NCAA to grant extra year for spring sports

[Shoxing Me Softly]

https://www.si.com/college/lsu/baseball/ncaa-could-grant-eligibility-for-spring-athletes

[1972Shocker]

That's what I was thinking made the most sense. I am a little surprised they have not thought through the impact on scholarship limits.

One of the hitches that the NCAA would have to work through would be what happens to scholarship limits and roster sizes. It’ll have to consider the incoming freshmen.

What I think should happen that the scholarships for whatever number of scholarship seniors return next year are not counted against your scholarship limit. That would reduce the opportunity for playing time for income freshman but taking a redshirt is an option for them. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.

It would not hurt my feelings if Shocker baseball ended up with 32 scholarship players next year. Although I don't know if all 5 of our seniors would be interested in coming back or not.

Other Shocker Spring Sports:
Men's Golf - No seniors on this year's roster.
Women's Golf - 1 senior
Men's Tennis - 3 seniors
Women's Tennis - 7 seniors
Softball - 3 seniors (BTW Madison Perrigan looked well on her way to becoming the All-Time Shocker Leader in career home runs and RBI's).
Men's Track & Field - 10 seniors
Women's Track & Field - 5 seniors

[1972Shocker]

Division I Council extends eligibility for Spring sport student-athletes impacted by COVID-19

https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources...acted-covid-19

The Council also increased the roster limit in baseball for student-athletes impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the only spring sport with such a limit. However, this article did not say what that increased limit is.

[pogo]

My reply deleted because I chose only to read your comment about baseball the only sport with the only roster limit. Sorry about that.

[1972Shocker]

I think this sets the ncaa up for multiple lawsuits as discriminating against womens sports ie golf softball tennis track and field. And if those are allowed what about the other mens sports. I can see lots of class action lawsuits perhaps. This is an election year and there are lots of politicians looking to champion a cause that really has alot of upside for exposure and little downside that I can see. Anyone going fishing because the ncaa just opened a big can-o-worms.

What is the discrimination? All athletes in the Spring Sports have received an extra year of eligibility if they want it. Baseball has an adjustment to its roster limit because it is the only spring sport that has a roster limit. Now they all have scholarship limits. If anything, baseball has been the sport that has been discriminated against with its roster limits in the past.

Maybe I am just not following your point.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

NCAA should really take this time to expand Scholarship numbers and the extra assistant.

[Shockm]

If anything, baseball has been the sport that has been discriminated against with its roster limits in the past.

To me increased rosters aren't the question. Everyone gets an extra year of eligibility, so rosters can be increased that many (Seniors), but how much does the 11.7 scholarship amount get increased for baseball? I think that will be the new question, and I would imagine all spring sports have scholarship limit amounts and how much are they increased?

[1972Shocker]

To me increased rosters aren't the question. Everyone gets an extra year of eligibility, so rosters can be increased that many (Seniors), but how much does the 11.7 scholarship amount get increased for baseball? I think that will be the new question, and I would imagine all spring sports have scholarship limit amounts and how much are they increased?

Not sure exactly but I think they simply do not count the scholarship aid you have provided to the seniors up to the amount they had received this past partial season. However, schools are not obligated to provide the same scholarship aid. The have the option to reduce it. Not sure what the new roster limit will be. Will they just let you not count the repeat seniors or will the roster limit be the same for everyone regardless of how many seniors you had. But the announcements about this I have seen have been very general with very few specifics.

It will be interesting to see what percentage of seniors elect to return for another year of school. In baseball, that could be impacted by the MLB Draft which is also going under pretty significant changes.

[Shockm]

It sounds like total aid will not change. Seniors may gain eligibility but lose their aid from this article.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story...s-with-a-catch

What isn't clear is (if the school has the flexibility to change the aid and take it from a new player and give it to the Senior) if a school can provide the aid to the Senior if they are good enough, and take it from a signed Freshman. I would imagine that most schools would take the aid from the Senior and choose to not change their plans for the incoming players. That would seem to benefit most teams who choose to take the long view.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Edit - I reread the part you're questioning.

Coaches have full authority to divide, offer, rescind, cancel etc on scholarships. The article mentions having to have hard conversations with Seniors about loss of money but I would imagine that could work both ways. Tough conversations all around.

[1972Shocker]

I still haven't found what I consider a clear explanation plus it sounds like there are still some details to workout.

My interpretation of what I have been able to find so far is that scholarship limits will remain the same. Seniors who would have used up their eligibility can come back for an additional season and it is up to each program to determine if their financial aid will be the same or reduced. What is not clear to me is the "voluntary" financial aid granted to the seniors in addition to the financial aid associated with the scholarship limits.

