Opinion and Thoughts....

With the new NCAA rules reducing scholarships while increasing the lesser amount, it has become more prevalent that scholarships are being withdrawn from existing players to create a bigger pool of money to go after the next recruiting class.

The concern I have with this is the NCAA did not address this problem (naiively, believing the schools would live up to their commitments) and the players are left unprotected. They have very few options:

- If they stay at current school their tuition has just increased for their family by the amount lost in athletic money and the son is forced to hang up his spikes.

- If they transfer, it becomes more expensive because they lose credits (as much as a year) and would have to sit out a year to play.

- If they transfer from a D1 to a D2, in most cases, their tuition has increased dramatically and they still will lose transferring credits.

What is troubling for me is the word commitment that is used during the recruiting process. Even though athletic scholarships are renewable each year, do the players actually believe they are only committing to that program for only a year? And then move on to test another school? Shouldn't that committment between the school and the player go both ways? Should a player that had all his scholarship money taken away, with no fault of behavior or illegal activities, be penalized in transferring?

It was rare for a player to have a reduction in his scholarship and almost unheard of for a player to have all his scholarship taken away, but this story is occuring more and more each year.

I'd like to get your thoughts on this subject.

 

The advent of the early commit over recent years has changed the landscape significantly. Schools that used to wait until after a prospect could make an official visit are now pushing up the process and entering into non-binding "commits" as a means to compete with other aggressive schools and to stay in the game.

There was a huge article on the front page of the Charlotte Observer on Sunday, November 15th regarding Duke "de-committing" to a girls basketball player from Butler HS who had committed to them early in her junior year. Duke (unlike most) honored the $$$ commitment, but told the player she would never play or dress for Duke. The gist of the article was the de-commitment occurred as Duke re-evaluated the player over the long period between the commit and the official signing day and decided the player no longer fit their plans. Duke notified the player very late in the process and besides dealing with the disappointment, the player had to start over from a tarnished position. Makes you wonder what would happen to the committed, but unsigned players when a head coaching position experiences change during the period between committing and signing.....a player could not be what the new coach is looking for.

 

Better start contacting those schools that were interested

 

JUCO becomes a stronger option?

 

D1 to D2

Do players transferring from D1 to D2 have to sit out a year before playing? I have received conflicting info from the NCAA.

 

No, they do not sit out a year

 

It has become a business. It is as if the student is an employee. They lay him off if they don't need him. He can get another job sometimes, but there are usually some set backs. It isn't fair, but it is life. Players ability to perform can either provide the coach with job security or cost him his job.

 

That is just one of the reasons that the Great Ron Polk and other legendary college coaches has been trying to get baseball to break away from the NCAA. Baseball has always been the whipping post in college athletics. Football has over 85 full scholarships each year where maybe 50 players actually touch the field and baseball has 11 scholarships to divide out among 35 players each year. Unfortunately money and the need to win now is what is driving some of these coaches to make these decisions. This is also the reason i believe early committment is becoming so prevalent now. Coaches don't want to lose a player they believe can take them to the next level by waiting until they get to their junior or senior year. You don't know if you are making the right decisions but only hope it was the right one. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't but you should have a plan B or C. That is why i truly believe Jr College is going to make a strong comback on the recruiting scene. That way a player can grow physically, mentally, and make better decisions while continuing their education and playing college ball. With so little money to go around making that baseball decision is so much harder than football and basketball which gives out full scholarships every year. This is only my opinion and most of the time i confuse myself.

 

Concentrate on your schoolwork. Get an academic scholarship (influenced by the athletic dept of course) and don't worry about it. Get what you can. It's all about the education anyway. Any baseball money should be considered a plus since there is so little of it. D-2 and D-3 is looking better all the time. Think about it. How many UNC grads are still playing pro ball that have graduated in the last 4 years. And these are a College World series teams

 

Alot of good players playing D-2, D-3, & Junior College. I've heard some horror stories about D-1 committs after 1 year. Every player has their own story, good or bad. Don't rush into it. Choose what's right for you. Academics, playing time, etc.