NIU football coach Joe Novak thinks there is a way to save universities’ money and increase their player rosters at the same time.

Novak and The American Football Coaches Association are increasing their petitioning for players to have five years of athletic eligibility now that the NCAA may add a 12th game to teams’ schedules as early as 2006.

“We’ve been pushing for three or four years for players to have five years of eligibility,” said Novak, who is a member of the AFCA’s Board of Trustees. “Every year we bring it up and it’s talked about more and more. The reason we may go to 12 games is because of money, and that’s fine, but then we as coaches need a larger player pool.”

The AFCA’s plan would do away with all redshirting. Fifth-year students who have exhausted all of their athletic eligibility are now still kept on scholarship if they have yet to graduate, Novak said.

In the proposed scenario, the players who would still be going to school and on scholarship in their fifth year would be able to compete in athletics.

This plan is a way to increase players without adding scholarships, Novak said.

As an example, former linebacker Nick Duffy has yet to graduate, but he is still on scholarship for this year, his fifth at NIU. The plan would allow players like Duffy to continue playing in the year they are finishing their schooling and still hold a scholarship.

“If we get guys hurt and you get to the end of the year, you need a bigger player pool,” Novak said. “It’s a physical game; kids get hurt and you lose them. This would actually cost less money.

“The question then is: Do we do it with all the sports? Let’s not say ‘no’ just because they don’t want to do it with everybody.”