OT: Larry Fedora reacts to new (and proposed) rule changes...

Submitted by Mr. Yost on

He doesn't like most of the new rule changes in college football which many feel level the recruiting playing field for northern schools. He doesn't like the rule changes which were put in place to allow for more fall camp since 2-a-days are now prohibited. 

“There’s quite a few that I don’t like,” Fedora said from the Westin in Charlotte, N.C., according to Scout. “I don’t like the fact that now guys can take official visits for eight months of the year. I do not like that. I do not like guys taking official visits in April, May and June. I don’t like that this [event] started this week and not a week later. That cut into another week of my vacation. What I’m getting to there is now they’ve backed camp up so you can go on the 27th, so now we’ve moved football into July. Now they’re talking about going to a 14-week schedule, so who’s going to say that’s not going to go another week earlier so you can get your guys prepared?

https://www.diehards.com/north-carolina/.WWs78Okga1E.twitter

Poor guy, lost out on a week of vacation because of ACC Media Day for his job that pays him multiple millions of dollars. He should've called up Hugh Freeze and they could've had a family double date vacation earlier this month. They could've sat around the bonfire and cooked up some burgers, ribs, and their next institutional scandal.

Here's another breakdown of the rule changes...

Among the college football rule changes for 2017:

 

  • There are now two signing periods. In 2017, players will have their first opportunity to officially sign from Dec. 20-22.
  • Extended recruiting season that lengthens the period for official visits to April 1 of the prospect’s junior high school season.
  • Teams are allowed 10 assistant coaches starting Jan. 9, 2018.
  • Two-a-day practices during training camp are banned. If teams practice twice per day, the extra session must be a film study, walkthrough without pads or conditioning.
  • Teams were allowed to request training camp to begin in July if the ban on two-a-day practices disrupted their schedule.

MGoStrength

July 16th, 2017 at 10:04 AM ^

These coaches drive me crazy.  I totally get not liking a rule change because it's no longer in the best interest of you or your school.  But, don't say it's about your vacation time.  Own it. Say, yes we have a recruiting advantage in warm-weather states and I want to maintain it. Do they really think if they word it differently people won't get it or will be more or less likely to give them what they want?

JMo

July 16th, 2017 at 11:53 AM ^

Honestly, I think that for many it really is about their personal vacation time. I think these coaches who are so hell bent on taking vacations, should take their vacations. If Larry Fedora wants to jump on a bus and tour with T-Swifty from January 2 until September 1, I think he should. Go get em big boy. The problem I have is with their institutional legislation of mandatory vacation time for everyone. If you want to be a lazy sack, go for it. But for these guys to try to make vacation time mandatory and for them to claim that this somehow is in the best interests of the school, the student athletes, the recruits, are flat out lying. I agree, they should just 'own it.'

But rather its....  I have a perceived geographic recruiting advantage, I want to secure that. Let's make a rule. I don't want to work as hard as Jim Harbaugh, I want to secure that. Let's make a rule. And the majority of the NCAA seems all to happy to comply.

superstringer

July 16th, 2017 at 10:21 AM ^

I am seeing a trainwreck coming with the "early signing period."  Are teams limited to the number they can take -- like 10 or 15 out of their 25?  Or can they sign an entire class then?

Because, if not limited, kids will be pressured into chossing in December to guarantee their spot.  So all we've done is moving the Feb. date to December.

Let's remember, NSD in February is just the START of, like, a 6-week process.  Kids can wait if they want.  But barely anyone ever does.  That tells me, the idea of kids passing on the first period to wait for the second period just won't happen.  Maybe in 2017 it won't be a thing, but by 2019 or 2020, we'll just have moved NSD to before Xmas.

And for that, I don't get it.  Kids have lost a month after football season to look around.  They have to jam all their trips into December, or crowd their season schedule with trips.

How about this.  Kids won't have grades from first semester their senior year, in December.  The early signing period screams to me:  GRADES, WHO CARES ABOUT GRADES?  WE CROOTIN.  WE AINT WANT DEM TO PLAY SCHOOL.  Exactly.

Maynard

July 16th, 2017 at 11:04 AM ^

Quite the alarmist tone here. I completely disagree. First, who cares if they can sign their whole team in the first period? Why is that a problem?  Your reason of having pressure is absurd because the pressure doesn't go away in February when more teams are already full or close. 

Also a lot of the students will in fact have their grades at that time. Not all wait until after the break.

Kids who know where they want to go and have clear direction can make their choice early, thus enabling the coaches and other recruits to know where they stand. This will have the effect of possibly lessening the amount of stories of recruits hung out to dry in the February shuffle due to the highest caliber recruits playing the hat game.

UMgradMSUdad

July 16th, 2017 at 11:24 AM ^

"And for that, I don't get it.  Kids have lost a month after football season to look around.  They have to jam all their trips into December, or crowd their season schedule with trips."

 

They have actually gained several months during which they can take official visists (and quite honestly, I don't recall very many official visits in January anyway). They were already crowding their season schedule with visits.

