Woah! That is not what I meant at all. That would 100% be a violation and a major one. What I was talking about refers to athletes that are competing and training while not using up their eligibility. I most often hear it called "grey shirting" as opposed to a "red shirt" where the athletes 5 year service clock has started during a red shirt season. So, we have two different situations and two different sets of rules and benefits to consider. I don't want to write a novel, but I also want to be much more clear as people went in a much different direction than I was referring to.
So, the issue that has come up, is that some "Grey Shirts" have received some assistance during their "Grey Shirt" season in order to help them get to open tournaments. This includes transportation, tournament fees, gear, really anything that an athletes competing for Penn State during one of their years during their 5 year window of service time would not have to worry about as the wrestling program would cover those expenses. Well, some organizations have formed and collected money, volunteers, and other resources to help wrestling tournaments or to help the sport grow by helping get more athletes out competing. Those organizations have then made contributions to help those athletes, It is a fine line between an impermissible benefit and a completely legal one. This was ruled completely legal for the time being so long as it is not coordinated by anyone involved with the program in any way shape or form and that includes boosters. It is a very slippery slope though.
Then you have rules for when an athletes is on red shirt and competing and a similiar situation for someone who is competing in different styles such as Freestyle or Greco during the off season. The questions regarding this seems to center around GoFundMe accounts being created and people donating to help someone compete. Without PSU being involved and the athletes never getting any money. Again, very fine lines. However, nothing that anyone at PSU has done (that is talked about in public at least) is a violation. Some people think it absolutely should be a violation though.
I didn't go into a tremendous amount of detail originally because I am not privileged to all of the transactions that have taken place and exactly how they were permitted under the existing rules. However, what I do know is that some rules are going to be changing to address some of these situations that have occurred. I am not making wild accusations.
