We need cardfan to explain all of this for us peons
Omg, where do I begin? There is so much misinformation and over reaction in this thread.....
1) Y'all know student athletes have 5 years to play 4, and each year the scholarship is renewed, right? NCAA does not guarantee 4 years, let alone 5. This is basic 101 stuff.
2) Stanford athletes and some coaches are endowed, which is
separate endowment money from the school (that they cannot touch). Their athletic dept. has had to make major cuts over the last few years. Stanford coaches, including Tara earn A LOT less than other top coaches, so where would the $$ for Ruef come from??? One story here.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=4314195.
3) So what if Tara has 19 players? Stanford has seen their fair of injuries over the years, so why not have more? Four players choose to walk on to play for her and get a degree at Stanford. Having walk-ons is very common, but only 15 travel. Tara also believes in developing her players and only uses 2 male practice players, so we use the players.
4) Ruef got her undergraduate engineering degree at the 2nd ranked engineering school in the country for free, a bill that would be about $190k.Ruef is a brilliant student, she had a perfect score on her SAT.
5) Ruef
JUST got accepted to Stanford Master's engineering program, so the comments about Tara over recruiting is another example of lack of understanding how scholarships and recruiting, especially recruiting at Stanford work. They must get admitted (with all others students who apply) before they can be offered a scholie. So, it is a timely process.
6) Ruef WANTS to come back and play, while getting a master's degree which are all positives. Paying $28k is a
deal for a masters at Stanford. She KNEW all of this. None of it is a shock.