Tide football team off the field.
At first, this seemed like a smart plan, but a lot of media members who cover other teams pointed out the head coach of their respective universities said they couldn’t make contact with the players, and they certainly couldn’t make them work out.
Gabe DeArmond, who covers Missouri athletics for Rivals.com, tweeted to let people know this didn’t line up with what Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz had said about the situation.
Interesting because Eli Drinkwitz told us yesterday he’s not even allowed to ask players if they worked out that day. https://t.co/JrYtEVXtpr
— Gabe DeArmond (@GabeDeArmond) April 2, 2020
Anthony Dasher with UGASports.com chimed in as well, first confirming what DeArmond had said and then following it up with Kirby Smart’s exact comments.
We were told the same https://t.co/QJ2EOZaWuY
— Anthony Dasher (@AnthonyDasher1) April 2, 2020
Smart quote: “As far as the activity their they're doing, we can't mandate any activity for our players. We're not allowed to mandate that they get this done or that done. Anything they're doing in that regard has to be done on their own and we have a clear separation of that.” https://t.co/oLB0uKkDX1
— Anthony Dasher (@AnthonyDasher1) April 2, 2020
So, is Alabama breaking any rules, or did Saban and company do their homework and found a loophole? Well, Dan Wolken with USA TODAY Sports spoke with an anonymous source who says “Alabama is flatly breaking the rules”.
While many have said that handing out Apple watches is a benefit, that’s not the case nor the issue. It’s a matter of the coaching staff being able to monitor the workouts and is that legal given the current rules, which Wolken states in his article:
In a document released to schools on Wednesday titled “NCAA Division I COVID-19 Question and Answer Guide,” the NCAA said schools can distribute workouts to student athletes for voluntary use but that staff members “may not supervise or conduct such workouts” and that athletes “may not report voluntary athletically related activities to institutional coaches or staff members.”
Based on what Nick Saban on Thursday, this is where the potential issue arrises. Here are Saban’s comments, which Matt Zenitz with AL.com tweeted out before creating the current stir.
Saban praised new strength and conditioning coaches David Ballou and Matt Rhea.
"They were very instrumental in setting up this whole program of what we're doing with the players in terms of Apple watches for their workouts and apps on their phones for weight training programs."
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) April 2, 2020
This is potentially a major issue, but the uncertainty with the NCAA and how college coaches are supposed to navigate this uncharted territory is still up in the air.
We should hear some clarity on the situation sometime in the near future, but it needs to be known that what Alabama is doing to help its athletes is more than beneficial to both parties.
If fans, coaches, media members and the NCAA want there to be a college football season that, at least to some degree, comes close to resembling a normal season, then players need to be in the best shape possible.
Without spring practices and potentially summer workouts, it’s possible for some players who aren’t being monitored to put themselves in danger when (or if) things crank back up. The coaches would’ve had control over the players’ workouts had they been on campus, so why should it be any different now?
Unfortunately, that may not be how the NCAA views things given the current rules that are in place. But we also can’t be sure, at least not yet, if Alabama was running this stuff by the SEC and/or NCAA.
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