Division I Council Coordination Committee agrees eligibility relief is appropriate for spring sports: pic.twitter.com/u7hwYOyTDV
— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) March 13, 2020
The above statement, released by the NCAA today on Twitter basically states that they are granting spring sport athletes another year of eligibility. It was heartbreaking when the NCAA announced that they were cancelling games and championships for the rest of the season knowing how hard the athletes worked for this year.
And while it sounds great on the surface, what are the real consequences to another year of eligibility across all spring sports?
Impact on Graduate Programs
Now that this season has been cancelled, each spring athlete effectively “redshirted” this season, meaning that they have another year of eligibility. This means that a ton of seniors will be seeking out opportunities to compete next year as “fifth years”. Some programs endure more turnover (players quitting/transferring) than others, and a lot of the time they don’t notify the coaching staff until after the season or over summer. Since coaches are then forced to quickly replace those players that left, fifth years are a relatively safe option since they are more experienced than a player out of high school or junior college. However, schools that don’t experience as much turnover and have a whole new batch of freshman slated to enroll in the fall will be forced to cut the seniors or take away the scholarship of a high school recruit.
So if you’re a college coach and figure the best way to “win now” is to keep the senior and cut the freshman, the school will be forced to admit more students into its graduate program. On the flip side, if the coach determines he’d rather keep the freshman, the senior must now scram to find another school with an open spot or accept that their career is over. Usually graduate programs only admit so many students in a year, putting a strain on the schools that don’t have the capacity for additional students. And unless the student is willing to pay full tuition price (unlikely), that’s an additional scholarship they’ll have to dish out, which brings me to my next topic.
How Will Scholarships Work?
A sport like baseball is already extremely limited in their scholarship-giving abilities (11.7 scholarships for a 35-man roster) so I highly doubt that schools could afford to keep additional players. And in being so, I’m sure most athletes wouldn’t be able to afford to pay full tuition plus room and board. Also, does this mean that the roster will be expanded to make room for the seniors that will now be fifth years? Not only is it very seldom that a player receives a full scholarship, but now the NCAA would undoubtedly have to step in to cover the cost of additional players. These are questions that will need to be answered by the NCAA, which I’m sure will happen in the coming weeks.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I was a college athlete, so I understand how painful this would be. If I were still in school right now I’d be doing everything in my power to get that extra year of eligibility. But sometimes the most logical decision is the toughest to make, especially when it involves retiring from a sport you’ve played your whole life. As tough as a decision like this would be, it would make the most sense to just cut your losses and start preparing for the real world (if there aren’t fifth year opportunities out there).
I still think it’s ridiculous they cancelled the rest of a season that goes into May and June. The NCAA could’ve very well delayed the season like the NBA and made a decision at a later date. Although, it’s not 100% the NCAA’s fault. When schools started kicking students out of the dorms it made it difficult to justify keeping the athletic programs active. Ultimately, hindsight is 20/20, and I’m sure a lot of things could’ve been done differently for a more favorable outcome, but this is our reality. And yeah it sucks, but life has a weird way of knocking you on your ass from time to time. As disappointing as this is for all the athletes out there who will never play collegiately again, my advice can be better summed up in the following tweet:
As an NCAA senior, today showed me some things are bigger than baseball. If we get the chance to play, we will be ready. If not, I can assure you most of us will do exactly what sports has trained us to do when we are punched in the mouth, and that’s get back up and keep moving.
— Kyle Dockus (@KDockus2) March 13, 2020
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