scholarship honoring from a different point of view
I know a lot of us here on mgoblog have a problem with coaches not honoring a scholarship with players on a roster and then over signing on the incoming freshman class. I would like to look at how schools honor academic scholarship. The thing is if you arnt up to snuff with your grades but are still passing your classes, the school pulls your scholarship. I think the same should be used in football. If a player isnt providing the best competition for your depth chart, why not pull the scholarship?
When I was a freshman i got a music scholarship to my saxophone. At the end of the year the music faculty decided I wasnt worth keeping on scholarship. I lost lots of money because they didnt renew my scholarship.
The thing about college is that its all about competition. If you dont make the cut then you drop out and transfer some where else. It happens all the time academically. I know plenty of people who couldnt cut it at my college so they had to transfer. Its the nature of life. It sucks but you cant protect these players scholarships.
What do you all think?
1 - The school lays it out pretty clearly beforehand to academic scholars that they have to do X, Y, and Z to keep their scholarship. The football/basketball teams also lay out requirements X, Y, and Z, but none of them include being in a certain place on the depth chart. The guys that Brian assails these SEC schools for dropping did nothing that was on the list of things they weren't supposed to do. They did what they were told they had to do and got cut anyway.
2 - By this logic, there would be a certain amount of turnover each and every year; if you set a requirement to stay at a certain point on the depth chart or something, you'd be having to cut people every year in order to equitably enforce it, otherwise this becomes simply a convenient excuse to cut those you don't like.
3 - All this is assuming a school could even adopt such a policy and still recruit effectively.
But, if football players are really student-athletes then the only football-related thing that should lose them a scholarship is failing Sports Management 101. The scholarship applies to school, not football.
Unfortunately for you, it's easier to justify pulling a music scholarship because music is what you are studying. I still disagree with the practice, though--those guys are assholes unless you just weren't trying.
A scholarship offer is NOT a 4-year agreement. It IS 4-one year agreements. They have to be renewed every year by the coach, and signed off by the AD. Yeah, it's crappy for a coach to not renew the scholarship, but, these coaches are making their living off of these kids. College football is big business.
I think when you offer a recruit and make him a prospect you are making a full 4-5yr commitment in the students future. Anything less is exactly what is wrong with college football.
When kids a forced out of a program by an incoming coach ala Kiffin its a slap in the face to the student athlete, his high school and his family.
and it is the school, not the coach that offers the scholarship and the school, not the coach that should honor it.
Also, the school makes millions on these players. If the new coach (e.g. Kiffin) treats them like garbage, then it will come back to haunt him.
The system punishes kids who are unfaithful to the program they committed to, by making them sit out a year if they transfer. On the other hand, it does not punish schools/teams who do not honor their commitments. There needs to be balance on both sides if pulling a scholarship on a player is to become standard practice.
On the other hand, purely academic scholarships do not have such restrictions. Students can transfer at any time and schools can rescind at any time. That is what I call balance.
thanks for the thoughts. I wish i had stated before that i really have idea what it says on these football scholarships; whether it be 4 years or 1 year scholarship. I would be interested to see what exactly a football scholarship looks like. Anyone have one they could put online?