In 1989, an Oklahoma State University running back by the name of Barry Sanders decided to enter that year’s National Football League draft.

The junior running back’s decision started a barrage of other NCAA players who felt that they, too, could leave school early for the NFL.

Now, the NCAA coaches are fighting back. However, there may not be a need to fight.

The American Football Coaches Association recently created four new guidelines placing limitations on professional football scouts visiting college campuses.

The guidelines are as follows: Pro scouts are limited to visiting college campuses only in October; pro scouts are limited to a two-week visitation period during spring practice; team films will not be given to scouts off-campus; and three days will be provided for the scouts to evaluate the seniors during the offseason.

However, only 97 of the 107 Division I-A coaches agreed to it. NIU, Miami (Fla.), Michigan State, Rutgers, Fresno State, Cal State-Fullerton, Nevada-Reno, Pacific, San Jose State and UNLV all declined the new AFCA guidelines.

The coaches from the 10 schools and the NFL scouts can’t seem to find the reasoning for their decision.

Chicago Bears Vice President of Player Personnel Bill Tobin told the Chicago Tribune that there’s no doubt this is going to hurt some players.

NIU head coach Charlie Sadler fears that pro scouts would look over his players if they were only allowed to visit in October.

“When there’s 107 Division I-A schools and there’s 26 pro teams,” Sadler said, “and you give them only one month to evaluate the talent, I’m not sure that the seniors at Northern would get their fair shot at being evaluated.”

Other schools in the Big West Conference, five to be exact, tend to agree with Sadler.

UNLV head coach Jim Strong feels that the pro scouts are just trying to do their job and don’t have anything to do with college players coming out early.

“I’m not concerned about somebody that represents a professional organization,” Strong said. “In my situation, I want them (his players) to know that if they come to UNLV and they’re pro prospects, they’re going to have the opportunity for a pro scout to follow them.”

“We’ve got some guys who need to be looked at that possibly have pro potential,” said Sadler. “If they’re in evaluation time and nobody’s here to look at them, then it really hurts them.”