Scholarships - How Big and How Many?

The total number of baseball scholarships for D-I hasn't changed, but the way coaches can spread it around has; a scholarship must now be equivalent to at least 25% of tuition and fees, books, and room and board. In other words, a 1/4 scholarship is now the smallest that is allowed. Since college baseball coaches have traditionally dealt with the meager 11.7 scholarships their sport is allocated by the NCAA by spreading them around to many players, this will have a major impact on the way things have been done. There is no longer an option of rewarding many players with 10%, 15%, or 20% scholarships, it is now mandated that they give larger scholarships to fewer players. (see next paragraph)

The NCAA has also specified that only 30 players may receive scholarship aid this year, and that number will be further reduced to 27 for the 2009-2010 year. Do the math: 27 players x 25% is only 6.25 scholarships. This rule serves to magnify the above 25% rule, handcuffing coaches and forcing larger scholarships on fewer players. That looks like bad news for both those players that are currently walk-ons striving to be on scholarship and certainly for those that are on small scholarships.

A Roster Cap of 35

Natural change occurs every season in a baseball program. The major league draft, transfers, and injuries are some of the reasons for this change. With the new roster cap, this attrition has now gone from the natural to the brutal.  Take for example the situation where a coach has brought in players to replace those that were drafted, but then later finds out the drafted players could not agree on contracts and instead return to school. Prior to this year, the coach would just learn to deal with the logistics of larger roster. But now that the roster cap is set firm at 35, the coach would be forced to cut players that had been told they were going to be on scholarship. If they don't bring in any players, they take a huge risk of being shorthanded. Coaches may now feel forced to "overload" their roster and then make cuts later in order to protect the baseball program and make sure he has plenty of players for the season.

Hall of Fame coach Ron Polk wrote a well publicized letter to university presidents and athletic directors asking for them to appeal to the NCAA to stop these rule changes. In the letter he illustrates another distasteful situation that will arise as a result of this rule - young men losing scholarships because they get hurt. Here's why; injured scholarship players that are sitting out the season on rehab must now count against the roster limit. How can a college coach that is now restricted to only 35 players afford to keep 2-3 that cannot play on his roster? He would then in reality be down to 32 players, endangering the season. That's not going to happen in the win-or-be-fired college landscape of today. He is more likely forced to tell an injured player they will lose their scholarship money.

Neither of these situations are very pleasant, but they could be somewhat alleviated if an affected player could at least transfer to another school without penalty. But the NCAA has put up another roadblock there... new transfer rules that cause players to have to sit out the year.

More on those new rules regarding both transfers and eligibility in an upcoming issue of College Baseball Newsletter. See you then!