Tuesday April 14, 2009

Scholarship Data

Scholarship Data
Last week I wrote a blog and gave details of how difficult it is at Clemson for the sports that don’t have full scholarships. Higher tuition has really hurt sports like baseball that have 33 players but the NCAA limits Division I baseball programs to a maximum of only 11.7 scholarships. Out of state tuition makes it difficult because kids from Georgia have the in-state scholarships to help off-set the cost. Therefore baseball players from Georgia can go to UGA or Georgia Tech at a much lower costs than crossing the state line to attend Clemson.

Because the state of Georgia has better baseball and more baseball prospects than South Carolina, it should be a surprise that Georgia and Georgia Tech are ranked in the top 12 in the country but Clemson and South Carolina are not ranked.

Some will argue the quality but no one can argue the quantity of baseball players in comparing the two states.

One of the major problems is the lack of baseball scholarships. Clemson could recruit Georgia more efficiently if baseball had more scholarships. I wrote a blog about it last year but for the life of me I can’t figure out why the NCAA limits baseball to just 11.7 scholarships.

I went back and did more research on the number of schools that play each sport and the maximum allowed scholarships by sport. I was amazed at some of the things I found. I thought some of the data is interesting and hope you find some of the numbers insightful.

Basketball is the most popular sport in terms of the number of schools that field teams at the Division I, II and III levels. There are 1004 schools that have a men’s basketball program with 326 in Divison I, 283 in Division II and 395 in Division III. Men’s basketball is limited to 13 scholarships in D-I and 10 in D-II. Division III schools do not give scholarships in any sport.

Interestingly enough, the single most popular sport in terms fielding teams is women’s basketball. There are 1028 women’s’ basketball schools as opposed to 1004 men’s teams. However most of those are D-III schools. Four fewer schools give scholarships in women’s basketball compared to the men.

I have read Title IX and understand its intent, but is it fair that D-I men get 13 scholarships in basketball and women get 15? I am trying to understand why a basketball team needs 15 scholarships?

I just don’t understand why our national pastime (baseball) gets so fewer scholarships than other sports.

Here is a list of some of the sports that get more scholarships than Division I baseball:
D-I Men’s Ice Hockey (18)
D-II Men’s Hockey (13.5)
D-I Men’s Lacrosse (12.6)
D-I Men’s Track (12.6)
D-II Men’s Track (12.6)
D-I Women’s Basketball (15)
D-I Women’s Equestrian (15)
D-II Women’s Equestrian (15)
D-I Women’s Field Hockey (12)
D-I Women’s Gymnastics (12)
D-I Women’s Ice Hockey (18)
D-II Women’s Ice Hockey (18)
D-I Women’s Lacrosse (12)
D-I Women’s Rowing (20)
D-II Women’s Rowing (20)
D-I Women’s Soccer (12)
D-I Women’s Softball (12)
D-I Women’s Swimming (14)
D-I Women’s Track (18)
D-II Women’s Track (12.6)
D-I Women’s Volleyball (12)

I don’t understand my women get more scholarships than men in basketball (15-13), golf (6-4.5), soccer (12-9.9), swimming (14-9.9) and tennis (8-4.5). Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know football counts 85 but if it were not for football many schools could not afford any sport.

The 20 schools that have equestrian (14 D-I and 5 D-II) have enough power to get 14 scholarships for each school as their maximum but the 285 D-I baseball schools can’t convince the powers to give them more than 11.7 scholarships?

There are only 32 D-I women’s Ice Hockey schools and two D-II teams but they have 18 scholarships each. There are only 143 women’s rowing teams in the country but they get 20 scholarships.

This means these sports can give full scholarships but baseball cannot. Dividing 11.7 scholarships to 33 players makes it very difficult for college baseball coaches. I just don’t understand why baseball does not stand up for itself and fight for more scholarships. No wonder so many players chose to go to the minor leagues out of high school or leave after their junior year in college.

I think it is time for baseball coaches to make a stand and fight for more scholarships. Common sense needs to prevail. In today’s economy there will be a lot of parents who will be forced to make decisions they would have to make if baseball just had 15 or 18 scholarships.

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Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Mrs. Kathleen Bowers, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Sandy Wright, Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, Edward Putman, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey, Kaitlyn L.