Pac-12 examines policies of reporting football injuries

by Doug Haller - Sept. 19, 2012 07:02 PM
azcentral sports

Four weeks into the season, who would've guessed injuries would be such a popular discussion point in the Pac-12? (OK, Arizona's quick start and Stanford's upset of USC might be better topics.)

Still, the injury debate -- or rather the reporting of injuries -- has conference Commissioner Larry Scott thinking it's time that the Pac-12 looks into establishing a conference-wide injury report, similar to the one the NFL releases every week.

He told reporters last week that he plans to put the topic on the agenda of a Pac-12 athletic directors' meeting in October, just to see whether the Pac-12 should let schools dictate their own injury policies or if the conference should set standard guidelines.

Two incidents have put this on the front burner: Recently, USC banned a Los Angeles Daily News reporter for two weeks after he reported that a player had undergone surgery. USC has a policy that prohibits reporters from reporting injuries that are suffered during practice, but the Daily News reporter discovered the news through outside sources. (The ban later was lifted.)

Not much later, Washington coach Steve Sarkisian announced that coaches and players no longer would discuss injuries because he felt if others weren't doing so, why should the Huskies?

Todd Graham isn't a big fan of an injury report.

"This isn't professional football," the Arizona State coach told reporters Wednesday.

Two issues here: Federal privacy law often restricts schools from disclosing health issues of student-athletes. And not to be overlooked, many coaches feel that disclosing injuries could give opponents a competitive advantage. In fact, Oregon State coach Mike Riley disclosed on this week's Pac-12 teleconference that the Beavers have a graduate assistant monitor news reports for injury news.

Don't think Oregon State is alone.

Since his hire in December, Graham has been extremely open with media. Asking him about injuries, however, makes him hesitate. When senior running back Cameron Marshall didn't participate during preseason camp, he initially told reporters Marshall was simply fatigued. Later, Graham revealed that Marshall had a hamstring issue. (In fairness, Graham almost always has announced when a player is lost for the season due to injury.)

There's an element of gamesmanship to this. Before a trip to Sun Devil Stadium on Sept. 8, Illinois coach Tim Beckman listed quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase as a game-time decision because of an ankle injury. Was he deceiving the Sun Devils, forcing them to prepare for a player who wouldn't play? It's hard to say for sure, but Scheelhaase not only missed the ASU contest, he missed the Illini's contest against Charleston Southern the next week, too.

"I try to be as forthright as I can on those things," Graham said of discussing injuries. "The media coming to practice, you can see if a guy is dressed out or not dressed out. ... But being specific about a guy (who) has a beat-up shoulder and he's my quarterback? Oh, Coach, nobody would go after that shoulder would they?"

The rest of the Pac-12 is split on a possible injury report. Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez already issues a weekly report, something he did during his coaching days at Michigan.

"It just made it a lot easier," Rodriguez said.

"We didn't have to (answer) questions all week about it. The (Big Ten) has been doing it for a long time, and it seems like it's been a pretty effective way to do it, so we kind of adopted that policy."

Stanford's David Shaw is against an injury report.

"It's a need-to-know basis, and I don't believe people need to know every single bump and bruise that happens on a football team," he said.

Washington State coach Mike Leach's opinion? He simply thinks reporters need to worry about other issues.

"It's journalism at its most pitiful level," he said of injury reporting.

Reach The Heat Index at 602-444-4949 or at doug.haller@arizonarepublic.com.

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/articles/2012/09/05/20120905pac-examines-policies-reporting-football-injuries.html
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