ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Whether it's Twitter, Facebook or the simple text message, Big Ten coaches are doing everything they can to communicate better. 

Bill Carollo is trying to catch up. 

Carollo, the Big Ten's new coordinator of football officials, has made communication one of his top priorities during his first offseason on the job. By the time the 2009 season kicks off in September, Big Ten coaches, officials and Carollo will be able to connect in more technologically advanced ways than before. 

Sure, there will still be the weekly conference calls, but there will also be video training tapes, electronic submissions of questionable calls and faster evaluations of officials' performances in games. 

"They aren't strangers to technology," Carollo said last month at the Big Ten's spring meetings. "In fact, we were a little bit behind what the teams were doing as far as technology. One of my goals is to increase the communication between officials and teams and universities. And then the other piece was to address officials' accountability: grading, evaluation, performance.

"Technology enables us to do those two things in a couple of different ways."

The Big Ten's officiating Web site isn't quite up and running but should be by the summer. Once it is, officials and coaches can look forward to:

• Much faster evaluations for officials. Carollo and his staff will be able to evaluate every play in every game from multiple angles and relay their critiques to the officiating crews. "You don't wait until the end of the season or midseason to get a review," Carollo said. "You find out within a couple days after the game whether it's right or wrong."
  
• Every Wednesday during the season, officials will be sent video training tapes, detailing points of emphasis and examples of things that are being enforced well or not enough. The head coaches will receive video training tapes every 3 to 4 weeks, with the first one arriving after Week 3 is completed.
  
• Until the Web site is launched, Big Ten coaches will receive DVDs from Carollo's staff detailing rule changes, points of emphasis, etc.
  

Carollo also addressed some other topics when we talked in Chicago.

NEW RULES/POINTS OF EMPHASIS

There were 10-11 new policies adopted for the 2009 season, although most of the changes were minor.

One notable item involved rugby-style punters, who are becoming more popular in college football.

A new rule states that once these punters are outside the pocket, the defense will not be penalized for running into them or roughing them. The rugby-style punters previously had the advantage of waiting until the last minute to choose whether to punt, run or pass and still draw penalties on the defense. "The defensive team never knew what to do because they didn't want to rough them," Carollo said. 

Offensive linemen also will be allowed to move up to three yards down the field without being penalized. 

Carollo said helmet-to-helmet hits and unsportsmanlike conduct will continue to be major points of emphasis for Big Ten officials. "If you're going into the end zone pointing at the guy you just beat on a pass play and taunting him, or making a big hit and standing over him like you just knocked him out, that will not be tolerated," he said. 

TIMING

There aren't many major changes for 2009, but timing remains a concern for the NCAA, which wants to shorten games. Carollo said officials will be stricter on the length of timeouts, so a 30-second timeout will actually last 30 seconds rather than a minute or more, which has been the case.

INSTANT REPLAY

Carollo said the Big Ten continues to value the replay system and constantly looks for ways to improve it. As a longtime NFL official, Carollo understands the differences between replay at the pro and college levels. He also recently spoke with an instant replay official from the Canadian Football League, which conducts all replay reviews from a central command center, much like the NHL does. 

Could the Big Ten ever adopt a similar system?

"I think it's a little ways away," Carollo said. "But we can learn from what other people are doing. People are experimenting, and I think that's positive. If you think you're satisfied with the replay system, it's about then when it probably breaks on you and you don't keep up with the game."