INDIANAPOLIS — College and high school football have been hit with setbacks since the NCAA implemented a rule preventing high school coaches being around players they previously coached.
The setback stems from the passing of NCAA Bylaw 11.4.4 in April 2017.
NCAA Bylaw 11.4.4 reads: “In bowl subdivision football, during a two-year period before a prospective student-athlete’s anticipated enrollment and a two-year period after the prospective student-athlete’s actual enrollment, an institution shall not employ (or enter into a contract for future employment with) an individual associated with the prospective student-athlete in any athletics department noncoaching staff position or in a strength and conditioning staff position.”
Former Northern Illinois head coach Joe Novak serves on the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions. Novak’s third and final term expires August 2020.
The former Northern Illinois head coach discussed NCAA Bylaw 11.4.4 in how it helps prevent schools in abusing the rule for coaches to follow players’ coattails for employment in college, while the rule also prevents coaches that have worked their way to being in position for a collegiate job the right way.
Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt is an example of someone earning an opportunity from hard work at the high school level to an off-field position in college to further his career. Pruitt joined Alabama’s coaching staff as Director of Player Development, one year following serving as Hoover High School’s defensive coordinator.
The discussion with Novak can be listened to on the show ‘Tennessee Two-A-Days’ here.