Scholarship questions

[Ruffian75]

It seems that anyone who is offered a scholarship makes the team and stays on the team for four years unless they transfer. Every school has players that are never going to play a meaningful minute in four years yet they remain on the team. UConn has certainly had their share over the years.

It seems that in college sports, once you get a schollie, you are on the team. Is there a rule that requires teams to keep these players on the roster for four years as long as they keep up their grades and don't break team rules?

 

[Vowelguy]

No. Currently players are on single-year scholarships.

In football this has caused some controversy, as teams (particularly in - surprise, surprise - the SEC) will typically sign more players than they have slots for. Then a few upperclassmen get told that their scholarship is not being renewed. In some particularly classy cases, the players are notified by mail.

Partially in response to this, I believe the NCAA is considering tightening the standards on this.

 

[Ruffian75]

It is almost an unwritten coutesy in wcbb then.

 

[alexrgct]

It is almost an unwritten coutesy in wcbb then.

WCBB allows for 15 scholarship players, and the talent pool isn't as deep. As a result, it's unlikely that there will be a strategic advantage to roster dumping. However, in CFB, with tight 85-man limits and a fresh crop of very talented players being available every year, there is a strategic advantage to dumping guys who are already on campus and have proven to be unable to contribute.

The NCAA could easily impose a rule in which it monitors for unusually high attrition rates (ie, higher than would be expected from legit injuries, voluntary transfers, disciplinary issues, etc) and punishes schools who are blatantly oversigning, but apparently text message limits are more important to the integrity of the game and the well being of kids its member institutions exploit.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

How many players does it take to play football - "tight 85 man limits" indeed.

Seriously, I think the 15 person limit is what helps to limit roster dumping in WBB - but it does sometimes happen. Several schools lately have appeared to over-recruit, only to lose some players, sometimes they transfer, of course.

 

[alexrgct]

How many players does it take to play football - "tight 85 man limits" indeed.

Well, at bare minimum, 46- a two-deep at each position on offense and defense, a punter, and a place kicker. However, when consider that you'll be redishirting 10-15 players a year, and that 10-15 players a year will be injured for substantial portions of the season, and some kids just don't live up to expectations, you come up on 85 pretty darn quick.

By way of reference, prior to there being scholarship limits, the big-time programs would have nearly 150 players on scholarship. As Darrell Royal famously said, "If a kid [on my team] not playing for me, at least he's not playing against me."

This is why some coaches, Nick Saban in particular, take a "get 'em on campus, see who actually lives up to their potential, and force the non-hackers out to make room for the next crop of incoming freshmen" approach.

 

[Brad Palmer]

I believe the NCAA just passed (or is about to pass) a rule making four-year scholarships a rule rather than an option.