Getty Image / Johnnie Izquierdo
The LSU Tigers have a new radically transparent injury reporting policy their SEC rivals are sure to love, as will the Florida State Seminoles when they open up against the Tigers on September 3rd in Orlando.
It doesn’t take a degree in rocket science to grasp why football coaches are vague when it comes to their team’s injury reports, so it is intriguing to see a high-profile program like LSU embrace transparency.
Why did LSU add so much transparency to their injury report?
LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly recently spoke on the change. Coach Kelly credits the rise of sports betting surrounding College Football as the catalyst for the change.
He called it ‘a “proactive” response to the proliferation of legalized sports betting,’ according to the video below from ESPN. Specifically, it’s a proactive response to self-styled ‘degenerate’ gamblers hounding LSU players, and players at other schools, for ‘insider information’ that might not show up on LSU’s old injury report.
During his press conference, LSU head coach Brian Kelly said “I’m not saying that happened. I’m not saying that would happen. I think it’s better to be proactive in those situations and take away even the temptation to even have that in this building and not be that next school that goes down that path.”
Coach Kelly went on to say “I thought it was important given the nature of what’s going on today out there relative to reporting and gaming. We wanted to make sure that we were transparent with injuries, not putting any pressure on anybody here to guess who’s in, who’s out for a given game.”
It is natural to ponder why Coach Kelly appears to be kowtowing to gamblers when this alleged ‘harassment’ of players for insider information hasn’t happened yet. And the timing is interesting with Iowa State’s QB scandal.
But this sort of radical transparency is a good thing if it protects Kelly’s players from harassment or any potential rules infractions in the future. This new LSU injury report policy change should be applauded.