David Shaw critical of Ivy League banning tackling (Video)
Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw had a strong reaction to the news that the Ivy League is banning tackling during football practices.
The Ivy League announced earlier this week the conference is banning tackling during in-season practices and Stanford football head coach David Shaw thinks it’s that’s a bad idea because you can’t have a tough team without tough practices.
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Shaw appeared on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio on Thursday and was asked if it’s possible to have a tough team that doesn’t tackle during practice.
His answer was just as you’d expect from Shaw and the majority of football coaches when he told Cowherd, “It’s impossible. It is impossible.”
Contact during practices has been a popular topic in recent years from the NFL to the Pac-12 to the Ivy League to the high school level limiting the amount of tackling as a safety precaution first and as a means to keep players fresher for the length of the season.
Shaw doesn’t lose sight of that but still has 12-15 minutes in practice where there’s contact because that’s how you play football.
“I think we were very conscious in that and in trying to make sure this game is played as safely as possible, but doggone it, this is a contact sport and if people are paying their money, they want to see great football and great football involves big time linebackers going and hitting guys and attacking guys and running backs that know how to avoid that, and when they do get tackled, how they drag a guy three or four more yards.”
“I’d hate to take the football, out of football.”
You can’t take the football out of football, but you can be smart about limiting exposure to players. The Ivy League is taking the extreme measure, and considering how smart they are, maybe other leagues should take notice.
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It’s not necessary to hit for two hours every practice like it’s 1947, but Shaw is right that you need to have it as part of practices, even for 12-15 minutes, because it’s more dangerous to have a player out on the field who doesn’t know how to tackle and serious injury can occur.