College Sports Information Directors of America

The NCAA Volleyball Rules Committee met in mid-January and approved CoSIDA’s request to allow announcers and sports information personnel access to starting lineups once coaches submit their lineups to the official scorer at the three-minute mark.

The official scorer or assistant scorer may give sports information and announcers the lineup in numerical order (not rotation order) at the three-minute mark. However, a coach does have the option to ask that their lineup be protected until the one-minute mark before the first set. 

This is not a rule change but rather an editorial change. The editorial change will be listed in the front of the 2018-19 NCAA Volleyball Rule Book under “Significant Editorial Changes.”

Since this rule change request was not part of the 2017 coaches’ survey, it will be part of the 2018 coaches’ survey to determine if this should become an official rule change for 2020.

SIDs and announcers need to remain neutral and not share lineups with coaches so this editorial change will remain in effect.

Taking the lead for CoSIDA in this advocacy process was Diane Nordstrom, Associate Director of Athletic Communications at the University of Wisconsin and At-Large Representative on the CoSIDA Board of Directors.

“This whole process was a definite learning experience,” Nordstrom said. “I started by talking to my volleyball coach and he gave me his opinion on the rule change as well as suggesting I contact Marcia Alterman, the supervisor of officials for the Big Ten Conference. Marcia gave me some history on the rule change since she has been in committee meetings in the past.
 

“Working with (CoSIDA Associate Executive Director) Will Roleson, we contacted the committee members, asking for their support of the rule change, and also solicited the names of coaches who supported the change.  We ended up with nearly 150 coaches from all divisions who offered their support of the rule change, which I think was a key to getting the update made.

“All in all, I was very glad to be able to help my fellow SIDs to do their jobs more efficiently.”

Added Roleson, “One of CoSIDA’s goals is to advocate on behalf of our membership. We are pleased to have proposed this change that will help sports information staffs throughout the country, and we will look for other opportunities for similar advocacy in the future as warranted.”