ABCA Pushes For Reform For ‘Quiet Period’

NASHVILLE—As the 2016 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention began Thursday at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, the Division I coaches had their annual meeting to discuss some of the pressing issues in the game.

The ABCA is pushing for several pieces of legislative reform, beginning with two rule changes that are slated to be voted on this year. Both affect the NCAA enforced “quiet period” during recruiting and hold wide support among the coaches, according to an ABCA survey.

The proposed rule changes would prevent coaches from working for outside camps or clinics during the quiet period and would extend the quiet period in the fall by a week to enable coaches to be on campus when the players begin the fall semester.

ABCA executive director Craig Keilitz said he thinks both are common sense proposals.

“I don’t know how anybody could be against that,” he said. “That’s pulling coaches off the road more. It’s a budget saver, it’s allowing kids to have lives in high school and allow coaches to be with their student-athletes on campus.”

The ABCA is also beginning the process of crafting legislative proposals for next year and has four changes it would like to bring about:

• Eliminate the rule that scholarship players must receive at least 25 percent financial aid

• Eliminate the rule that caps the number of scholarship players at 27 per team

• Allow for an additional paid assistant coach, raising the number allowed to three

• Allow teams to play up to four exhibition games in the fall that would not count toward the 56-game maximum

Those proposals must be officially submitted to the NCAA by a conference or school by next September to be added to next year’s voting docket.

More than 85 percent of coaches support the proposal to add a third paid assistant and to play fall games. The proposed rules on scholarships hold majority support, but neither had a two-thirds approval rating.

Adding another paid assistant coach has long been a desire of Division I coaches. With only three paid coaches, baseball has a coach-to-player ratio of 1:12, one of the worst among several sports, including basketball, field hockey and softball, according to the ABCA’s research.

But many schools might not have the money in their baseball budget for a third full-time assistant. In the ABCA survey, coaches were asked how they would use a third assistant if they were allowed. Only about a third of coaches said they would hire a full-time assistant. Fifteen percent said it would likely be a part-time position and more than half said it would likely be a graduate assistant or another volunteer assistant coach.

The restrictions on scholarships have not been in place long. Teams were required to have just 27 players on scholarship for the first time in the 2009-2010 school year. But the rule makes it difficult for coaches every summer as they have to make the math work.

Keilitz said that because baseball’s Academic Progress Rate has gone up in the past few years and teams must meet minimum APR requirements to be eligible for the postseason, the additional restrictions are no longer necessary.

“I think coaches have really understood the importance of getting a student-athlete, keeping a student-athlete on the 35-man roster so I hope we can take a look at that language because that’s what our coaches want,” he said.

Separate from the legislation the ABCA is pushing is a proposal that will be voted on at the NCAA Convention next week that would allow for high school baseball players to be represented by agents in contract negotiations after they are drafted.

They would not be allowed to receive any added benefits and would have to terminate their relationship with the agent before enrolling in college if they chose not to sign. The rule would not allow for representation of college players with eligibility remaining.

That proposal is being sponsored by the Big 12 Conference as a part of the process the Power Five conferences have to autonomously adopt legislation. If passed, the rule would immediately go into effect for the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12, Big Ten Conference, Pacific 12 Conference and Southeastern Conference. Any other Division I conference could also chose to adopt the rule if it passes.

Keilitz said he believes it is a good idea, but is not optimistic about its chances of passing.

“I think an AD or a president thinks that all of a sudden it’s getting dirty, if you will,” he said. “But really it’s giving the opportunity for a student to make the correct decision for them and to have all the facts. If we’re talking about student welfare, I’d like the student to have all the opportunities to make the right decision.”

While much of the meeting focused on the different legislative proposals, Joel Erdmann, the South Alabama athletic director and chairman of the NCAA Division I Baseball committee, also said there has also been a change made to how the home team is determined for decisive third games in super regionals. Instead of a coin flip, the home team will now be the better seeded team. If teams have equal seeding, a coin flip will still be used.

Erdmann said the committee is also discussing the pace of play because the issue was brought to the committee by a variety of people. The NCAA rules committee withdrew an experimental rules proposal for a 20-second pitch clock in October because the issue did not receive enough support from conferences.