What's the general consensus on the four year scholarship that seems to be picking up steam? I think it's a pretty cool thing to be doing and I say bravo to the schools doing it.
Why do you think it's a pretty cool thing to be doing? If the student-athlete isn't upholding his end of the bargain, why should he continue to receive a free ride?I had an academic scholarship in college. That scholarship was automatically renewable on a yearly basis, provided I maintained a high enough GPA. If I didn't, then the scholarship was revoked, but could be earned back after my GPA went back up.
I'm not sure I see why athletes should have four year scholarships as a matter of right.
I'm fairly certain that there will be qualifications to each year based on grades as their should be.
You don't see the difference between a school saying "hey, we want you to be here four years" vs "hey, we'll take you this year then reevaluate next"?ETA: And link to where anyone said a four year scholarship was a "right"
I never said I don't see the difference. Of course I do.I think I misread the proposal. I thought they were going to be making four year scholarships mandatory, rather than allow them to be renewable on a yearly basis. It looks like this just gives schools the option (correct?). It's why I said that the four year scholarship would be a right (if all schools have to give four years, rather than one year, then if you are a scholarship athlete, you're getting four years as a matter of right).
so the "pretty cool" question to me was rhetorical? The schools can, and have always been able to write the scholarship how they see fit. I was simply saying I think it's cool for a school to commit to a kid and the kid not have to worry about getting his scholarship taken out from under him if he gets hurt or someone better comes along. I know the "big business" perspective is thrown around a lot, but the reality is, most of these athletes are going on to something other than a career in sports and they should be afforded an opportunity to get that education if they want to work at it.
Nope. I already said I misread (didn't read closely, to be honest) the issue. I thought the NCAA was going to switch from one year renewable scholarships to mandating four year scholarships. I was asking why that would be "pretty cool." Since that is not a correct reading of the issue, my question was pretty stupid.Back to the actual issue, I think it's noble of a school to do it. However, I think it's bad for the program. It's no secret (or maybe it is because they are pretty irrelevant at the moment) that UCLA has struggled in football for the past decade. The current UCLA team has, strictly based off recruiting rankings, a great deal of physical talent on it. But, they've sucked. Several unnamed football players in the program have, apparently, taken their free ride for granted and simply aren't putting in the work necessary to be great football players (and to have a good team).
UCLA, pre-Mora, has not done anything about this. They are not a school that "cuts" players who aren't cutting it. It sounds like this may be changing. In any case, if UCLA were to implement the four year scholarship policy, then there's nothing the school can do about players who fall in love with the college atmosphere and would rather be normal college students than student-athletes.
I think the four year scholarship is a great idea for those players that put in the work on and off the football field. They stay eligible off the field and work hard physically for the football team. For those guys, their scholarships should be there, regardless of whether they simply don't pan out. I'm speaking strictly about the guys that aren't putting in the work. Now, the problem is obviously that this is pretty subjective and would be up to the discretion of the coaching staff. If the staff sours on a player for one reason or another, they could simply state that the player isn't doing the work necessary to receive a scholarship.
So, while I think it's great in theory, like Christo pointed out above, you've only got 85 scholarships and you could end up hurting your program if you end up with enough players that aren't putting in the work (or simply bust).