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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYSJuly 26, 2012Bill CarolloCHICAGO, ILLINOIS THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Bill Carollo. BILL CAROLLO: It's a real pleasure to be here to give you a quick update on officiating and the state of the union as far as Big Ten officiating is concerned. What I thought I'd do is break down my remarks in three different areas where I think the program is at today. Secondly, talk a little bit about the points of emphasis, what we've been doing in the offseason with our officials and also working with the coaches as far as the key points from the NCAA and the CFO as far as officiating points of emphasis. And then end in the last area, talk about the new rules. And we'll talk a little bit more about in detail about the new rules at the end but I would like to make sure that this is an offseason, an off year if you will, for rule changes, and we have five major changes in the rules this year. So circling back, I heard from all the coaches today. And as you heard today and what makes a great team and what they're looking for and it's very similar to officiating. It takes teamwork. It takes leadership. It takes hard work. Preparation, and overcoming obstacles. When I take a look at what I heard earlier today, it's very, very similar for our officials. Our goal three years ago when I took over was to be the best officiating staff in the country. We're making progress on that goal. I'm not saying that we're the best in the country at all. But I would probably tell you that we're probably the hardest working and we invest more in officiating than any other conference in the country. I'm proud of that. I'm proud of the relationship, the teamwork that we have with the coaches as well as the commissioner's support for the officiating program. I think we're in pretty good shape as far as our staff is concerned. We do grade our officials on every play, every game. And they have to grade out. If they don't grade out, they'll have a limited schedule or they'll be moved off the staff. So there is a great deal of accountability for our officials and a lot of pressure, and we need to change the attitude on officiating that I've seen going back 10, 15 years. This is not a part‑time job. It's a year‑round job. We've been spending the last six to seven months training, not just working on the areas that we needed some improvement from officiating, but even in the areas of leadership. Recently we brought in a four star general to talk to our referees about what leadership really means. Couple of weeks ago we brought in a cardiac doctor to talk about stress management, how do you handle the tough calls under pressure. So we're trying to improve but we're not going to be perfect. But I think we're in pretty good shape. The points of emphasis that we have this year has to do with player safety. That has not changed. That's been our mantra for the last several years, and we'll continue to work on the health and safety of the players? A second area in that area is unsportsman‑like conduct. Not a problem in the Big Ten at all. We only had a couple of occurrences where we thought we needed to throw a flag last year for unsportsman‑like acts. The coaches have done a great job in this area managing their players, they're young and excitable, but the bottom line is they're very much under control and the game is being well managed from the coaches and officials standpoint. The last area is the new rules. I mentioned this is an off year for new rules, but we had five major changes on the rule changes this year. It has to do with the kickoff. You'll notice we'll be kicking from a different kick line. We're moving to the 35. If we have a touchback on a kickoff we'll be moving to the 25. We're also giving the receivers on punts and kickoffs the opportunity to make that catch unmolested chance to catch an on‑sidekick and we can talk in more detail about that. But it all goes back to player safety. Each one of these changes has to do with player safety. The punt protecter, the shield for the punter, you cannot leap over that wall there. That would be a personal foul new this year. And I think the last area that we talked about a lot last year was low blocks. We've expanded that area as far as low blocks is concerned for player safety, and we thought that would be a problem last year but the coaches understood the rule, the players understood what they can and can't do, who the restricted players are and the unrestricted players. And the last one that maybe might draw so far this year the most conversation has to do with when players' helmets come off and there's ramifications if the player comes off. We've been monitoring helmets coming off these players. We've had even in the Big Ten we've had one game we had over 25 helmets come off in one game. So we've monitored that. We've looked at what we should do about it. Should we charge them a timeout? Should we send them out of the game? Should it be a five‑yard penalty? We settled on the option of if your helmet comes off and it's not caused because of a fall, you're going to have to leave the game for one play. So with that let me stop there and open it up for some questions. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Could you go through the kickoff situation in detail? BILL CAROLLO: The kickoff we moved it because we found that the kickoff plays, the situation for a kickoff, is our number one play scenario that lends itself to injury. So because the most injuries occur on a kickoff we've moved the line up to 35‑yard line. If it becomes a touchback on that kick, the touchback line will move to the 25‑yard line. We did that encouraging, if it's a deep kick, not to run it back. And the second aspect of that is the kicking players, the ten non‑players not kicking the ball, they have to line up and start within five yards of the kick line. So we're not going to give the players and the kicking team a running start to get down to that 4‑2 speed to get down the field and have a violent collision with the receiving team. So those aspects, because of the injury, we decided to make that change. And the rule changes are by rules committee set up with coaches, athletic directors and commissioners on that committee, and we feel that because of the nature of that type of play those changes were needed. Maybe the other aspect of that is on an on‑side kick, if you think about it, in the past we used to allow the kicker to drill the ball into the ground, bounce once up in the air high and go ten yards. Those players receiving that ball were defenseless players and they were getting blown up. The new aspect of the rule this year is we are not going to allow the kicking players to blow those players up on the receiving side. We'll give them the full benefit just like they called for a fair catch. So you have to allow them, break down, let them catch the ball before you make contact with the receiving player. Q. Going back to the kickoff, if a touchback goes out to the 25, are you trying to encourage more touchbacks are you trying to encourage more short kicks whether it be a full play made? BILL CAROLLO: We've had a lot of discussions with the special teams coaches. I'm sure there's going to be a different special team strategy when it comes to kickoffs, whether it's a long kick or even a surprise onside kick. So certainly changing the strategy but because of the injuries that we've seen, I would say that if it's a touchback we're encouraging them to stay in the end zone, leave the ball in the end zone and take it out to the 25. If you take a look at the starting average position in college football, around the 22 and a half, 23‑yard line, they're gaining an advantage over the average type of kick in the past, not to take a chance to fumble the ball. If you've got a really good‑‑ depends on which team, if you've got a great special teams and an expert back that can run it back, they may be taking the ball off but because of the injury factors I feel that's a pretty good rule. Q. [[Lost audio]] BILL CAROLLO: The linebackers, and it got to a point that there were so many blindside blocks and going low, and I told you our number one emphasis was high hits and defenseless players and concussions. [[Lost audio]] THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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