In case you didn’t hear, the NCAA members and conferences narrowly failed to override the earlier decision to allow member institutions to offer a full 4-year athletic scholarship. It doesn’t mandate such scholarships. It merely gives universities the option to offer scholarships that are not as they have been. Several schools actually did this on signing day this year. Previously, the rule was that all athletic scholarships were only for 1-year, renewable annually at the school’s discretion.
This had seemed like a no-brainer decision by the NCAA. Show at least a little more than lip-service to the concept that the kids getting athletic scholarships were students as well. There was surprising pushback. First it seemed by more of the low- and mid-majors, who seemed more concerned with the overall costs of such a guarantee.
This, despite the possible extra edge in recruiting. Bigger schools with the name recognition, history and other advantages would be in a better position to keep offering kids only 1-year scholarships in exchange for greater exposure and attention. The smaller schools could offer more of a guarantee of an education.
It’s no question that most schools would happily offer a 5-star and most 4-star recruits a full 4-year ride. But what if you are offering a 3-star kid? A MAC or Sun Belt school would happily offer him a 4-year deal, but what would/should Pitt, Florida, Ohio State, Alabama, etc. do? It would seemingly put more pressure on the coaches to more fully evaluate players before offering.
It also makes things a little tougher when a school changes coaches and the system changes. Suddenly the new coach (and AD that stuck his neck out on the hire) may have a harder time if the players don’t fit the system. You know, even thought the NLI says they committed to the school not the coach (or system). Players with a multi-year ride may not be so cooperative to be driven off the team transfer for a fresh start.
The override vote was surprisingly close (PDF). A 2/3 majority was needed for the override, but fell a few votes short. It was 125 votes not to override the multi-year scholarship option (Allow the option), 205 votes to override (revert back to the 1-year, renewable only system), 2 abstentions and 35 schools that simply didn’t vote.
Pitt did the right thing by supporting option to offer multi-year scholarships. As did Penn State. WVU — this should not be a surprise — did not.
