US Justice Department Looking Into NCAA’s Renewable Scholarships

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Back on May 11th, we made note of the fact that Florida’s basketball program was likely going to have to run some players off in order to comply with the NCAA’s scholarship limits.

As we also noted, this common practice receives very little publicity and the reaction it normally receives from fans is a loud, “So what?” 

If a guy’s not good enough to play, he should hit the bricks, right?

But the coach and the school evaluate these players.  They recruit them.  They woo their parents.  They coax the player and his family into coming to School X, instead of attending School Y or School Z.

At no point that process does a coach warn a player (or his parents), “Hey, now if you’re not as good as we think, we’ll yank your scholarship after a year.”

But if a coach finds a better player for his roster, that’s exactly what will happen.  The kid that’s been evaluated, recruited, wooed, coaxed and ultimately signed off on will be sent packing lickity split.

Today, word came that Florida’s Nimrod Tishman is indeed on on the outs, getting UF back to within one player of the NCAA’s limit. 

“He’s got some opportunities in Israel right now that he’s going to probably pursue professionally,” Billy Donovan said.  “I loved coaching him, still have a good relationship with he and his family but he’s going to stay back over there.  We certainly appreciate him coming here and giving it a shot.”

But back on March 10th, Tishman was asked if he would return.  “I think so.  I don’t know yet.  I think I will be back.  I feel like I’ve improved.  I feel like I’m a better defender in practice.”

Guess not.

This kind of thing happens all over, not just in Gainesville.  Coaches fill out their rosters with kids they know will never play.  When they find someone who might actually be able to come in and compete, they tell the original player that they just don’t envision things working out.

No one ever seems to pay it much attention to this practice, but that might be changing.

For one, the US Justice Department’s antitrust division is investigating the NCAA’s policy toward one-year renewable scholarships. 

Also, a recent study by the National College Players Association is shedding some light on just how often players are “run off” by schools.  Looking at the 65 teams who reached the 2009 NCAA tournament, the NCPA found that there was a 22% turnover rate on those schools’ rosters heading into 2010.  That’s counting transfers and academic failures, but not graduations and jumps to the pros.

In other words, 169 of the 775 possible returning players from 2009 NCAA tourney teams left their school due to transfer or academic issues.

Kentucky is also a part of the national coverage on this one.  When John Calipari replaced Billy Gillispie, you might remember the roster purge that sent seven Gillispie recruits packing.  Four of those players have publicly said that Calipari asked them to leave.

So is that fair?

From a fan’s perspective it is.  Fans want the best players on their school’s roster and most don’t care if a couple of less talented players get chased away in the team-building process.

But from a player’s perspective — or especially from a parent’s perspective — no, it’s not fair.  If a school tells a player that it has a place for him, then the school should live up to its commitment.  And while the language on the scholarship paperwork might say the deal is renewable each year, that’s certainly not the spirit of the agreement.

Personally, I can understand a coach choosing not to renew a scholarship due to a lack of effort or a poor team attitude.  Landing a scholarship shouldn’t be a four-year ticket to coast. 

But if a player simply lacks talent… well, that’s a different story.  After all, if a coach bungles his scouting of a player, the player should not be punished.  The coach erred, not the young man.

Sadly, this will continue to be an unsavory part of our college sports world.  There is no way around the fact that the NCAA’s scholarships must remain one-year renewable contracts.  And as long as that’s the case, schools will continue to “encourage” players to look elsewhere if they turn out to be less than what was hoped for during all those evaluations, visits and phone calls.

Even if it’s not the player’s fault, but the coach’s.