"Old School" Practice is No More

[IdaGriz01]

This has probably been mentioned on some other thread, but I can't find it ... and it's coming up soon, so I began a new thread.
http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20170726114843242675504
Excerpts:

Football camps open earlier with increased safety
College football practices are beginning across the nation this week as part of a longer preseason to compensate for the elimination of multiple practices with contact during a single day.
… NCAA ... voted earlier this year to disband the two-a-days ... The new by-law is embraced by coaches across the FCS level of Division I, many of whom had moved away from two-a-days in recent years. ...
Not all preseason camps are opening this week, but teams can practice up to a week earlier ...
Saint Francis coach Chris Villarrial, who played 11 seasons as an NFL offensive lineman, isn't alone in lamenting the loss of two-a-day practices, but, like others, he's busy changing under the new rule.
"I think at our level, you're not getting a four-star, a three-star athlete," Villarrial said. "You need time with them, you have to teach them how to be a good player, you have to teach them technique ... It's something that I was always a believer in. But now it's gone, so we have to adjust."

Since the NCAA hardly ever (when you dig below the surface) does something to make life better for the players, this cynic wonders what really prompted the change. What am I missing?

 

[PlayerRep]

Allowing pre-season practice to start a week earlier sure isn't helping the athletes and would suck. I'd much rather do 2 a days than have a week more of pre-season practice.

 

[get'em_griz]

So if I am understanding this correctly, is it still optional to have two-a-day practices if a coach prefers to keep doing that?

 

[84GRIZ]

Heck, we used to do three a day's back at my old high school in Illinois. First practice was at 6:30 in the morning and was not really a practice, just conditioning. I swear the coaches did not think we were working hard enough unless guy's were puking. Conditioning was from 6:30 to 8, morning practice was 10 to 12:30, afternoon practice was 4 to whenever the coaches got tired. Full pads and the first week was always 90 degrees and around 90% humidity.

It was just stupid, the O-linemen would lose 20 to 25 pounds by the time we got to our first game. Of course that was in the old day's 76 to 79.

 

[AZDoc]

Heck, we used to do three a day's back at my old high school in Illinois. First practice was at 6:30 in the morning and was not really a practice, just conditioning. I swear the coaches did not think we were working hard enough unless guy's were puking. Conditioning was from 6:30 to 8, morning practice was 10 to 12:30, afternoon practice was 4 to whenever the coaches got tired. Full pads and the first week was always 90 degrees and around 90% humidity.

It was just stupid, the O-linemen would lose 20 to 25 pounds by the time we got to our first game. Of course that was in the old day's 76 to 79.

Yep, we did the same thing in Montana in the early 90's. AAAAHHHHH...those were the days...

 

[IdaGriz01]

So if I am understanding this correctly, is it still optional to have two-a-day practices if a coach prefers to keep doing that?

No, I do not think that is the case -- I think the new ruling specifically forbids two-a-days of the "old school" type. Here's the relevant wording from Haley's article:

During a single day, the NCAA is allowing a single, three-hour, on-field practice session and, after a three-hour recovery period, a non-contact walk-through of plays and situations without protective equipment such as helmets and pads. The walk-through can't include conditioning and is limited to two hours in length on the FCS level.

(My emphasis.)

 

[SACCAT66]

Heck, we used to do three a day's back at my old high school in Illinois. First practice was at 6:30 in the morning and was not really a practice, just conditioning. I swear the coaches did not think we were working hard enough unless guy's were puking. Conditioning was from 6:30 to 8, morning practice was 10 to 12:30, afternoon practice was 4 to whenever the coaches got tired. Full pads and the first week was always 90 degrees and around 90% humidity.

It was just stupid, the O-linemen would lose 20 to 25 pounds by the time we got to our first game. Of course that was in the old day's 76 to 79.

Yep, we did the same thing in Montana in the early 90's. AAAAHHHHH...those were the days...

Same here...Our Drama teacher had 3-a-days all the time...I would lose 2-3 pounds of acting ability by the time the play started.

 

[IdaGriz01]

Allowing pre-season practice to start a week earlier sure isn't helping the athletes and would suck. I'd much rather do 2 a days than have a week more of pre-season practice.

Yet the NCAA claims this is to help the athletes ... by them not having to work so hard (I think). Which leaves my original question: Why would the NCAA do this?

Easing the work load on the athletes has never been high on a coach's priority list, even with the bad publicity a few programs get when an athlete collapses during practice. And the NCAA does pay attention to what coaches bitch about (at least coaches from the big-$$$ programs).

I can think of one possibility (based on the comment by the St. Francis coach, BTW): The more really top-level recruits you have, the less time (in theory) you need to get them ready to play at a high level. So this change could be construed as a benefit to the top programs and a detriment to the "have nots" who need more time to develop lower-tier athletes. Now that might make sense.

 

[fanofzoo]

Heck, we used to do three a day's back at my old high school in Illinois. First practice was at 6:30 in the morning and was not really a practice, just conditioning. I swear the coaches did not think we were working hard enough unless guy's were puking. Conditioning was from 6:30 to 8, morning practice was 10 to 12:30, afternoon practice was 4 to whenever the coaches got tired. Full pads and the first week was always 90 degrees and around 90% humidity.

It was just stupid, the O-linemen would lose 20 to 25 pounds by the time we got to our first game. Of course that was in the old day's 76 to 79.

With you there as I was in Ohio but old days were 64 to 68.

 

[grizinmt]

No, the really old days were '49 to '53, with leather helmets for everyone but starters, who got the new plastic ones.

 

[George Ferguson]

Stitt did this his first fall camp. Before it was mandatory. I don't remember if he was flamed for it on here or not, but I'm sure me bringing it up now will fan those flames haha