NFL-style headset helmets in college? Notre Dame football's Al Golden likes the idea

SOUTH BEND — Six seasons of NFL coaching experience give Notre Dame football defensive coordinator Al Golden a perspective few of his college counterparts enjoy.

So, you’ll have to pardon Golden for chuckling when cost is mentioned as one of the reasons the college game has resisted NFL-style headset helmet communication all these years.

“I mean, what cost?” Golden said after Tuesday’s practice. “Like, what are we talking about right now? I’m sorry. I have to laugh when we say cost.”

The NCAA Rules Committee reportedly plans to give teams the option this bowl season to use a helmet communication system to relay plays from the sideline. Southern and Grambling State used the system in their 2021 meeting on an experimental basis.

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As the Michigan sign-stealing scandal continues to dominate the headlines, Golden made it clear he was speaking in general terms in his endorsement of the NFL’s helmet communication system.

“I think it’s time,” said Golden, one of 57 nominees for the Broyles Award as the top FBS assistant coach. “The game has gotten so complex and there’s so much energy spent trying to conceal, trying to fool. It’s time.”

A watch-like device is in development, and the NCAA reportedly has liability concerns based on helmet safety standards. But the NFL has found ways to streamline its system, even if the devices fail from time to time.

“When you’re in those NFL camps, it’s just too simple,” Golden said. “If we’re going to adopt it, I hope as a governing body we spend a lot of time talking to the NFL about how they orchestrate and how they organize it.”

Three players per unit are designated to wear the helmet on game days, but only one “green dot” helmet is allowed on the field per team at a time. Typically, the quarterback and the middle linebacker wear the special helmet.

Communication stops with 15 seconds left on the play clock.

“You hear three beeps on your helmet, and it cuts off and your communication is over,” Golden said. “To me the NFL is really fair, it’s highly organized and it doesn’t give anybody a tactical advantage.”

Obfuscation at the college level has become increasingly circus-like with oversized play cards, dummy signals and several walk-ons wearing colorful vests as they gesticulate wildly. A former head coach at Temple and Miami, Golden thought there were “multiple times” the college game was ready to flip the switch.

“This discussion has been going on a long time,” Golden said. “I hope we don’t just blanket say, ‘Hey, yeah, let’s use the technology.’ … Just slow down and understand why the NFL is the premier league in the world and why they do what they do.”

Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football and is on social media @MikeBerardino.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football's Al Golden likes helmet communication idea