ESPN Article: Some BIG10 schools offering 4 years scholarships
Ohio, Northwestern and PSU are confirmed as offering 4 year scholarship offers vs. the traditional 1 year renewable scholarships.
Purdue is confirmed as only offering renewable scholarships this year.
Link: http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/44807/b1g-schools-offering-4-year-scholarships
This is good news, hopefully Michigan follows suit.
Edit: Wisconsin 4 years too.
February 1st, 2012 at 11:24 AM ^
I never knew that scholarships were 1 year renewable. I figured they were just come to our school and play football for free regardless of how long...
February 1st, 2012 at 11:25 AM ^
I think this may be a one year thing for Urban Meyer, and entirely being done out of necessity.
February 1st, 2012 at 11:28 AM ^
I have a few questions about that:
Do standard rules apply that there would be exceptions if a student didn't maintain certain grades or expected behaviors? I think it should, and if it did it would still give a guy like Meyer plenty of grey area.
Second, are students still eligible for a 5th year if they redshirt? Again, I would hope so.
Finally, if a student leaves for the NFL after 3 years, does the 4th year still count against scholarship numbers.
I have hunches on the answers to all of these, but my hunches aren't always right.
February 1st, 2012 at 11:47 AM ^
1. I would hope so--there must be some language in there saying you have to keep a certain GPA (above the miniumum required to play)
2. There should be no change in this policy, your not guaranteed a 5th year currently and technically you only need 4 years to graduate anyways so if your not "needed" anymore and you havent finished up your schoolwork it may be up to you to pay your way your final year.
3. The school has fulfilled its obligation to the player in providing a scholarship to the player from the moment he steps on campus to when he leaves so it shouldnt count if they declare early.
February 1st, 2012 at 11:49 AM ^
You don't still get a scholarship. They'd be eligible for a 5th year, but they wouldn't be guaranteed it. And I'm not 100% sure on the early departures, but I wouldn't think so.
February 1st, 2012 at 12:00 PM ^
I know Michigan usually continues paying if a kid gets injured, but is this said anywhere in the rules for 4 years? Obviously they wouldn't count against the limit, but the kids should still be able to finish up school.
February 1st, 2012 at 12:22 PM ^
There's a different set of rules for career ending injuries. You would be placed on medical hardship and allowed some kind of timeframe to finish school. You're right that they don't count towards scholarship numbers.
February 1st, 2012 at 11:37 AM ^
Because unfortunately with Urban Meyer's track record of making statements that later end up to be untrue, alongside an eyebrow-raising laundry list of football player discipline issues under his watch, I'm not sure you can trust it.
But yeah, I totally get Urban's Econ 101. When your produce is just about to spoil, you run a big sale.
February 1st, 2012 at 11:45 AM ^
...considering he's giving some existing players the boot to make room for the new recruits
February 1st, 2012 at 11:51 AM ^
For 4 years, this is not really any sort of change. If you're a school that makes a habit of not doing it, well, everyone else has a slight recruiting advantage. But then kid's never think they're going to be the one to go to Saban Memorial Hospital, so I don't know how much it'll change.
February 1st, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^
anything for the schools that honor their offer for 4 years, but I can't help but believe that this is an approach to differentiate their offers to those of the SEC.
Ultimately, the over-signing SEC schools will have to match these 4-year offers, or they will begin to see their recruiting erode. Thus, boxed in, the oversigning nonsense that has been going on will finally end. Market forces rather than feeble regulations imposed by the NCAA will end up resolving these inequities.
February 1st, 2012 at 1:57 PM ^
So what if they have to match four year scholarship or not. Even if they do, it's not like they couldn't get rid of guys for breaking team rules. New rules just give them new ways to break them.
February 1st, 2012 at 2:27 PM ^
I suspect that if any school doesn't do it just right (like uniformly enforcing the new rules) they will open themselves to a nasty lawsuit.
February 1st, 2012 at 12:52 PM ^
he said if the U makes a 4 year schollie, then the student should commit to at least 2 years then.
was just agruing for one-year renewals. he said coaches won't be around long if they cut kids for non-performance. what a crock. coaches aren't around long as it is at given schools, so win now baby. one-year renewals allow coaches to cut players for non-performance which is total BS, imo.
February 1st, 2012 at 1:11 PM ^
to pressure other schools to do it, ultimately putting oversigning practices to an end. Anyone ragging on Urban Meyer in a thread about OSU offering 4 year schollies is not very intelligent and/or overwhelmingly butthurt 24/7.
February 1st, 2012 at 1:55 PM ^
We are offering 4 year scholarships too!
February 1st, 2012 at 5:08 PM ^
Link?