For example, Wichita State has 5 seniors. What seems reasonable to me is that the Shockers would have 11.7 scholarships to divvy up among the non-senior classes form 2019-20 plus the incoming freshmen class plus whatever financial aid up to the amount they received in 2019-20 to those seniors who return but they don't have to give them anything. Or does what they give to the seniors come out of their 11.7 scholarship allotment which does not make sense to me. For now I going with the former until proven otherwise. This isn't that easy of a decision for either the school or the athlete since most, if not all, of these springs sports do not generate a lot of revenue and most, if not all, of the athletes are at best on partial scholarships.

Also I guess they are going to expand the roster limits for baseball but those details apparently are not yet finalized.

[SHOXAAC]

I still haven't found what I consider a clear explanation plus it sounds like there are still some details to workout.

My interpretation of what I have been able to find so far is that scholarship limits will remain the same. Seniors who would have used up their eligibility can come back for an additional season and it is up to each program to determine if their financial aid will be the same or reduced. What is not clear to me is the "voluntary" financial aid granted to the seniors in addition to the financial aid associated with the scholarship limits.

For example, Wichita State has 5 seniors. What seems reasonable to me is that the Shockers would have 11.7 scholarships to divvy up among the non-senior classes form 2019-20 plus the incoming freshmen class plus whatever financial aid up to the amount they received in 2019-20 to those seniors who return but they don't have to give them anything. Or does what they give to the seniors come out of their 11.7 scholarship allotment which does not make sense to me. For now I going with the former until proven otherwise. This isn't that easy of a decision for either the school or the athlete since most, if not all, of these springs sports do not generate a lot of revenue and most, if not all, of the athletes are at best on partial scholarships.

Also I guess they are going to expand the roster limits for baseball but those details apparently are not yet finalized.

Here is my question. If I am an academic senior, who has enough hours to graduate in May with a credentialed degree, what classes am I going to take for 2 semesters? I would feel much better if I were a senior at UNC, because my academic adviser would certainly have a colorful and variety of classes I could take I'm sure.

[1972Shocker]

Here is my question. If I am an academic senior, who has enough hours to graduate in May with a credentialed degree, what classes am I going to take for 2 semesters? I would feel much better if I were a senior at UNC, because my academic adviser would certainly have a colorful and variety of classes I could take I'm sure.

Good question. No doubt some seniors who are in that situation may be ready to move on to the next phase of the life. But exactly where does that lead with the economy shutdown?

[1972Shocker]

Taylor Eldridge: Spring sport athletes granted another year. WSU coaches tackle ‘ancillary consequences’

The details in the vote include that the seniors who decide to return will not count against the program’s scholarship limits for the 2021 season.

That won’t affect the WSU baseball team much even if all five seniors decide to return because the Shockers were six players under the 35-man limit already. Teams will now be allowed to exceed that limit as long as the overage includes only seniors, meaning WSU coach Eric Wedge could potentially sign up to 11 players this offseason even if every player returns for next season.

“We’re going to have some roster flexibility, but it’s going to come down to how aggressive we want to be,” Wedge said. “That depends some on what these seniors decide to do. I don’t want to be shortsighted and think only about next year. We have to think about the next four years.”

The problem Wedge foresees is the logjam on rosters now that there will essentially be a double freshmen class next season with the 2020 freshmen remaining freshmen and the 2021 recruits joining them. WSU’s roster currently has nine freshmen.

The NCAA Division I Council acknowledged Tuesday that further discussions about the roster management situation will be required.

[1972Shocker]

Boatright said that the decision will no doubt put a financial strain on WSU and universities across the country, but he had confidence the situation will work out. In its statement released Monday, the NCAA said the schools may draw from the Student Assistance Fund to pay for scholarships for seniors who are returning next spring.

Boatright said while WSU might be able to draw some money from that fund, he expects all universities will have to foot “a large majority of the bill.”

“We already had some concerns from a financial perspective across the board,” Boatright said. “Attendance has been down and season tickets across the board have been down. And that’s not just a Wichita State problem, that’s a universal problem across all of college athletics and professional sports.

“So we were already preparing and trying to figure out what to do from a revenue standpoint. This will put a little bit of a strain on that, but we’ll be prepared and we’ll find a way.”

It was also announced that schools are given the flexibility to hand out whatever athletic aid they want to the returning seniors, meaning they are not required to match the same money they awarded for the 2019-20 school year.

That could lead to some difficult conversations with some seniors, as programs might have to slash what they can offer certain athletes since they had been recruiting under the assumption that they would be leaving the program this spring.


Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/sports/colleg...#storylink=cpy