‘It’s just a mess.’ UK coach discusses fallout of NCAA ruling on extra eligibility.
News broke Monday that the NCAA is granting an extra season of eligibility to spring-sports athletes whose seasons were abruptly cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. Though on its surface that decision sounds and feels like the only fair one, there’s vast uncertainty surrounding its framework.
Many college seniors have already made post-graduate commitments they’d have to walk back if they took advantage of the extra eligibility. High school recruits who factored future rosters into their college decisions will now be left wondering what those rosters will look like come next year. The situation is far from cut and dried.
One of countless programs around the country tasked with navigating the fallout from the NCAA’s ruling is the University of Kentucky softball team. UK Coach Rachel Lawson, who was in the midst of her 13th year at the helm when the 2020 season was cut short, spoke with the Herald-Leader on Tuesday about the impact of the decision.
“In typical NCAA fashion they came down with a ruling but didn’t give you any real direction on how that’s going to work, so I think right now the compliance offices have to try to figure out what it all means,” Lawson said. “It’s great that the spring sports are getting an opportunity to play again since their seasons were cut so short. But there definitely are going to be some details that need to be ironed out.”
Lawson cited financial uncertainty as one of myriad factors that must be cleared up in relation to the extended eligibility. In its ruling, the NCAA said schools will not be required to provide athletes whose final season of eligibility would have been exhausted this spring with the same level of financial aid next year, should they choose to return. However, it did rule that schools could apply to the NCAA Student Assistance Fund to supplement scholarships for those athletes.
“The financial side of it is very interesting. For example, we have players on our team that have a blend of academic scholarships and athletic scholarships, so what does that mean?” Lawson said. “Because quite honestly, a lot of them wouldn’t be able to afford to come back to school if there wasn’t some sort of concession there.
“Then you have the whole transfer side of things. If you graduated and you have another year of eligibility but the program you want to go into for grad school isn’t at your current school, does that mean you get to transfer and have that other year of eligibility? That’s probably just a few scenarios that I’ve thought of, I’m sure there’s a lot of others out there. So I can’t even imagine the list that all the compliance officers across the country are going through ... It’s just a mess.”
Tough decisions
Many seniors will be forced to make a decision between extending their college athletics careers or stepping into the post-athletics future they’ve been working toward while pursuing their sports passion.
“I’m sure quite a few seniors across the country were working on other plans. Do they have to apply and go on to grad school? A lot of them probably haven’t even taken the (Graduate Record Examination) or even thought about what they want to do.”
UK second baseman Alex Martens, who led the country in RBI by a wide margin when her senior season was cut short, articulated Lawson’s point on Twitter last month, writing: “Most likely, more than half of the players who had their senior year stripped from them already have post graduate commitments secured (jobs, graduate school, etc.). Just because the NCAA is trying to make things right doesn’t mean it will fix the pain so many of us are feeling.”
Martens continued: “I’m so happy for those that will get to use this extra year and continue playing the sport they loved their whole life. Some seniors, like myself and my teammates, will not. And my heart hurts for those who will not get the closure that is needed during this time in our lives.”
Future impact
While most of the conversation surrounding the pandemic’s impact on college sports has focused on current seniors, there will undoubtedly be a ripple effect that filters throughout rosters.
“The other thing involved that no one is commenting on is recruiting,” Lawson said. “When you’re going through your recruiting process and you pick a school one of the things that you take into consideration is when the players ahead of you will be graduating. So there are probably a ton of soon-to-be sophomores and juniors across the country that put in their time and dues and were waiting for these all-star upperclassmen to graduate so that they could have their time.
“So, when players come back what does that mean to them? Does it mean they’ve essentially sat the bench for a year, now they’re going to have to sit the bench for another year? It hurts them as well. There’s a lot that’s going into this decision and athletes across the country are going to have to figure out what that means to them. It’s crazy times, for sure.”
Beyond figuring out the impact on her current roster, Lawson also worries about the implications of the decision when it comes to future recruits.
“What does this do to scholarships?” Lawson wondered. “In softball you have 12 scholarships. I know they’re allowing extra eligibility but are they also allowing extra money? When you’re planning out scholarships you’re planning on certain people graduating so that you have the percentages and the funds to bring in the younger players. People who are already committed to their schools, what does this mean for them financially? If you’re going to keep a player and you have to stay within your 12, that means somebody would have had to quit, or scholarships get altered. I don’t even know.
“These are nightmares for me as a coach. I don’t even want to think about it.”
