NCAA Division II considering certification of strength coaches

NCAA Division II strength and conditioning coaches would be required to obtain national certification under recommendations from the division’s Management Council.

The Management Council last week recommended that the Presidents Council adopt the mandate, which is expected to be discussed at the 2016 NCAA Convention in January. “The goal is to ensure student-athlete welfare and to reduce student-athlete injury during training,” said Management Council chair Tim Ladd, a faculty athletics representative at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

From the NCAA:

The council’s action is the latest step in a conversation that dates to 2012, when the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports advised all three divisions to require national certification of anyone designing, conducting or monitoring strength and conditioning workouts. Last July, the Division II Management Council tabled the issue and established a working group to craft a recommendation that it believed would best serve Division II.

The resulting recommendation from the working group, which the Management Council supported, would require any person designated as a school’s strength and conditioning coach to be nationally certified. If a school does not designate a strength and conditioning coach, anyone who conducts strength and conditioning workouts — including assistant or head coaches — would need to be certified. 

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