‘Lane Kiffin Rule’ on mid-season coaching moves intact in latest draft of Protect College Sports Act
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The latest draft of the Protect College Sports Act has reportedly been distributed to members of the Senate. Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger has obtained copies of some sections of the bill, including the section dubbed “The Lane Kiffin Rule,” pertaining to a coach leaving a program mid-season.
That section details the penalties for a coach leaving his program in the middle of the season and starting work elsewhere immediately, something Kiffin did last year as he bolted from Ole Miss to LSU just before his team’s run in the College Football Playoff. Dellenger notes the language in the updated draft of the bill “hasn’t changed too much from the original version.”
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Coaches are still prohibited from making mid-season moves. The penalty for a coach leaving his team mid-season and beginning employment with another before the year has ended is a season-long suspension the following year. The exact language of the bill is as follows:
SEC. 110. Rules Governing Certain Mid-Season Coaching Transitions
(a) IN GENERAL — An individual who serves, or has served at any point during a competitive season, as football athletic personnel for a varsity sports team for intercollegiate football at an institution shall not, during that same competitive season, perform for another institution any duties or responsibilities customarily associated with a head coach of a varsity sports team for intercollegiate football, including, at a minimum —
- recruiting or contacting prospective or current student athletes;
- directing, participating in, or materially influencing recruiting strategy or evaluations;
- directing, participating in, or materially influencing roster management decisions, including decisions relating to transfers;
- facilitating, coordinating, negotiating, or otherwise materially influencing name, image, and likeness activities involving student athletes;
- directing, supervising, or materially influencing coaching staff or team operations;
- participating in practice planning, game preparation, strategic decision-making, or on-field activities;
- publicly representing the institution in an intercollegiate football-related capacity in a manner that reflects or implies authority over the intercollegiate football program; and
- undertaking any other activity customarily associated with a head coach of a varsity sports team for intercollegiate football.
(b) APPLICATION — Subsection (a) shall apply without regard to title, formal designation, compensation structure, employment status, or timing of any public announcement, and the applicable intercollegiate athletic association may prohibit any arrangement that, in substance or effect, provides an individual described in subsection (a) with authority or responsibilities customarily exercised by a head coach.
(c) DETERMINATION OF INELIGIBILITY — An individual described in subsection (a) who accepts employment, appointment, or designation as head coach of a varsity sports team for intercollegiate football at another institution during the same competitive season is ineligible to participate in intercollegiate athletic competition for intercollegiate football as head coach for the hiring institution through the conclusion of the competitive season, including any postseason competition, of the prior institution or the hiring institution, whichever occurs later.
(d) PENALTIES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE — In the event an individual who accepts employment, appointment, or designation as head coach of a varsity sports team for intercollegiate football at another institution violates this section, that individual shall be ineligible to assume the duties as head coach of the varsity sports team for intercollegiate football at the hiring institution for the subsequent competitive season after the season in which the violation occurred and be subject to additional penalties sufficient to ensure compliance with this section.
(2) COMPETITIVE SEASON — The term “competitive season” means the period beginning with the first regularly scheduled intercollegiate athletic competition for intercollegiate football for an institution during a season and ending with the conclusion of the final intercollegiate athletic competition for intercollegiate football for the institution during that season.
(3) FOOTBALL ATHLETIC PERSONNEL — The term “football athletic personnel” means any individual employed by, contracted with, or otherwise engaged by an institution who provides coaching, instruction, recruiting, roster management, or training as the head coach or a coordinator, including an offensive, defensive, or special teams coordinator, of student athletes who are members of or participate with the varsity sports team for intercollegiate football of the institution.
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