The NCAA Transformation Committee & Baseball...

[Maroon Eagle]

We badly need divisions in baseball like we have for football. Those who want to fully fund can be in one division and those who don’t can be in the other. Also of note, there are some programs today who have no shot at Omaha. Another division gives them something to play for.— Steve Robertson (@ScoutSteveR) April 27, 2022

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Check out the thread in Ross Dellenger's original tweet for details concerning other sports...

 

[patdog]

WOW! No caps on scholarships? So, we could give 40 full scholarships if we wanted to (and the SEC allowed)? That would be huge. And Rosebowl is right. Baseball has needed a I-AA division for decades.

 

[mcdawg22]

Do athletic departments pay the university for scholarships/tuition? Honest question, I have no idea how it works.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

Yes. This is why the SEC money and BDC donations are so important.

 

[8dog]

Well it’s unclear if you would have roster caps which would then limit scholarships. You need some sort of cap. If you kept the 35 man roster and made it a head count sport, coaches better nail their Evals. Because you have a lot less room to oversign. Now you can move scholly dollars around and mix in academic money.

How many schools would really want to be in this top group for baseball? 30? I mean Kansas isn’t going to want to spend anymore money on baseball than they do now.

 

[11thEagleFan]

I agree and disagree. “There are some programs today that have no shot at Omaha.” A pretty weak argument honestly, as off the top of my head, I think of Coastal Carolina, Rice, Fresno State, and Cal State Fullerton winning national titles over the last 20 years. I think State would be very uncomfortable if we extended this line of thinking to football.

I do think that the scholarship caps should be raised. 11.7 is ridiculous. Make it 20-25. And there should be an allowance for another coach, if the school desires. Problem solved.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

The universities you mention have shots at Omaha. Other programs (I'm looking at those in some Midwestern and Northeastern conferences mostly) likely would not.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

By the way, Kendall Rogers thinks Southern Miss will... play ball... and that there will be a cap.


Southern Miss would match anything an SEC school is willing to do scholarship wise.— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) April 27, 2022

I have a sneaking suspicion the conferences would have some sort of definite cap. https://t.co/1rxW6zegjg— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) April 27, 2022

 

[PirateDawg]

I like the idea of Division 1A and Division 1AA

The universities you mention have shots at Omaha. Other programs (I'm looking at those in some Midwestern and Northeastern conferences mostly) likely would not.

However, programs like Georgia Southern, Fairfield, Dallas Baptist. Wofford and Kennesaw State would argue against it. They have established good RPIs with the current system.

I would expect all the Division 1 football schools to have Division 1A baseball teams.

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Southern Miss Athletics wouldn’t be operating now if not for MSU. We should have just let them die on the vine.

 

[patdog]

Southern Miss Athletics wouldn’t be operating now if not for MSU.

This is just stupid. Of course they’d be operating without MSU. And they’d be doing it pretty much exactly like they are now, minus a baseball game or 2 per year & the occasional football game.

 

[Arthur2478]

Do athletic departments pay the university for scholarships/tuition? Honest question, I have no idea how it works.

The Bulldog Club funds the scholarships of our student athletes.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I'd say that the cap would be how many people would be allowed to be on the roster.

And that's going to be the big question because right now there's a swing away from limiting numbers below that thanks in part to Alston.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I'll admit that I'm kind of wondering if there will be a bunch of associate conference memberships for baseball in the future.

Dallas Baptist in Conference USA is an obvious example.

Binghamton too considering the money they're putting into their facility.

Edit to note: Maybe there will be a return to baseball only conferences like the old SCBA.

 

[PirateDawg]

Interesting question about baseball conferences only

I'll admit that I'm kind of wondering if there will be a bunch of associate conference memberships for baseball in the future.

Dallas Baptist in Conference USA is an obvious example.

Binghamton too considering the money they're putting into their facility.

Edit to note: Maybe there will be a return to baseball only conferences like the old SCBA.

Just out of curiousity I went to Dallas Baptist's athletic site. They don't play football. They do play Soccer and even have a sport called STUNT on their women's list. STUNT is a cheerleader event. Seems like a no brainer for State to add that one.

