Kalen DeBoer ‘open’ to having injury reports, wants to hear both sides

One year after the Big Ten led the way by mandating injury reports prior to games, other leagues like the SEC are considering following suit. The proposals have been met with mixed reviews.

Many coaches prefer to keep things close to the vest, feeling it can give them an ever-so-slight edge on gameday. Others would prefer uniform reporting to level the playing field.

Count Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer in the undecided camp for now.

“I don’t have all the answers to that right now, as far as how I feel,” DeBoer said at the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla., this week. “Again, want to listen to a lot of the reasons for and against. I understand why having some consistency is important and sometimes it clears up even your communication to everyone that wants to know.”

On top of making it easier for fans to follow along with who is available and who isn’t, there’s a very obvious practical reason for standardizing injury reports.

Sports betting has become highly popular as states have legalized it, and the impact of injuries can often swing lines quite a bit. Having a more standard source of reporting could alleviate potential issues regarding how injuries are made known and when.

Overall, a standardized reporting method could cut down on the potential for fraudulent reporting.

But implementing such a process in the SEC, for example, would also move things one step closer to a uniform process in college athletics. That would level the playing field some in non-conference matchups.

“I understand from, you know, from just consistency across the conference, trying to pull that all together but even across the country with the different conferences,” DeBoer said. “So, some consistency is certainly something I understand. I’m open to the idea. You know, just want to understand more about what the expectation would be and what that format would look like.”

It’s unclear whether the SEC might move to adopt a measure on injury reports this weekend at the spring meetings in Destin or whether the conversations are more exploratory.

In any case, though, the topic is certainly on the table.

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