As reported on August 25, 2009 by Andy Staples on SportsIllustrated.com, SI.com is issuing open records requests to the 51 public school bowl championship subdivision football coaches who cast votes for the weekly coaches poll in NCAA football. The coaches poll carries 33% weight in the determination of which schools are eligible to compete in the BCS national championship game, and other high-paying bowl games. Staples argues that since football coaches at public universities are public employees, all records-including their votes-are subject to the open records laws of their specific states.
Neither Kirk Ferentz or Paul Rhoads are voting in the coaches this year (2009), but if they were, an interested person could make an open records request under Iowa Code Chapter 22. Whether such requests by SI.com are successful remains to be seen, but Iowa’s law in particular seems to favor the interested person under these circumstances.
What is clear, however, is that this author is excited for the approaching college football season. Stay tuned for any other excuses to write about the divergence of college football and the law.