On Wednesday, the Division I Council Coordination Committee approved a waiver allowing two additional non-coaching staff members to be involved in on-court activities this summer.
It will be allowed during an eight-week session. However, no more than four coaches and non-coaching staff members combined can participate in these activities at any time. This will also allow the non-coaching staff members to participate in skill-instruction activities as practice players.
For Indiana, that means Brian Walsh, Benny Sander and Mike Stump, all part of the Indiana support staff, will most likely be involved with the new rule change.
But, it means someone like Thad Matta could theoretically be another voice on the court this summer.
"Again, great basketball mind," Mike Woodson said of Matta. "My ego has always been in tact in terms of being able to accept great basketball minds and what they are thinking. I think that’s healthy from a coaching standpoint and I think it can’t do nothing but help me as I move up the road and try to build this basketball team.
"I’m grateful that Thad is on board. Again we have to put a staff together and we’ll work towards that here in the next week or so."
The change will take place effective June 4 and will apply to the summer period. The NCAA put this change in place due to the increased need for assistant coaches to be on the road in a recruiting aspect following the end of the recruiting dead period that ended earlier this month.
This will also help someone like IU head coach Mike Woodson who knows the importance of skill development.
"The development program and the development of individual players is vital, I don’t care what level it is and what sport it is. If you don’t develop, you struggle, I think, and over the years, all the teams in the NBA that I’ve worked with, we’ve been able to develop great players, man. And it takes time, but if the player is willing to accept coaching, because it’s demanding," Woodson said. "I mean, it wasn’t easy for me and I turned out just fine and I’m going to push guys and I’m going to be demanding; that they work, come to the gym and put the time in, and I think if they do that, good things will happen, and then in the long run, we will all benefit from it from a basketball standpoint."
"We are building on this tradition but it’s got to be a vision for the future and where basketball is headed and our recruits, when they look and think about Indiana Basketball, it’s attractive because of what coach Woodson is doing and what he can thing to them for their individual skill development," IU AD Scott Dolson said. "What it does for our team success and what it does for basketball beyond, if that’s their aspiration, which most of them it is."
Indiana begins summer workouts on June 10.
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