Tuesday April 14, 2009
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Tuesday April 14, 2009
Scholarship Data 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: 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. The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency
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Title IX: If you give more baseball scholarships, you must give more women's sports scholarships. One can debate the merits and demerits of Title IX, but it's a reality that's here to stay. That's also why women's sports often receive more scholarships.
Why don't we get rid of the football team? That would solve a lot of problems. (PLEASE note the sarcasm.) Perhaps we should create a women's football team.
Posted by medtiger6317 on April 14, 2009 at 12:43 PM EDT #
I should also add that there's been a lot of discussion in some circles (e.g., NY Times) about the need of sports scholarships to keep men in school. Title IX, though great for women's sports, may need to be modified to help out men in general, lest women continue to outnumber us on the college campus. There's even an editorial today by a woman arguing along such lines with Title IX vis-a-vis science education.
Posted by medtiger6317 on April 14, 2009 at 12:46 PM EDT #
I have one thing to add, Clemson was last #1 at baseball when I was there, during the Khalil Greene years. My class was also hit hard by the first big tuition increases at Clemson. Is it a coincidence that our baseball team hasn't been quite as good since those years, is it merely because we lost the stud hitters off those teams, or is it that we've lost Kevin O'Sullivan (Florida), Tim Corvin (vandy), and John Pawlowski (Auburn) from the staff in the last decade?
Likely a combination of reasons, but something to wonder about.
Posted by ClemsonOG on April 14, 2009 at 01:10 PM EDT #
Mickey - - some good info. Thanks for the time put in.
The baseball coaches are the "self serving" low man on the totem pole in this fight. It HAS to come from the AD's and the Presidents.
I feel you are right on - students are giving up their last 2 or 3 years (or all 4) as a result of the deadly combination of: 1. the lure of big money from MLB and 2. the black cloud of student loans and debt.
I think MLB LOVES the current system and plays a role in helping it not change. Otherwise - the whole thing makes no sense.
Posted by kktigers on April 14, 2009 at 01:44 PM EDT #
Your only way to change this is to use the race card. Sadly, the ncaa is too pc to listen to anyone else.
College baseball is so much more white than minor leagues for that very reason, limited scholarships. Much fewer black students can afford school to play for a partial scholarship than white kids.
Get the naacp involved and you have a chance.
Posted by Clemsnman on April 14, 2009 at 01:54 PM EDT #
How about a class-action lawsuit?--College Baseball coaches and parents of baseball prospects vs. NCAA. If you can sue over a hot-coffee spill and win, surely they have a case against the NCAA. Or, how about college AD's and presidents nationwide deciding collectively they are not going to stand for this junk, and they all protest by ignoring NCAA rules and giving more scholarships. If every team in the ACC and SEC and major conferences does this, then what can the NCAA do but figure out a compromise at that point?
Posted by Paws4Effect on April 14, 2009 at 02:20 PM EDT #
Baseball was the national pastime but football is the king in this century. We have enough good baseball players in South Carolina to field a competitive team at Clemson. Perhaps we are losing prospects due to our coach's personality.
Posted by CLEMS75 on April 14, 2009 at 02:49 PM EDT #
NCAA wants parity in baseball with roster limits and scholarship limits.
Maybe this is a stretch but with lower quantity (roster limits) and lower quality (scholarship limits) of pitchers on your team, do you overwork the best pitchers? Maybe lead to more arm injuries?
Posted by Tiger04DMD on April 14, 2009 at 05:34 PM EDT #
Ron Polk, left coaching at Miss. State to lobby the NCAA for more scholarship for baseball I hope he gets it; but its going to take the power conference pushing for more scholarships because in reality they are the NCAA.
Posted by rhettm on April 14, 2009 at 06:04 PM EDT #
Why not cut football scholarships again and redistribute to other men's sports? Provides more parity in football and better teams in baseball. Also, basketball; if NBA teams survive with a 12 man roster, why can't NCAA teams.
An alternative would be to raise limits across the board for both genders. Women's feild hockey and lacrosse are probably using partial schol's as well, so why not raise their limits and give an equal raise to needy men's sports?
Posted by cucheme on April 14, 2009 at 10:32 PM EDT #
If it is not broke, don't fix it.
Division III sports are pure (no scholarships). Division III Athletes are in college because they want to be in college. A Division III Athlete will never pull an Emanuel Cook.
The problem with Division III sports is that there is no passion from huge fan bases.
That said...NCAA baseball is very close to a Division III sport, but there is great passion at Clemson Baseball.
I meet and tailgated with a parent of one of Clemson's pitchers between games of the Miami series. They expressed disappointment at how fans in the stands were yelling at their son. They have a very valid point when you consider that their son is essentially a Division III Athlete.
Division III sports have their merits.
Posted by you on April 15, 2009 at 08:25 AM EDT #