An NCAA committee Friday granted another year of eligibility to thousands of college athletes whose seasons were abruptly cut short by concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
The Division I Council Coordination Committee announced its “leadership agreed that eligibility relief is appropriate for all Division I student-athletes who participated in spring sports,” a day after the NCAA canceled all winter and spring championship athletic events.
Many leaders within college athletics viewed the move as the fair resolution but one that will involve complications.
“It’s a challenge,” Ryan Bamford, the athletic director at Massachusetts, said in a telephone interview Friday morning, speaking of the potential ramifications of an eligibility waiver before the NCAA’s decision was announced. “The concept I think everybody agrees with. I haven’t gotten a lot of pushback on the concept, but the mechanics of it are really, really sticky.”
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March Madness is worth billions to the NCAA and networks. Canceling will cost them.
Spring sports include baseball, golf, lacrosse, softball, tennis and outdoor track and field. Most of those teams had played only a fraction of their seasons. For instance, the men’s and women’s lacrosse schedule runs from early February through the end of May. Outdoor track and field had yet to begin.
The NCAA, according to reports, will discuss whether to extend the measure to winter sport athletes, who were nearing their postseason, if not already there. Those athletes missed out on participating in their marquee events but still competed in the bulk of their scheduled competitions.
What if Cinderella never made the ball? Ask Hofstra.
Winter sports include basketball, gymnastics, ice hockey, wrestling and swimming and diving. The postseasons for those sports were scheduled for the coming weeks and into next month.
The ramifications of Friday’s decision, as well as the possibility of extending it to winter sports, will be significant. Teams have scholarship and roster limits, with freshmen set to enroll next season. Even though the NCAA easily could adjust the number of scholarships allowed per sport, that would raise costs for individual athletic departments to support additional athletes.
John Feinstein: The NCAA will be fine. But for college basketball players, this is beyond sad.
Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma supported eligibility relief, particularly for spring sport seniors, and said on ESPN that the NCAA should pay for the additional scholarships the school hadn’t anticipated.
The logistical challenges of the NCAA’s decision could persist for years because it’s not only seniors who will be given the eligibility relief.
The Division I Council Coordination Committee’s statement said the details of eligibility relief “will be finalized at a later time.”
“Additional issues with NCAA rules must be addressed, and appropriate governance bodies will work through those in the coming days and weeks,” the statement continued.
College coaches and administrators advocated for eligibility relief in the aftermath of the NCAA’s mass cancellation. Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione told reporters Thursday evening that he supported additional eligibility for athletes affected by the cancellations. Some athletes voiced the same goal. Iowa track and field senior Allison Wahrman created an online petition, now with more than 170,000 signatures, asking for the NCAA to give athletes an extra season of eligibility.
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“You only get four years, and if you take 25 percent of it away, that’s a lot to these young people,” said Bamford, who voiced his support on social media before the NCAA’s decision. “At least to give them the opportunity, if they decide, if they have the option to come back and complete their eligibility either here or at whatever other institution they want to, I believe strongly they should have that opportunity.”
Heather Tarr, the University of Washington’s softball coach, tweeted Thursday evening: “I’ll be damned if [the team’s seniors] played their last softball game this past Sunday … This is not the end.”
Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman said Friday, before the NCAA’s decision, that allowing athletes to return was a “no-brainer,” while also noting that “it’s not as straightforward as it might first seem.” Beyond simply scholarship spots and roster sizes, there will be ramifications that can’t be easily fixed by a rules adjustment.
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“If an incoming baseball player thought that the stud center fielder in front of them was going to graduate and move on and that spot was going to be there for them to try and compete for,” Whitman said, “and all of a sudden that stud center fielder is coming back, that changes that internal dynamic.”
Some athletes already granted relief might stay with their programs an extra year, while others could graduate and move on with their lives as planned. College sports could see an uptick in graduate transfers within these sports because more athletes will have their degree with eligibility remaining.
Bamford said his focus was on granting an additional year of eligibility to the spring sport athletes who “didn’t even have a chance to really fully compete.” The winter sport athletes, while their seasons ended in a disappointing way, had the chance to nearly reach the finish.
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The NCAA had yet to provide a statement regarding winter sport athletes.
“I think it would be tough for basketball,” said Maryland women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese, who last week led the Terrapins to the Big Ten tournament title. “You’ve played the majority of your season, so I think that would probably be tough. … Although I would take it. I’d take all four seniors to come back, no question.”
Barry Svrluga: How did Mark Turgeon and the Terps handle the NCAA tournament cancellation? Together.
Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey said Friday in a statement: “It is still my hope that if the current situation improves, the NCAA will make every effort to revive the championship this year. If not, I hope they give serious consideration for seniors to have an additional year of eligibility.”
Some men’s basketball conference tournaments were canceled after they had already begun — at halftime of one game in the Big East tournament and with players warming up on the court in the Big Ten tournament. But even as players and coaches mourned the end of the seasons, many expressed that this was the correct decision. Leagues throughout the country and the world continued to make similar decisions not to hold events that garner large crowds and that could put athletes and staffs at risk even without spectators present.
