Iowa players agree: Success doesn't come in 20 hours a week

To Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz, success in football and the classroom takes more than the time dedicated to traditional coursework.

“Playing football is no different from any class,” Ferentz said. “There's a lot of preparation, there's a lot of study if you want to get good grades. I think that's very, very common.”

College football programs are bound by the NCAA's 20/8 rule. Each program can mandate 20 hours of sport-related activity during the season and eight in the off-season. Beyond 20 hours of in-season work - such as watching films or conditioning - is up to the individual, according to NCAA rules.

The University of Michigan allegedly shattered those rules, according to a Detroit Free Press investigation. The newspaper and its Web site published accounts from former and current football players who said they were made to work well in excess of the allowed time. Compliance officers from the school, Big Ten and NCAA are investigating the program to determine if work was mandatory or voluntary.

At Iowa, any work beyond 20 hours is considered voluntary, but with a twist. Iowa players and coaches say to be the best in any sport, extra preparation time is necessary on an individual basis.

“It's not even a matter of if you don't do it you're going to be in trouble,” said junior offensive lineman Julian Vandervelde. “I feel like everybody who's here has a desire to get better.

“The guys who are going to be successful are the ones who do what we have to do when we're here ... and take a lot of pride and a lot of self worth in coming out here day after day doing the extra stuff.”

Iowa Associate Athletics Director Fred Mims monitors NCAA rules and polls random student-athletes on their practice schedules for a two-week period. Iowa coaches must declare a weekly practice schedule and document mandatory hours, and Mims compares those reports with students' information. Student-athletes are told to alert the compliance staff if practice methods are considered extreme.

Mims has reported schedule violations to the NCAA as part of the men's swimming program's major rules infractions in 2004. Mims said he routinely receives complaints from students about workouts and his office checks into the allegations. Often, he said, it's a rule misinterpretation and he applies clarity.

Ferentz and Mims said the off-season workout programs are the most difficult to police nationally. For instance, strength or conditioning coaches are banned from reporting an athlete's attendance or progress in a voluntary program to the coaching staff. All participation - outside of eight hours - must be voluntary.

“I guess that's the difficult part is it's honor bound, more or less,” Mims said. “Your expectations are that people will abide by what the guidelines say. If you're driving through a street at night and the speed limit says 30, do you go 35 or 40? If you come up on 3 o'clock in the morning, you've got a red light, do you stop? Those are choices people have to make every day, and the same thing applies here.”

Hawkeyes take Sunday mornings off

Iowa football players keep their Sunday mornings sacred and like it that way.

The players don't have to report to the football complex until Sunday afternoon, which allows them time to rest, go to church or eat a family meal, Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. The players watch game video, loosen up from the previous day's game, then take off until Tuesday afternoon. NCAA rules mandate players must receive one day off each week.

“Really, in a perfect world, I'd rather just do the film and do nothing physical on Sunday,” Ferentz said, “and then do a light, kind of scouting workout on Monday night after we've had time to get the game plan ready and all that. You can't do that with the day-off rule.”

The issue comes to light after several University of Michigan players said coaches mandated up to 10 hours Sunday for video and conditioning work. Iowa junior offensive lineman Julian Vandervelde said Big Ten football is too physically demanding to expect a long Sunday from players.

“I couldn't imagine a 12-hour day, even with a lunch break in there,” he said. “I like my Sundays. I really like my Sundays.”