Varsity - The Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics

Varsity - November 8, 2012

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NCAA makes good move on enforcement BEHIND THE DESK BARRY ALVAREZ • UW DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS ball point guard, Josh Gasser, had injured his knee during practice that morning and was lost for the season. A During our bye week, I spoke to a Quarterback Club in Gainesville and got a chance to visit with two of my former coaches, Brian White and Tim Davis. Both are Florida assistants. One of my former players, Jona- than Clinkscale, is also down there. He's a graduate assistant and doing a nice job. I watched practice, and you can see the kids like him and respond to him well. Florida's defensive line coach, Bryant Young, never played for me, but I recruited him to Notre Dame just before I took the Wisconsin job. I remember watching some video with Tom Lemming, who was try- ing to sell me on a linebacker. The more I watched, the more I wanted to know about the defensive end. He was about 6-4, 245. I told Lemming, "That's the cat I want.'' He didn't bring him up to me because Bryant wasn't on anybody's recruiting list. I said, "Watch him.'' The offense runs a power play, and he knocks the heck out of the guard. Then he blows up the fullback and wades through everyone until he finds the guy with the ball. 12 » VARSITY NOVEMBER 8, 2012 t halftime of the Michigan State game last Saturday, I learned that our basket- I found out more about him, and I was the first guy to offer Bryant. He turned out to be a heckuva player at Notre Dame. He was an All-American. And he was a great player in the NFL for a long time. He was an All-Pro. While I was in Florida, the NCAA announced some changes for in- fractions enforcement. Head coaches will now be held more account- able for what their as- sistants are doing. That's the way it should be. It should make them more diligent as far as stress- ing the rules. Head coaches will now be held more accountable for what their assistants are doing. That's the way it should be. It should make them more diligent as far as stressing the rules. You've got to tell them, "If you break a rule, we're all going to be punished.'' And they have to know, "If you break a rule, you're gone — you're outta here.'' We've got to clean things up. I like the fact that there will be new wording for the infractions. The NCAA is trying to clarify the language, and I can live with those changes. A few years ago, there was an example of head coach who made light of secondary violations. He'd tell his assistants, "The heck with it, just go do it. If it's second- ary, it's a slap on the wrist.'' How far are you going to push it? And what can you get away with? I know NCAA president Mark Emmert has been working on that "risk-and-reward" premise. He has been very aggressive in addressing some of these things. He understands the issues and he's moving quickly towards correcting them. I don't necessarily agree with everything, but we had to make changes. President Emmert has been will- ing to do that in a swift fashion, and we all appreciate it. I also know that he's planning on tackling the size of the rule book. Every coach is looking for an edge and, as soon as somebody gets close to the foul line, then there's an NCAA rule created to back them off. That's how the rule book has become so unwieldy. There's no way you can adhere to everything. In fact, we had a meeting this week of our staff, and the longest portion was devoted to compliance. Not only did we go over some of the new stuff, but we made sure everyone understands that it's serious business. I know we take it seriously here.

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