An out-of-season conditioning model that emphasizes player health and safety cleared another link in the governance structure recently when the Division I Football Issues Committee endorsed the proposal at its August 15-16 meeting in Indianapolis.

The Football Issues Committee liked the model so much in fact that the group is asking the Championships/
Competition Cabinet to recommend the proposal as emergency legislation for the Board of Directors to consider in November.

The proposed model was developed by a working group composed of medical professionals, strength coaches, athletics administrators, student-athletes and football coaches, and is designed to minimize health and safety risks, reduce student-athlete time demands and provide adequate preparation time for the regular season.

The model divides the year into three calendar periods: January 1 until the start of summer conditioning, summer conditioning and preseason practice.

Significant changes from the current rules include providing for eight weeks of student-athlete discretionary time between January 1 and the start of summer conditioning, during which strength and conditioning coaches may monitor the facility used by the student-athletes for health and safety purposes only; they may not conduct the workouts. The model also introduces a five-day acclimatization period at the beginning of preseason practice in which student-athletes would engage in no more than one practice per day and ease into wearing full pads. The model also prohibits institutions from conducting two-a-days on consecutive days.

Proponents believe the model will enable member institutions to consistently apply the rules pertaining to out-of-season conditioning. In the past, coaches have expressed concerns that not all institutions apply the rules consistently, particularly with regard to summer conditioning.

In addition to the Football Issues Committee's endorsement, the model also has gained support from the Football Study Oversight Committee, which backed the proposal in its final report to the Board of Directors and noted the model's attention to student-athlete health and safety.

If the Board approves the measure as emergency legislation, the model could become effective as early as January 2003. The Board also could consider the matter as emergency legislation at its meeting during the Convention, which would allow for a membership comment period without compromising the effective date.

The football model is not the only out-of-season conditioning proposal in the pipeline. The Championships/
Competition Cabinet's playing and practice seasons subcommittee is looking at out-of-season conditioning issues in all sports. That group is expected to decide in September how football fits into those plans.

In other action during the Football Issues Committee meeting, the group recommended that the Championships/Competition Cabinet support proposal No. 02-17-1, which would permit a Division I-A or I-AA football student-athlete to enter a professional league's draft without jeopardizing eligibility, provided the student-athlete is not drafted and declares his intent to resume intercollegiate participation within 72 hours after the NFL draft declaration date. The proposal has been through the comment period and will be considered a second time by the Division I Management Council this fall.

Also, the committee asked the cabinet to propose legislation that would provide an exception to the restrictions in Bylaw 13.13.2.3.2 (free/reduced admission, employment of prospects) for Fellowship of Christian Athletes camps/clinics. The committee believes the benefits of the camps outweigh the benefits originally contemplated through deregulation efforts.