Football: A 16-game schedule will put pressure on coaches

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Concerns continue to be expressed over the wisdom of allowing a select group of high school football teams to play 16 games starting in 2012 when regional bowls begin, but CIF officials insisted Wednesday during a teleconference with prep reporters that the burden of ensuring the safety of players rested with coaches.

Roger Blake, the associate executive director of the California Interscholastic Federation, emphasized that a sports-medicine committee had indicated there were “no definitive data” on how many games were too many. But the committee indicated that it depended “on the coach leading the program,” Blake said.

So, depending on the coach and his practice routines, five games or 15 games could be too many.

In other words, I can only conclude the CIF is laying the groundwork to put the responsibility on coaches in case there is a rash of serious injuries in 2012 for a season that will start in mid-August and end Dec. 14-15 for a small group of teams.

Just a little more pressure for coaches, as if they needed more.

-- Eric Sondheimer