I always thought it was a stupid rule that football players couldn't take official visits until the start of their senior year.  Now they are allowed these campus visits starting in April of their junior year, so they have the entire summer to take them.

bronxblue

July 16th, 2017 at 1:19 PM ^

Yeah, this always felt like a win for the athletes. They can now visit schools without the pressure of school and other responsibilities, and can bunch them together over the summer to defray some costs (e.g. one flight to Michigan to visit UM, MSU, maybe OSU and ND, if you want). Seems like a win for everyone but coaches who want to take months off.

Clarence Beeks

July 16th, 2017 at 11:28 AM ^

"How about this.  Kids won't have grades from first semester their senior year, in December."

How about this: it forces teams to take kids who have solid grades and are projectable for admissions, just like any other student applying to college.  You do realize that most kids apply, and are accepted to college without any senior year grades, right?

LabattsBleu

July 16th, 2017 at 12:24 PM ^

Wait, I am confused...

Don't kids already choose to be enrolled by December anyways in order to be an EE? so they sign their financial aid agreements and are de facto Michigan football athletes in January, even though they don't sign their official LOI until February like everyone else?

I mean, am I missing something here? Cause it seems like a lot of angst over something that basically occurs now...

As for Larry, oh Larry... No one is FORCING you to do F'All... atay that extra week of vacation if you want to....or have your assistants swap every year or something...

Toasted Yosties

July 16th, 2017 at 12:36 PM ^

This first go around will be interesting. I think it'll be interesting to see how big schools who give noncommitable offers handle this when they want to hold off on the kid to see if they'll land someone better. Does the kid take that opportunity to sign with a school that will take him in December? It works the same way for schools in the running for big time 5 stars. I think it'll end up revealing everyone's cards early, giving both the schools and recruits time to correct if they were misled. Obviously this doesn't fix the issue with coaches leaving after signing day.

Spunky

July 16th, 2017 at 11:28 AM ^

What's his issue with recruits taking official visits in April, May, and June? It seems like the parents and players would prefer having additional time to travel and visit schools.

Michigan Philosophy

July 16th, 2017 at 11:58 AM ^

Who expects all this vacation time when you have a high paying high pressure job? Doctors, lawyers, investment bankers... Pretty sure those guys aren't getting a month off every year just because. Most professionals who make 100k+ a year have to work a lot and willingly do it to earn a decent living. When I hear these coaches talking about vacation it pisses me off. I would gladly work 7 days a week 10 hours a day to get paid 5 million annually. Especially if it was as a football coach. I'm assuming for every single head coach it is essentially their dream job. Maybe not the location, but the position itself. I work 60 hours a week at a job I only enjoy sometimes to make a fraction of what these guys make and I don't bitch about the hours. Because to me it is worth it. Maybe these guys should just find a new profession if it is so hard...

Clarence Beeks

July 17th, 2017 at 12:30 AM ^

I'll be that guy, I guess.  It's really easy to cast stones at comments like that when you have a normal job that doesn't operate like theirs do.  In other words, you have a regular job, with (I'm safely willing to bet) hours that are fairly regularly (at least within a normal band that other people are going to easily relate to).  These guys don't.  They bust out the hours, way more than virtually anyone in any of those professions you listed, during at least a third of their calendar year (if not more) that makes the "horror" hours that lawyers put in look like a joke.  7 days, 10 hours a day, might be what they average over the year, but with major peaks where it's more like 7 days, 18 hours a day.  Is it a sweet job, yes it is, but it doesn't make it any less of a burden on their life and their families when they have to add more to that "on" period.  There is a reason there is a movement among major employers toward a "dial up" and "dial back" model for their high hour professionals.  No matter how much you love your job, people (1) love their families and (2) need some dial back time so they don't burn out.  Do I think he's being overly dramatic, yes, but still worth saying when it comes to jobs that most people really just can't relate to.

Oh, and this:

"Doctors, lawyers, investment bankers... Pretty sure those guys aren't getting a month off every year just because."

Increasingly not true.  Major law firms that are doing it right do months-long sabbaticals, not just month-long vacations.  They are periodic (i.e. not every year, but rather one every several years), but there is an increasing recognition that you can't just keep someone's foot on the gas for that long with no major breaks, no matter how much that person loves their job...

The Fan in Fargo

July 16th, 2017 at 12:28 PM ^

Never understood how someone who makes over a million a year can worry about vacation time or stress. Even 500 grand. I mean, If I only had two weeks vaction every year with that money, I could afford any kind of stress release rememdy I wanted during the week and weekends. It's not like you're worry about making payments on anything and paying bills. The wife shouldn't be complaining either nor there be any financial fights. What a bunch of babies. Don't know what you got til it's gone. Lick it up. Talk diry to me. Living on a prayer. One night in Bangkok.

bronxblue

July 16th, 2017 at 1:16 PM ^

I've always wondered why he doesn't get a better job than UNC, but he does seem pretty insufferable both here and in other interviews I've read.

He's also basically an 8-win coach. He had that one good season two years ago, but his record at UNC is pretty mediocre for such a hot coaching commodity. Maybe his school wished he didn't take such long vacations.

