Last week, as rule changes were announced across FBS, FCS, Division II, and Division III levels, we talked with a number of coaches specifically about the rule banning two days. While their plans for moving forward and how they'd specifically be affected were all different, pretty much all were vocal in their displeasure of the new rule in some form or another.
That prompted me to do a piece that we've received a ton of great feedback on centered on the idea that if safety is truly concern, there's an issues at the Division III level that needs to be examined closer.
That brings me to Division III Washington University St. Louis (MO) head coach Larry Kindbom, who wrote a great piece featured on D3Football.com, and as I read it, I got that familiar, fleeting feeling of missing something that's been sitting right in front of my face the whole time.
Kindbom's point is an important one for coaches to read, and centers on this idea; How can coaches honestly make the game safer when opportunities to teach them during are being taken away, and shortened?
A number of great points are brought up by Kindbom throughout the piece revolving around that belief, including how "each practice opportunity is an opportunity to teach our players to block better, to tackle properly, and to play with speed in a game where awareness is created best through repetition," before adding that a "reduction of opportunity does not breed safety."
It's important to note that Kindbom took the reigns of the Wash U program back in 1989, so he's seen his fair share of rule changes in the decades that have come and gone, but this one clearly hit a nerve for him.
Head over to D3Football.com to read Kindbom's full thoughts, where he makes a ton of great points and voices some concerns that everyone in the coaching profession can relate to.