An Honest View About Athletic Scholarships

holding a job

Athletes can work jobs and several do. However, I would agree it is hard to work, school, and athletics. But, several athletes do work in the "off season" in some capacity. If it is a spring sport then they work in the fall and vice versa. They work enough for spending money, gas money, etc.

From a coaches perspective however parents should absolutely read the article

 

I'm not aware of any college athlete who is able to work a job. I can't see how it's possible in baseball. In the Fall, the kids have a month of practice. And that's not counting 3-a-day sessions (weight room, individual workout, position workout) on most other off season days.

I actually thought that it was against NCAA rules for a scholarship athlete to hold a job during the school year. I guess I was wrong.

 

Great article with some great comments.

I agree that money should not be the motivation. A love to play the sport and that passion should drive you.

I think Stretchy is right. For some parents it's more about bragging rights than how much money a kid might get.

I can honestly say I don't care about the money, nor does my son. I've planned ahead for his education Not that I couldn't spend some of that money somewhere else. But I guess if your kid does play a sport I can see where you would spend a bunch on travel. Probably all washes out in the end. He just loves 2 sports and playing the games.

 

I’ve got a question and not sure if this is where to post it or not. Never had a kid go through this so it’s a little confusing to me. My son has been blessed and has the money banked for College. A scholarship would be great but not necessary. I have heard but do not know this for a fact that non-scholarship kids are treated like walk-ons and have to work twice as hard as Scholarship guys to make the team and playing time is a real fight. This makes sence to me because the Coach has an investment in the book-money guys and they probably are the better players on the team anyway. Is this true? Is there pressure on a Coach to justify his Scholarship money by maybe giving the scholarship guy a few more chances than the guy that is playing well but is there because he just loves the game? Again, could be way off base but if that’s true than that makes the “book money” even more important. None of use will ever make up what we have spent on baseball and who cares. What a wonderful ride and fantastic memories with my son. I was just wondering if having the Scholarship may be more important than just the money attached.

 

I can only speak about 1 kid at 1 school. Tyler is on academic $$, so he walked on at Belmont Abbey. He's been treated 100% equal & fair (has pretty much started every game 3 years). Coach Smith & Anderson reward the best players & the best effort.

 

Just to clarify, I never used the word "Fair". Life is never fair but the best normally rise to the top. I was just wondering if non scholarship guys way have to work a little harder. In the long run, Performance is what counts. The more I think about it, I think my real question is would it help a guy to tell a coach he does not need a Scholarship?

 

it will vary - as you would expect

Itslife:

There is no one answer to your question because all coaches are different. Like all of us some are more stubborn than others, some less secure than others, etc. So a lot depends on the person involved.

I agree with your basic premise that it makes sense that Coaches want to make their decision prove correct. We've all seen coaches stick with a player longer than they should of. The guy that continually strikes out somehow stays in the lineup, etc.

Then you'll see the complete opposite approach from another coach who continually mixes and matches lineups trying to keep the hot bats going and finding another hot bat to step up to the plate.

JMHO

 

Scholarship v Non-Scholarship

Willing to add my 2-cents worth:

College coaches get paid to win baseball games. It's been my experience that we play the players that give us the best chance of doing just that - win. We would love for ALL the players to perform well when called upon to do so. Quite frankly, when making out the lineup, I cannot ever remember asking the head coach if a particular player was on scholarship.

This is just one coach's experience at one University.

 

Coaches want to win, especially in college that trumps everything else.

 

I think that cbsconsult's view is representative of the vast majority of college baseball coaches. At the end of the day, the head coach's livelihood (and, thus, the welfare of his family) and professional future rest on one thing: winning an acceptable percentage of games. As a result, that consideration influences the majority of his decisions.

I also believe that the view that coaches tend to favor scholarship players over walk-ons/non-scholarship players is, for the most part, a rationalization on the part of a few players and/or their parents for receiving less playing time than they believe is appropriate. In most cases, coaches favor the players who consistently produce positive results on the field.