NCAA Approves Scholarship Reform

[gorillashocker]

It's going to be interesting to see how this actually works. If you have a partial scholarship(like in baseball), do you only get 1000 if you have half a scholarship? And can a school only give the extra money to certain athletes, as in all basketball players get it(both mens and womens for title IX) but no other sports if an institution or conference decides that, or does every scholarship an institution give have to increase at the same rate?

[DoubleJayAlum]

It's going to be interesting to see how this actually works. If you have a partial scholarship(like in baseball), do you only get 1000 if you have half a scholarship? And can a school only give the extra money to certain athletes, as in all basketball players get it(both mens and womens for title IX) but no other sports if an institution or conference decides that, or does every scholarship an institution give have to increase at the same rate?

The $2000 rule only applies to "counter sports", which are the sports where athletes get full scholarships. Baseball doesn't fall under this category, but arguably baseball will be the sport impacted most by many of the other changes.

These rules are wide sweeping. I'm concerned that many of our conference brethren will have an issue with the money rule.

One other thing that will be significant is the ability to offer multi year scholarships. Here is what will happen on the recruiting war front: School A offers a kid $2000. School B's conference hasn't voted in the money rule, but offers the kid a guaranteed scholarship for all 4 years, instead of a scholarship this is up for renewal annually. What does the kid select? What if a school offers $2K plus a 4 year scholarship. Coaches that perennially have turnover of a kid or two are not going to be fond of the guaranteed scholarship rule.

I like the academic rules because it helps level the playing field (there are certain kids that have been on MVC schools rosters that couldn't be admitted to CU). However, I'm worried about many of the other rules.

[im4wsu]

Hard to say....if I read the statement correctly, the plan called for adapting it to the FBS group as well, meaning (I think) that big time football will live up to the same standards. We'll see.

If closely monitored,it is a DECREASE

[Aargh]

The multi-year scholarship will end up being a way to scam recruits. "We'll give you a 4-year guaranteed scholarship". The school can't cut the player loose. Instead of cutting a player, the coach will just sit down with an under-performing player and tell him (or her) that he will never see a minute of PT and that his life will be absolute miserable if he stays. There are ways to force a player to "voluntarily" leave.

I don't see how the MVC can survive the $2K rule in anything resembling the Valley as we know it today. The FB schools in the Valley claim they will lose alumni funds if they drop FB. It's hard to fund an athletic department by selling 6,000 basketball tickets a year, and most Valley schools don't have deep pockets in their alumni pools.

[SubGod22]

The multi-year scholarship will end up being a way to scam recruits. "We'll give you a 4-year guaranteed scholarship". The school can't cut the player loose. Instead of cutting a player, the coach will just sit down with an under-performing player and tell him (or her) that he will never see a minute of PT and that his life will be absolute miserable if he stays. There are ways to force a player to "voluntarily" leave.

That happens now. Nothing changes in that regard.

I don't see how the MVC can survive the $2K rule in anything resembling the Valley as we know it today. The FB schools in the Valley claim they will lose alumni funds if they drop FB. It's hard to fund an athletic department by selling 6,000 basketball tickets a year, and most Valley schools don't have deep pockets in their alumni pools.

The Valley better pass this. If some schools can't afford it, they don't have to do it, but preventing the ones that can won't be pretty. If it's voted down, you can look for us and CU and maybe a couple of others to really be looking at other options.

[_kai_]

Yeah @SubGod22: is correct that coaches already do the "You'll just sit the bench for the rest of your career, I'll help you find a transfer school." I don't see anything changing in that regard.

[1972Shocker]

The Valley better pass this. If some schools can't afford it, they don't have to do it, but preventing the ones that can won't be pretty. If it's voted down, you can look for us and CU and maybe a couple of others to really be looking at other options.

Hopefully, with the changing landscape of among conferences going on now we shoudl be looking at other options in any case if the present themselves (and I think we probably are doing that in a measured, non-public way).

[RoyalShock]

Part of me hopes the MVC doesn't approve the $2k welfare plan and the haves can bolt for another conference. The other part of me worries there won't be any decent conference options with all the realignment going on.

[Kung Wu]

Why did this have to be so complicated? Why didn't they just raise the cap for scholarships and leave everything else alone? NCAA rules are becoming so onerous to even understand, let alone comply with, that it's ridiculous.

[1972Shocker]

The $2000 rule only applies to "counter sports", which are the sports where athletes get full scholarships. Baseball doesn't fall under this category, but arguably baseball will be the sport impacted most by many of the other changes.

The NCAA could easily even the playing field on the $2,000 rule simply by carving out enough funds from their huge TV revenues to distribute among all of their D-1 member schools to allow funding of this initiative. That is if their interest really is in the needs of the student-athlete and not the institution.

Head count sports including the number of scholarships allowed include:

Men: Football (FBS - 85, FCS - 63) and Basketball (13)

Women: Basketball (15), Volleyball (12), Tennis (8) and Gymnastics (12)

All other sports are Equivalency Sports. Assuming that this, in fact, does only apply to head count sports this is the cost to MVC schools assuming it must be applied to all head count sports. ILS is the only MVC school that sponsors all of the head count sports.

ILS - $246,000 (123 head count scholarships)
UNI and SIU - $222,000 (111 head count scholarships) - No Gymnastics
INS and MSU - $206,000 (103 head count scholarships) - No Tennis, No Gymnastics
BU, CU, DU, EU and WSU - $96,000 (48 head count scholarships) - No Football, No Gymnastics

Wichita State has 69.3 scholarships for its equivalency sports spread among 196 athletes which are on our current rosters for our non-equivalency sports. 111 of those athletes are on our track and field rosters which have a total of 30.6 scholarship equivalents (12.6 for the men and 18 for the women). Of course, many of these athletes receive no athletic scholarships and some no doubt receive some academic scholarships.

[pogo]

Saw where they passed the recommendations, all three as a matter of fact. Since each conference will now decide whether to implement the monies paid to the athletes and how much, I was wondering how it will work in the Valley. Obviously a vote will have to take place and does a simple majority decide? If the majority decide to make these payments and a few are against it for the obvious reason (affordability). Would the Valley make every member subscribe to a certain level or let each institution pay what they can afford? Say Wichita State says ok to the max amount but uni does/cannot pay the athletes at that amount but at a lesser level. Will the Valley hold each institution to a certain level or will they allow each to set its own level? Would the Valley dismiss members if they don't participate?

[Shox21]

Saw where they passed the recommendations, all three as a matter of fact. Since each conference will now decide whether to implement the monies paid to the athletes and how much, I was wondering how it will work in the Valley. Obviously a vote will have to take place and does a simple majority decide? If the majority decide to make these payments and a few are against it for the obvious reason (affordability). Would the Valley make every member subscribe to a certain level or let each institution pay what they can afford? Say Wichita State says ok to the max amount but uni does/cannot pay the athletes at that amount but at a lesser level. Will the Valley hold each institution to a certain level or will they allow each to set its own level? Would the Valley dismiss members if they don't participate?

If each school were allowed to "name their own price" so to speak, that would be a clear uneven playing field within a conference as far a recruiting goes. I would think it would need to be conference wide and of an equal amount. I think the ruling is "up to an additional $2,000." If the MVC schools elect to pay the extra but not go to the maximum, that's going to hurt recruiting (vs. the BCS conferences) almost as much as if the MVC elects not to pay anything. I guess we will have to wait and see. I just hope it doesn't take 9 months to find out.