Tag: eligibility

Rothstein Reports Winter Athletes Unlikely to get Extra Eligibility

In a report by CBS Sport’s Jon Rothstein, the NCAA most likely will not grant an extra year of eligibility to winter sport athletes.

The NCAA wants to do what’s right for their athletes after canceling the remainder of the winter sports and all of the spring season. Immediately there were rumors that the springs sports would be given an extra year of eligibility, which has yet to become official, with the winter athletes still waiting on a decision.

It seems though, as CBS’s Jon Rothstein reports, that the winter sport athletes will not be given an extra year of eligibility. The winter sports consist of men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s hockey, will not get another opportunity to suit up for their respective schools after the NCAA stopped all athletics amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Although this is an extremely tough decision, it seems like it’s the right one to make. For instance, John Mooney, Notre Dame’s senior basketball star finished his career with some very impressive career statistics. Would it be fair to former ACC stars for Mooney to get a full extra year to make a run at some of their career records? The answer is no, although Irish fans would love to see Mooney’s name atop the list of some impressive stats, it is not what the NCAA should allow.

It was not the ending any of the winter sports would have liked to see, but the simple fact that they played the majority of their season, as opposed to spring sports who played less than half of their regular season. It’s a difficult pill to swallow, but the correct move if true by the NCAA.

NCAA grants spring season athletes an extra year of eligibility

The NCAA announced student-athletes for spring sports will be granted a waiver for an additional season of eligibility after coronavirus.

Due to the unprecedented affects and uncertainties of the coronavirus, the NCAA shut down the balance of winter sports and cancelled all spring sports this week.

Now the NCAA has announced that student-athletes for spring sports will be granted a waiver for an additional season of eligibility.

“Council leadership agreed that eligibility relief is appropriate for all Divisiion I student-athletes who participated in spring sports,” the NCAA released in a statement. “Details of eligibility relief will be finalized at a later time. Additional issues with the NCAA rules must be addressed, and appropriate governance bodies will work through those in the coming days and weeks.”

The coronavirus is an unprecedented event and to the credit of the NCAA, took immediate and unprecedented measures. Granting the relief to student-athletes does create several logisitcal issues and costs could be substantial. With every sport having scholarship limits, the NCAA will have to elevate scholarship limits for the next four years.

And who and how will that extra year of scholarships be paid by? Most athletic programs are underwater financially and don’t have the means to fund additional scholarships. Will the NCAA step in and help fund those programs?

As for winter sports, particularly men’s and women’s basketball, the committee “will also discuss issues related to seasons of competition” for those athletes who were not able to play in conference and NCAA championships.

With the exception of women’s tennis, spring sport athletes are overwhelmingly on equivalency scholarships and thus additional seasons of playing eligibility would come with an additional cost not only to their athletic departments or the NCAA, should it finance the cost, but to the athletes and their families.