Interesting letter from Miss. State coach

[haysdb]

I have been thinking about this for a few days and it occurs to me that most of the "problems" discussed in the letter will be an advantage to some programs. The 27 man scholarship limit? Some private schools, like Creighton, will likely love it because this is a reality for them today, so it will be an advantage to them if other programs are forced to live with the same restriction. The 35-man roster limit? What's the problem? If you can't field a team with 35 players, you aren't recruiting very selectively. Not allowing teams to over-recruit and extend more scholarships than they have to give? MVC teams can't do that now, so it's no problem for them.

I still think he makes some great points, but not even the educated are going to agree with him on every one.

What I would love to hear are Gene's thoughts on how he thinks these rule changes will effect WSU in particular, the Missouri Valley Conference, and Northern schools in general.

[CharlieHog]

some stuff from a (pay) Baseball America story...

The roster cap and minimum scholarship requirements created an uproar amongst college coaches, who mobilized presidents of 72 Division I schools to request a vote to override the legislation at the Board of Directors' August meeting. In response to the override requests, the Academic Enhancement Working Group that had been originally charged with drafting the changes recommended the Board shelve the legislation for a year for further study; the Board ignored the recommendation, choosing instead to uphold the legislation with one modification: the minimum aid threshold was reduced to 25 percent.

...


Polk probably could have streamlined his message—the first four pages are largely spent pleading with readers not to put down the letter—but he did help mobilize 52 presidents to request override votes again, the first time since the NCAA adopted its current governance structure in 1997 that a piece of legislation has been overridden twice. The Board will review the package again at its November meeting, but American Baseball Coaches Association executive director Dave Keilitz—a member of the working group--said he expects the legislation to be upheld.

...

"This has created quite a stir, and it doesn't matter if you're up here in the Northeast or down in the South," Albany coach Jon Mueller said. "The issue is we're a partial-scholarship sport, and the NCAA is really telling us how to spend our money."

...

California recruiting coordinator Dan Hubbs said he agreed that the solid players who are not stars will now be left out in the cold. In the past, those players would often get a chance to play at the schools they wanted on a book scholarship, but now schools will be hesitant to offer them a 25 percent scholarship until very late in the recruiting process. Oregon State recruiting coordinator Marty Lees added that the roster cap will also take away opportunities for walk-ons.

[vbird53]

I finally got around to reading the full letter. Amazing. Nice job, Coach Polk.

Thankfully, I do not believe we'll be hit to hard at Wichita State, thanks to GS, BK, and JT.

What a tragedy for college baseball, though.

[SB Shock]

Re: Interesting letter from Miss. State coach

Stumbled on this due to a link from the recruiting board. MSU coach Ron Polk wrote a letter (a VERY, VERY lengthy one) to, well, just about everyone associated with the NCAA regarding what he perceives to be a threat to NCAA baseball.

http://wichitastate.scout.com/a.z?s=469&p=2&c=681418

I thought it might spark some discussion.

Here is the other side of the story. If you have BA membership you can read it here:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/college/features/265422.html

If you don't here is a summary:

1. 2 Years ago, the Board of Directors (made up of school presidents) of the NCAA was about to slash the college schedule from 56 games to 40-44 due poor academics. A alternative proposal was put forward to formulate a committee to come up with another plan. This barely passed by 2 votes.

2. Poll was sent to 236 division I represenatives to get opinions on the new legislation. 86% responded.

76% found the 35 man roster acceptable
76% found the transfer restriction acceptable
70% found the APR penalties acceptable
54% found the fall certification acceptable
84% wanted to keep the schedule at 56 games

51% Did not like the 27 man cap on scholarships rule (they wanted 30 man cap)

57% Did not like the 25% minimum scholarship rule

Tweaks are likely in the future. Talking about moving the scholarship number from 11.7 to 14. But there is some doubt it will happen because:

Only 50% schools are able to fund the 11.7
Only 62% believe their schools would fund a full 14

Overall, there seems to be some very vocal opposition to the new legislation, but overall College Baseball programs seem to find it acceptable. The alternative is for the schedule to be cut ~25%.

[CharlieHog]

Re: Interesting letter from Miss. State coach

Only 50% schools are able to fund the 11.7
Only 62% believe their schools would fund a full 14

How would 62% of schools fun 14 scholarships when only 50% give 11.7?

[engrshock]

77% of all statistics are lies.

[SB Shock]

Re: Interesting letter from Miss. State coach

Only 50% schools are able to fund the 11.7
Only 62% believe their schools would fund a full 14

How would 62% of schools fun 14 scholarships when only 50% give 11.7?

That's what Keilitz said in response to the push to get and increase.

"I will say this: probably some of you are over-optimistic," Keilitz told the coaches. "When only 50 percent of you have 11.7, how are 62 percent of you going to support 14?"

[SB Shock]

The measures have formally been accepted after put up for final vote.

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4g38nYBSYGYxqb6kWhCjggRb31fj_zcVP0A_YLc0IhyR0VFAABTEJw!/delta/base64xml/L0lDU0lKQ1RPN29na21BISEvb0VvUUFBSVFnakZJQUFRaENFSVFqR0VBLzRKRmlDbzBlaDFpY29uUVZHaGQtc0lRIS83XzBfNVVWLzkyNjI4Ng!!?WCM_PORTLET=PC_7_0_5UV_WCM&WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/NCAA/NCAA+News/NCAA+News+Online/2008/Division+I/Division+I+upholds+texting+ban%2C+baseball+rules+-+01-13-08+NCAA+News