Earlier this month, LSU head football coach Brian Kelly announced he would share official team injury reports three times a week this season.
Kelly’s standardized reporting process stems from his belief that releasing injury reports can prevent possible harmful acts. sports betting activity within its program. If LSU is transparent about its injury situation, it theoretically decreases the likelihood that a bettor will contact an athlete or coach for inside information on injuries.
Kelly’s decision follows a series of recent sports betting infractions in college sports, including former Brad Bohannon, Alabama baseball head coach allegedly offered inside information to a Ohio bettor.
“I don’t want anyone to lose their job or lose their eligibility,” Kelly said. “To me, that’s a bigger issue than, ‘Well, we had a tactical advantage today because we found out he was playing.'”
NCAA inactive on injury reports
Despite Kelly’s decision, the prospect of an NCAA-wide injury report has not gained traction.
An NCAA spokesperson said Sports handle that injury reports have not been a recent topic of discussion for the organization. The NCAAs most recent public statement The subject came up again in August 2019, when it decided not to implement mandatory injury reporting.
The NCAA’s 2019 press release stated that a sports betting committee determined that formal reporting of injuries “would not advance the welfare of student-athletes or the integrity of competition.” NCAA leaders have stressed the importance of learning more about the impact of sports betting on athletes, but injury reports have yet to come up in these recent conversations.
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The NCAA recently conducted a survey of young adults to better understand their gaming habits. The association also plans to conduct a national survey of student-athletes and their sports betting habits during the 2023-24 academic year. These findings will lead to future discussions among NCAA administrators, where discussions about injury reporting could theoretically take place.
Conferences brainstorm an idea
With the NCAA not intervening, it’s up to conferences to determine whether they should make injury reporting mandatory.
December reports suggested the Pac-12 was studying the idea before the 2023 football season, but a Pac-12 spokesperson said Sports handle last week, the conference will not require league-wide injury reporting this season. Like the Pac-12, the Mountain West Conference has studied the idea but is not committing to injury reports this season, a conference spokesperson said. Sports handle.
“Injury reporting is at the discretion of each institution,” the MWC spokesperson said.
ACC football teams once released injury reports every Thursday before conference games, but the league ended workouts before the 2019 season. Some ACC coaches then cited a desire for the NCAA mandates them, but it has never happened.
#Hokies Coach Justin Fuente on eliminating ACC injury reporting: “We want everything to be the same, league to league, coach to coach, across the country. “
– Mike Barbier (@RTD_MikeBarber) August 26, 2018
The ACC does not anticipate reporting injury reports this fall, according to a conference spokesperson.
One of the ACC’s most prominent coaches, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, expressed support for injury reporting last week when asked about the topic. Swinney said he is open to the idea of mandatory weekly injury reporting, although he has not gone as far as Kelly in committing to a standardized reporting process for the 2023 season.
“I don’t really have a problem with it, to be honest with you,” Swinney told local media. “It’s really not that big of a deal for me. I would be perfectly fine if I had to release it on Tuesday or Wednesday or whatever. I think the start of the week is probably (better). You know, a guy came out, it’s going to come out anyway.
Like Kelly, Eli Drinkwitz of Missouri supports the idea of widespread injury reporting. Drinkwitz is one of the few coaches to shares weekly injury report during the season. Some coaches do not reveal any information about injuries, while others will reveal some when questioned by members of the media.
Although Kelly and Drinkwitz have offered official reports, an SEC spokesperson said Sports Illustrated this month, league-wide injury reports are “not a topic of discussion at this time.”
A MAC spokesperson said Sports handle that injury reporting will not be mandatory in this conference this season. The same is true for the AAC, CUSA and Sun Belt, conference spokespeople said.
Sports handle also contacted representatives from the Big Ten and Big 12, but did not receive a response from those conferences prior to publication. Neither Power Five league has indicated plans to implement official injury reporting.