LSU gymnastics, the nation’s sixth-ranked team, appeared to have a senior recognition ceremony in its practice facility. In recent days, many of those winter sport programs have celebrated their seniors on social media, in many ways saying farewell, even as their future options remain murky.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/03/13/ncaa-eligibility-sports-cancelled/
The Division I Council Coordination Committee announced its “leadership agreed that eligibility relief is appropriate for all Division I student-athletes who participated in spring sports,” a day after the NCAA canceled all winter and spring championship athletic events.
Many leaders within college athletics viewed the move as the fair resolution but one that will involve complications.
“It’s a challenge,” Ryan Bamford, the athletic director at Massachusetts, said in a telephone interview Friday morning, speaking of the potential ramifications of an eligibility waiver before the NCAA’s decision was announced. “The concept I think everybody agrees with. I haven’t gotten a lot of pushback on the concept, but the mechanics of it are really, really sticky.”
AD
March Madness is worth billions to the NCAA and networks. Canceling will cost them.
Spring sports include baseball, golf, lacrosse, softball, tennis and outdoor track and field. Most of those teams had played only a fraction of their seasons. For instance, the men’s and women’s lacrosse schedule runs from early February through the end of May. Outdoor track and field had yet to begin.
The NCAA, according to reports, will discuss whether to extend the measure to winter sport athletes, who were nearing their postseason, if not already there. Those athletes missed out on participating in their marquee events but still competed in the bulk of their scheduled competitions.
What if Cinderella never made the ball? Ask Hofstra.
Winter sports include basketball, gymnastics, ice hockey, wrestling and swimming and diving. The postseasons for those sports were scheduled for the coming weeks and into next month.
The ramifications of Friday’s decision, as well as the possibility of extending it to winter sports, will be significant. Teams have scholarship and roster limits, with freshmen set to enroll next season. Even though the NCAA easily could adjust the number of scholarships allowed per sport, that would raise costs for individual athletic departments to support additional athletes.
John Feinstein: The NCAA will be fine. But for college basketball players, this is beyond sad.
Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma supported eligibility relief, particularly for spring sport seniors, and said on ESPN that the NCAA should pay for the additional scholarships the school hadn’t anticipated.
The logistical challenges of the NCAA’s decision could persist for years because it’s not only seniors who will be given the eligibility relief.
The Division I Council Coordination Committee’s statement said the details of eligibility relief “will be finalized at a later time.”
“Additional issues with NCAA rules must be addressed, and appropriate governance bodies will work through those in the coming days and weeks,” the statement continued.
College coaches and administrators advocated for eligibility relief in the aftermath of the NCAA’s mass cancellation. Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione told reporters Thursday evening that he supported additional eligibility for athletes affected by the cancellations. Some athletes voiced the same goal. Iowa track and field senior Allison Wahrman created an online petition, now with more than 170,000 signatures, asking for the NCAA to give athletes an extra season of eligibility.
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“You only get four years, and if you take 25 percent of it away, that’s a lot to these young people,” said Bamford, who voiced his support on social media before the NCAA’s decision. “At least to give them the opportunity, if they decide, if they have the option to come back and complete their eligibility either here or at whatever other institution they want to, I believe strongly they should have that opportunity.”
Heather Tarr, the University of Washington’s softball coach, tweeted Thursday evening: “I’ll be damned if [the team’s seniors] played their last softball game this past Sunday … This is not the end.”
Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman said Friday, before the NCAA’s decision, that allowing athletes to return was a “no-brainer,” while also noting that “it’s not as straightforward as it might first seem.” Beyond simply scholarship spots and roster sizes, there will be ramifications that can’t be easily fixed by a rules adjustment.
AD
“If an incoming baseball player thought that the stud center fielder in front of them was going to graduate and move on and that spot was going to be there for them to try and compete for,” Whitman said, “and all of a sudden that stud center fielder is coming back, that changes that internal dynamic.”
Some athletes already granted relief might stay with their programs an extra year, while others could graduate and move on with their lives as planned. College sports could see an uptick in graduate transfers within these sports because more athletes will have their degree with eligibility remaining.
Bamford said his focus was on granting an additional year of eligibility to the spring sport athletes who “didn’t even have a chance to really fully compete.” The winter sport athletes, while their seasons ended in a disappointing way, had the chance to nearly reach the finish.
AD
The NCAA had yet to provide a statement regarding winter sport athletes.
“I think it would be tough for basketball,” said Maryland women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese, who last week led the Terrapins to the Big Ten tournament title. “You’ve played the majority of your season, so I think that would probably be tough. … Although I would take it. I’d take all four seniors to come back, no question.”
Barry Svrluga: How did Mark Turgeon and the Terps handle the NCAA tournament cancellation? Together.
Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey said Friday in a statement: “It is still my hope that if the current situation improves, the NCAA will make every effort to revive the championship this year. If not, I hope they give serious consideration for seniors to have an additional year of eligibility.”
Some men’s basketball conference tournaments were canceled after they had already begun — at halftime of one game in the Big East tournament and with players warming up on the court in the Big Ten tournament. But even as players and coaches mourned the end of the seasons, many expressed that this was the correct decision. Leagues throughout the country and the world continued to make similar decisions not to hold events that garner large crowds and that could put athletes and staffs at risk even without spectators present.
LSU gymnastics, the nation’s sixth-ranked team, appeared to have a senior recognition ceremony in its practice facility. In recent days, many of those winter sport programs have celebrated their seniors on social media, in many ways saying farewell, even as their future options remain murky.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/03/13/ncaa-eligibility-sports-cancelled/
