Welcome back, John Burt, arguably the Big 12’s best hurdler. Welcome back, Spencer Torkelson, college baseball’s leading home run hitter. Congratulations Texas A&M baseball, you have the possibility of returning six seniors plus a talented recruiting class for the 2021 season. The same goes for TCU baseball, who may bring back eight seniors, five of which would be starting their sixth season in college. It was all made possible by the NCAA’s ruling Monday night.
Heading into the afternoon, many experts and journalists were expecting different things out of the NCAA D1 council, who was set to vote on the pressing issue of whether or not D1 student athletes should be granted an extra year of eligibility considering their seasons had been canceled before they could even get started. Some hinted to the fact that maybe the extra year would be given to seniors only, or that if they did give the extra year, those returning seniors would have to pay their own way and no longer be eligible for a scholarship. Others thought that the returning seniors would count against the maximum roster size limits, forcing coaches to cut other players or newcomers. By 6pm, the NCAA had put an end to all the questions. The spring sport athletes would get another year, the individual colleges will now decide how to manage these fifth year seniors’ financial aid, and baseball was the only sport allowed to increase the roster size, which is by rule, capped at 35 active players. Plus, the NCAA will take on the cost for the majority of returning seniors.
No decision would have made everyone happy, but the NCAA did their best to consider all scenarios before making the final ruling, one which was accepted by both athletes and coaches with thankfulness, excitement and anticipation. Even if the 2020 season hadn’t started as hoped, these teams will get to start on a fresh slate with virtually the same team plus some, in 2021.
The NCAA got to this ruling much quicker than was expected, and although they had announced an intention to grant D1 athletes another year more than three weeks ago, nobody had any idea what would come next in a time of such uncertainty especially with the possibility the football season may not go this fall. No football would in turn cause huge effects on entire athletic departments, like Texas, who supports most of their sports off of the income generated from packing DKR Memorial Stadium for football games, TV deals, and sponsorships. However, as Kendall Rogers of D1 Baseball pointed out, it would have looked odd to go against the other divisions of the NCAA (D2 and D3), and even the National Junior College Athletic Association, who had already ruled that their spring sport athletes would get another year.
All of a sudden, the landscape of sports such as softball, baseball and track and field have changed for the 2021 season. Aside from the problems that will come about due to financial aid and fifth year seniors, this is a slam dunk for college coaches. For many, it is a once in a lifetime chance at a national title in 2021, with the sacrifice of the 2020 season. Having senior experience is invaluable, and then being able to add a recruiting class to that can only make the team better, heading into next season. For a sport such as baseball, returning seniors will not count against the allotted 11.7 scholarships given to each D1 team either, but as mentioned above, it will be up to the school if they would like to give the athlete the same or a reduced amount, obviously leading to some uncomfortable conversations, with some athletes having to pay their own way to come back for another season. It was the one area of this entire thing that seemed unclear as to how the NCAA would handle it. Giving the kids back another year is easy to do, but tackling everything that comes with that, such as scholarships is much harder, at least in my opinion.
The other question that arose was, if baseball is the only sport that can increase its roster sizes, what will happen to other sports? Well, that is a hard question, but the simple answer is that it will be up to each coach. There are multiple options though. For one, seniors could retain their roster spots, and some of the newcomers could reshirt until next season. Another is that if seniors are not given their spots back, certain sports like softball allow players to transfer to another school and be eligible to play immediately, which could be an option for some athletes.
2021 will be interesting to say the least, and this decision only added to the list of things we have encountered in the uncharted waters during this worldwide pandemic. It was not ideal, but the NCAA seems to have made the right decision here, to let the seniors go out on their own terms with a full season, and give teams the chance to fight for the conference and national titles they missed out on being able to compete for in 2020.
Comments