NCAA Removes Limit On Number Of On-Field Coaches

The NCAA Division I council voted on Tuesday, approving a rule change that permits any staff member to provide technical and tactical instruction to players.

The new rule will not affect the number of coaches that are allowed to go on the road to recruit, which is still limited to the head coach and 10 assistant coaches. Also part of the rule is that FBS programs are still able to have up to four graduate assistant coaches and no more than five strength and conditioning coaches.

“NCAA members continue efforts to modernize support for student-athletes, and removing restrictions on skill instruction in football will provide those student-athletes with increased resources to achieve their greatest on-field potential,” said Josh Whitman, chair of the council and athletics director at Illinois. “At the same time, the council determined that maintaining limits on recruiting personnel will preserve competitive balance in recruiting while also localizing decision-making around how best to maximize support for student-athletes.”

With the rule change, Ohio State and other teams could have more than 25 coaches coaching during practices and games, meaning analysts, quality control coaches and other program assistants will be able to coach without restriction now.

For Ohio State, those coaches will include quality control coach Tim Drevno; defensive quality control coaches Joe Lyberger, Sam McGrath and Brent Zdebski; program assistants Devin Jordan, Riley Larkin, Garren DuHart and Joshua Chorba; and offensive analysts Billy Fessler and Tony Johnson, among others.