NCAA to Allow More Virtual Meetings Between Coaches and Players

NCAA committee members voted on Wednesday to allow more hours of nonphysical contact between coaches and players during the pandemic.

Ron Chenoy - USA Today

The NCAA announced additional hours for virtual meetings between coaches and their athletes in division one sports. 

Previously, coaches were only allowed to spend a maximum of four hours with their athletes per week. 

"At the recommendation of the Collegiate Commissioners Association Compliance Administrators, committee members voted to allow teams in all sports to require up to eight hours per week of virtual nonphysical countable activities like film review, chalk talks and team meetings. At the request of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the committee also will require student-athletes to be provided at least one day off per week," the NCAA released in a statement. 

The new regulation will go into effect starting on April 20 and will continue through at least May 31.

Schools and teams will also be required to give at least one off day as well as prohibiting requiring activities during the school's final examination period. 

"I think that's going to be really good for coaches to have four more hours of interaction with their student-athletes," Colorado Athletic Director Rick George said.  "And so I was really glad that we come to that decision yesterday. 

When all sports were canceled in March, the NCAA had all sports go into off-season mode, limiting the extent of coach-player interaction. 

Coaches have also been making sure their players stay on top of their academics so it should hep athletes academically as well. 

With no practice time or workouts, adding more hours of virtual time makes sense. It will certainly help the Colorado football players get adjusted to their new coach.