Big Boutros

July 16th, 2017 at 1:30 PM ^

The vacation complaint seems unique to football and I don't get it. Most sports have much longer seasons. Soccer, basketball, and baseball are nearly year-round.

Game 7 of the 2016 World Series was on November 2 and pitchers and catchers reported to spring training on February 14. That's an offseason of fewer than three months.

FC Barcelona's 2016-17 season played from July 2016 to May 2017. A two-month offseason before the 2017-18 season.

Game 5 of the NBA Finals was barely a month ago and Summer League is already in full swing. Basketball arguably doesn't even have an offseason.

UNC's football schedule, on the other hand, ran from fall practice in August to their final game in November. Then they got a month off and played Stanford. They got another three months off, then had a month of spring practice. Then another three months off before fall camp.

The season is four, arguably five months long. There are 7-8 months out of the year where you are not directly coaching.

Those months are spent recruiting. If Larry doesn't like recruiting, then he should get out of the college game. He's a talented guy and I'm sure he could find a spot coaching WRs for the Panthers or something.

But his whining has to stop either way. It's pathetic and insulting to his fellow coaches in other sports. You don't hear Carlo Ancelotti or Gregg Popovich pissing and moaning like this.

BigBirdBlue

July 16th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^

apples to oranges, only in that you are comparing college football teams to professional teams, and their seasons are consistently longer I believe.  I think that coaches and players are also working hard at least 6 months out of the year: 1 month for spring practice, and 4-5 months during the season and leading up to a potential bowl game. 

 

I agree with you though that there seems that still leaves plenty of down time where if you're not a jackhammer like Harbaugh you could take some time away. 

funkywolve

July 16th, 2017 at 2:13 PM ^

Your comparisons aren't really spot on. Sure the world series teams have a shorter break but that's 2 teams. Most baseball teams end their season in early October and have 4.5 to 5 months off. The NBA summer league is for rookies and young guys who don't play much. The coaches of these NBA summer league teams are young coaches trying to prove themselves.

Magnus

July 16th, 2017 at 1:39 PM ^

I guess I'll have to be the contrarian here and say that I know where Fedora is coming from. I think it's funny that people sitting here on a website are telling other people (whether they're highly paid or not) that they don't deserve a vacation, or that their vacation time should be trimmed.

When you sign a contract at one point, you sign the contract with the expectation that the current calendar is going to roughly stay the same. That's one thing. Secondly, you're not necessarily talking about the guy himself wanting to go out and get drunk, but you're talking about his wife, kids, and perhaps extended family not having that time with their dad/family. But in addition, you're talking about the football staff, the 9 (soon-to-be 10) assistant coaches, the assistant coaches' families, etc.

There are a lot of people impacted by these changes. Head football coaches don't get to that point in their lives by being lazy. These are Type A, hardworking, energetic people, but they also (IMO) shouldn't be handcuffed to their jobs 24/7/365. 

LabattsBleu

July 16th, 2017 at 1:52 PM ^

to be to be a contrarian to your contrainism...

isn't Fedora only talking about one week? it reads like he's upset because of the July 27 date not being August 4th to me?

also who said anything about being handcuffed?

its one week... He's the head coach... if he doesn't want to recruit until the first week of August rather than the last week of July, isn't that simply a matter for him and his staff to decide? I mean he's the head coach... if he wants to take an extra week, that's certainly his perogative

i see nothing that states that every CFB ought to be running full bore at the start of the recruiting period...

Magnus

July 16th, 2017 at 2:25 PM ^

No, it's not a matter for him to decide with his staff. Because if it's legal for everyone else to do it, then you have to "keep up with the Joneses." If you don't, you'll be out of a job. But if the rules are more restricted for everyone, then everyone's playing from a level playing field.

I'll give you an example from high school football:

There's spring practice in Florida, but not in Michigan. So the kids playing football in Florida get more practice time and field time than players in Michigan, and that likely helps some players get a bit of a leg up on northern kids, since you're talking about 4 additional spring practice sessions.

No spring practice allowed in any state? Everyone's on a level playing field.

Spring practice allowed in every state? Everyone's on a level playing field.

Spring practice allowed in every state, but Coach X from, let's say, Northville doesn't want to put his kids through the extra work, practice time, time commitments, potential injuries, etc.? Everyone's on a level playing field, except the Northville kids.

LabattsBleu

July 16th, 2017 at 2:56 PM ^

well, Michigan just gave all its players a full month off from the grind instead of having them continue to do what most big time football programs do, which is football 24/7 following the motto of "If you ain't getting better, you are getting worse"...One could easily argue that the Michigan lost a month to other programs because of that.

I know what you are saying Magnus wrt to the Joneses, but by the letter of the law, no one is forcing anyone to do anything.

If Fedora (himself) takes an extra week off, i honestly don't see it spelling the end of UNC football...

I don't see that one week being that much of a deal breaker... will it affect a recruit? Sure I could see that... 2? 3? 4? At some point a week isn't going to affect guys...certainly not the entirety of a whole recruiting class. One or two guys? sure...

But if a week jumpstart is going to make that much of a difference, at the start of a recruiting year no less, maybe the chances with that recruit wasn't that great to begin with....