Almost to a man, head coaches, college football head coaches in particular, are loath to give out even a scintilla of information that they aren’t absolutely required to. Depending on how things play out over the next month or two, there could be a whole helluva lot of pissed off head coaches at the collegiate level.
According to Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, and in response to the growing number of states that have either legalized sports wagering or will soon legalize it, "[t]he NCAA Gambling Working Group will propose the first-ever standardized national player availability report for college sports.” If the pilot program is enacted -- it very likely will in some form or fashion -- Dodd reports that coaches would be required to “list players as ‘available,’ ‘possible’ or ‘unavailable’ for that week’s game without mentioning a specific body part or injury.”
If enacted -- one of the hurdles is that universities are bound by the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which ostensibly keeps student-athletes’ medical information private -- it would go into effect on a trial basis for the 2019 college football season.
For years, ACC member schools have voluntarily released an injury report in the days leading up to a conference matchup. Northwestern of the Big Ten, among others, has also released injury reports ahead of gamedays going back a few years. Just this week, the Associated Press noted, “Big 12 coaches are discussing the implementation of a standardized conference-wide injury report, but they would prefer some type of national uniformity.”
Our guess? The pilot program reported by Dodd will be implemented, and you will see a wide swathe of FBS coaches listing every... single... player on its roster as “possible” leading into its next game. And then, next offseason, it’ll be back to the drawing board for the sports decision-makers as it attempts to get ahead of the gambling curve and protect the integrity of the sport, all the while balancing the federally-mandated rights of its student-athletes.