Rogers Redding, the national coordinator of College Football Officiating, provides insights about rules changes and the mindset of college football referees. The CFO is the national professional organization for all football officials who work games at the collegiate level. 

Over the past few years, the NCAA football rules committee has become increasingly concerned about the way some coaches behave on the sidelines. While the vast majority of coaches cause no problems, a small number continue to come on to the field to vigorously protest an officiating decision or for other negative reasons.

The committee's concern is that these histrionic acts of poor sportsmanship are bad for the image of the game. While the rulebook clearly prohibits coaches from coming onto the field during the game, enforcement of these rules over the recent past has been spotty at best, further leading to an erosion of sideline behavior.

Last year, the committee added a rule saying that a coach who commits two unsportsmanlike conduct fouls is disqualified from the game and must leave the playing enclosure. This "two-strikes-and-out" rule as applied to players has been in place for many years, but until 2016 there was not a comparable rule for coaches.

With the addition of this disqualifying rule last year, the committee feels that the rules currently in place are appropriate and do not need to be changed. Instead, for 2017 the committee is making coach behavior on the sideline a point of emphasis. The officiating community has been charged with its relevant responsibility for enforcing the current rules. Specifically, the rule says that "coaches who enter the field of play to question, protest, or otherwise demonstrate disagreement with an officiating decision are subject to an immediate 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct."