Big 12 media day: Conference cuts back on number of contact workouts

DALLAS — The Big 12 is introducing a conference-wide policy that will limit its football programs to two “live contact opportunities” per week, conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced Monday as the league convened its football media days.

The policy of two contact days per week, a measure aimed at player safety, will include game days and is one fewer than the current national limit, Bowlsby said.

The announcement came as Bowlsby delivered a far-reaching and comprehensive state-of-the-conference address to reporters on the first of two Big 12 media days.

“The Big 12 Conference continues to take the lead in the area of player safety as the first conference to enact more restrictive contact polices than currently permitted,” Bowlsby said. “Our policy is a 33-percent reduction in the number of contact opportunities allowed under NCAA guidelines.”

At the moment, NCAA guidelines define live contact practice as “any practice that involves live tackling to the ground and/or full-speed blocking.” A live contact practice can be conducted with players in full pads or half pads, in which a player wears shoulder pads and shorts.

The new policy comes as player-safety issues and concussion awareness has permeated the game of football in recent years. Bowlsby said the new policy had the approval of the conference’s coaches, and in many cases, programs were currently conducting just two contact practices per week.

According to the a release from the the Big 12, the new live contact policy applies to in-season practices and includes bye weeks.

“Limiting the number of live contact practices,” Bowlsby said, “and giving medical practitioners unchallengeable authority on return to play decisions unequivocally demonstrates the commitment of our membership to the health and safety of Big 12 student-athletes.”

Back home – Monday was a home game of sorts for Kansas coach David Beaty, who grew up in nearby Garland, Texas.

Beaty took every opportunity to praise the high school football — and the high school football coaches — in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. It was, no doubt, a subtle bit of recruiting. But for Beaty, a former high school football coach himself, it is a topic that strikes a chord.

“We are located right now in one of the finest, most fertile grounds for high school athletes in the country,” Beaty said, “and those athletes are coached by some of the finest high school coaches in the country.

“I’m an old Texas high school football coach, and I consider those guys to be my brothers. So it's a good deal for me to be back here today around those guys.”

Kansas has eight players orally committed in its 2016 recruiting class, and four of those players hail from Texas. The latest commitment — which came from defensive end Manaia Perese of Snow College in Ephraim, Utah — came on Sunday afternoon.

Beaty has made Texas a focal point in his recruiting efforts, tapping into his connections in the high school ranks. After taking the helm at KU, Beaty hired former Texas high school football coach Kenny Perry — who spent the last two years at TCU — to serve as co-defensive coordinator.

“It's crucial,” Beaty said of Texas recruiting. “That's what we will draw on is those relationships. I left a coaching convention last night around 9 p.m. I got here around 11:30. I saw Jack Arute when I was checking in. And I left an event called the Texas High School Football Coaches Association Coaching School. There was 13,000 to 15,000 coaches there.

“There's 21,000 people in that membership, and that is a brotherhood. And I am proud to be part of that brotherhood. I'll never relinquish that title. It's a big deal for me to know that I was and still am at heart a Texas high school football coach.”

Vacation buddies – Here something you may not know about Beaty and defensive coordinator Clint Bowen: They’re vacation buddies. Beaty said his family recently enjoyed a beach trip to Seagrove Beach, Fla., with the Bowen family.

“We've been, for all intents and purposes, close, best friends in our families,” Beaty said. “We go to Destin, Fla., every year.… What people don't know about Clint is he wears me out on the beach with all the kids’ Olympics and all that. He's the dad of the year. He does a great job with those guys. My girls love him. Our family certainly loves him.”

Bowen served as the Jayhawks’ interim coach last season after the dismissal of Charlie Weis in late September. He was also a finalist for the head coaching job, which eventually went to Beaty. But on Monday, Beaty re-iterated that it was a “no-brainer” to retain Bowen on his staff.

“As a matter of fact, we had already talked about it,” Beaty said. “The way we looked at it, we had two opportunities to be able to come back here and be a part of that great program.”

This story was originally published July 20, 2015 at 10:08 AM with the headline "Big 12 media day: Conference cuts back on number of contact workouts."