 

[Go Budaw]

What are the Title IX implications? My guess is we’d likely have to add another women’s sport or two in order to be in compliance with 35+ baseball scholarships. Not that I’m against that, but this isn’t as simple as just a stroke of the pen to lift the current restrictions.

 

[Smoked Toag]

What are the Title IX implications? My guess is we’d likely have to add another women’s sport or two in order to be in compliance with 35+ baseball scholarships. Not that I’m against that, but this isn’t as simple as just a stroke of the pen to lift the current restrictions.

I thought the same, but David Murray says no impact:

https://twitter.com/DawgsBiteMag/status/1519343180839325696

Not that he's the authority, but not sure he'd put that out there if he wasn't reasonably sure.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Softball has limited scholarships offered so it's likely it would have to be fully funded too?

 

[Go Budaw]

Softball has limited scholarships offered so it's likely it would have to be fully funded too?

I suppose, but how many schools are truly going to add a combined 46 or so scholarships to two sports that both lose money everywhere except a single digit number of places? Hopefully everyone will, but I have my doubts.

 

[Misfit]

Rice, Cal State Fullerton and Fresno State have long been big boys in college baseball. My first semester in school at State (Spring 1979) we beat CSFullerton in the first game of the College World Series and their players were quoted talking about how embarrassing it was to lose to a team as bad as MState. They went on to win the natty that year. Not sure they lost another game.

 

[patdog]

I think we'll see the SEC, ACC, Big 12, PAC-12 and American for sure add at least 10 baseball scholarships if this goes through. That's close to 70 schools right there, although there may be a few who add less and just accept that they're going to be cellar dwellers.

 

[Go Budaw]

Lets put some math to this. Adding 10 scholarships to baseball also means adding 10 scholarships to softball or some non-revenue women’s sport. 20 total scholarships. MSU costs between $25k to $40k per year in total cost of attendance (amount covered by scholarship). Split the difference and call it $32.5k. That x 20 is an additional $650,000 investment per year (increasing annually at 5-8% to match tuition / student housing inflation), at one of the cheapest Power 5 schools in the country to attend. Vanderbilt, by comparison, is over $80k per year. So, a $1.6 million annual investment for them. Again, increasing 5-8% annually.

So, an additional $650k - $1.6 million (increasing 5-8% per year) that each school’s athletic department will have to throw down for two sports that most people outside the SEC don’t care about. If it goes to 20 additional scholarships per sport, then double those numbers. That’s gotta come from somewhere. I’m sure many can afford it and will do it, some can afford it but will choose not to pursue it, and some won’t be able to take the financial hit and will avoid it from the start.

 

[patdog]

You're talking about 1% of the budget max for almost all of those schools. And for the most part, those conferences DO care about baseball (and softball). They'll pony up. Several of the mid-major baseball schools will too (like Southern Miss, UL-Lafayatte, South Alabama, etc.). Do you think the NCAA is about to eliminate the scholarship restrictions because schools don't want to add those scholarships?

 

[Smoked Toag]

You're talking about 1% of the budget max for almost all of those schools. And for the most part, those conferences DO care about baseball (and softball). They'll pony up. Several of the mid-major baseball schools will too (like Southern Miss, UL-Lafayatte, South Alabama, etc.). Do you think the NCAA is about to eliminate the scholarship restrictions because schools don't want to add those scholarships?

I'm about to ask a stupid, stupid question (queue olblue to making an even dumber comment, like "Germans" or something). Are scholarships from the school actually hard, cash money? Or just a discount on whatever? So, like free or something? Someone said BDC funds all athletic scholarships. Is that actually true?

 

[patdog]

Not stupid at all. Yes, athletic departments or booster clubs generally actually pay cash to the University academic side for tuition and any room & board. In our case, the Bulldog Club pays. But it can be kind of a shell game since most athletic departments get an allocation from the fees paid by all students. I think in our case, that's a fairly low amount, but at some schools the fee allocation is probably more than the tuition payments.