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NCAA ruling on winter sports and eligibility announced

dmm53

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Feb 4, 2017
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The NCAA announced tonight, that winter sports athletes will not receive another year of eligibility while spring sport athletes will. Below you can read the full release from the NCAA.

The Division I Council on Monday voted to allow schools to provide spring-sport student-athletes an additional season of competition and an extension of their period of eligibility.

Members also adjusted financial aid rules to allow teams to carry more members on scholarship to account for incoming recruits and student-athletes who had been in their last year of eligibility who decide to stay. In a nod to the financial uncertainty faced by higher education, the Council vote also provided schools with the flexibility to give students the opportunity to return for 2020-21 without requiring that athletics aid be provided at the same level awarded for 2019-20. This flexibility applies only to student-athletes who would have exhausted eligibility in 2019-20.

Schools also will have the ability to use the NCAA’s Student Assistance Fund to pay for scholarships for students who take advantage of the additional eligibility flexibility in 2020-21.

Division I rules limit student-athletes to four seasons of competition in a five-year period. The Council’s decision allows schools to self-apply waivers to restore one of those seasons of competition for student-athletes who had competed while eligible in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 spring season

The Council also will allow schools to self-apply a one-year extension of eligibility for spring-sport student-athletes, effectively extending each student’s five-year “clock” by a year. This decision was especially important for student-athletes who had reached the end of their five-year clock in 2020 and saw their seasons end abruptly.

“The Council’s decision gives individual schools the flexibility to make decisions at a campus level,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Penn. “The Board of Governors encouraged conferences and schools to take action in the best interest of student-athletes and their communities, and now schools have the opportunity to do that.”

Winter sports were not included in the decision. Council members declined to extend eligibility for student-athletes in sports where all or much of their regular seasons were completed.

The Council also increased the roster limit in baseball for student-athletes impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the only spring sport with such a limit.

https://www.flowrestling.org/articl...ds-eligibility-of-spring-denies-winter-sports
 
A bitter pill for Mark, Cenzo and Spencer, but on balance I think a proper decision. The alternative would have resulted in many unintended consequences.

The winners - everyone who took an Oly RS this year. It will be interesting to see if they will be allowed a repeat next year.
 
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A bitter pill for Mark, Cenzo and Spencer, but on balance I think a proper decision. The alternative would have resulted in many unintended consequences.

The winners - everyone who took an Oly RS this year. It will be interesting to see if they will be allowed a repeat next year.
Sh!tty but understandable.

That spencer cant become a 4x is just awful.

That PSU enters 20-21 the reigning national champ is comical

Who knew carl and all those #2021 were foreshadowing this
 
A bitter pill for Mark, Cenzo and Spencer, but on balance I think a proper decision. The alternative would have resulted in many unintended consequences.

The winners - everyone who took an Oly RS this year. It will be interesting to see if they will be allowed a repeat next year.
I asked this in another thread, but didn't see any response.
There was already the possibility that a wrestler could qualify for 2 ORS's in their career. Is there currently anything preventing this? If not, than I assume 2 ORS's in consecutive years is OK
 
Sh!tty but understandable.

That spencer cant become a 4x is just awful.

That PSU enters 20-21 the reigning national champ is comical

Who knew carl and all those #2021 were foreshadowing this

I feel bad for so many of the guys, who had their opportunity for NCAA titles and All-Americans taken from them, but I feel less sorry for Spencer as he gets a Hodge (which I wish hadn't been awarded given the way the season was interrupted) and the rest of the deserving guys get bupkis.
 
I asked this in another thread, but didn't see any response.
There was already the possibility that a wrestler could qualify for 2 ORS's in their career. Is there currently anything preventing this? If not, than I assume 2 ORS's in consecutive years is OK
There is no Olympic RS limit, at least that I remember reading in the rule book.
 
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I feel bad for so many of the guys, who had their opportunity for NCAA titles and All-Americans taken from them, but I feel less sorry for Spencer as he gets a Hodge (which I wish hadn't been awarded given the way the season was interrupted) and the rest of the deserving guys get bupkis.
Spencer is the only person in history to not have won NCAAs the year he won the hodge. Legend.
 
One interesting facet about Olympic shirts: some criteria specify 2019. Will that be kept or revised to 2020?

For example: Myles Amine would not qualify for an Olympic shirt if those criteria change.
 
I asked this in another thread, but didn't see any response.
There was already the possibility that a wrestler could qualify for 2 ORS's in their career. Is there currently anything preventing this? If not, than I assume 2 ORS's in consecutive years is OK
Micic was already in his 2nd ORS and could be looking at his third. If they are granted another year and he takes it it would make his final year of college 2022, he graduated hs in 2014.
 
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I feel bad for so many of the guys, who had their opportunity for NCAA titles and All-Americans taken from them, but I feel less sorry for Spencer as he gets a Hodge (which I wish hadn't been awarded given the way the season was interrupted) and the rest of the deserving guys get bupkis.

I dunno, Spencer does not get the chance to be a 4xer. He is the only guy, other than FR, who lost that opportunity. Yanni was saved by taking the ORS.
 
I asked this in another thread, but didn't see any response.
There was already the possibility that a wrestler could qualify for 2 ORS's in their career. Is there currently anything preventing this? If not, than I assume 2 ORS's in consecutive years is OK

Here could be an interesting way redshirting can affect things, especially with your example above.

In 2014 Senior Stevan Micic beat Freshman Nick Lee in the Indiana State Semi-Final.
In 2021 Nick Lee will be a senior finishing his career at Penn State.
In 2022 Stevan Micic, after taking a 2nd Olympic RS will finish his career at Michigan.

I sure hell hope after that much time Micic leaves Michigan with at least a couple of degrees!
 
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With no inside knowledge I always assumed that Shak would be the least likely to return if the NCAA granted an exemption. He has had to battle a lot of injuries, weight up and down over the years, and he has definite dreams to pursue after school. I figured Hall would be the most likely to return under that scenario. But maybe my prognostications aren't too accurate.
It was a very eloquent post. Really makes you feel the heartache.
 
Easy decision for Cael to support his guys. Even recruits would want him to.
 
While I agree it sucks, I disagree with Cael here.

I agree. I HATE it for the student athletes impacted, however I think it causes more issues than benefits. I use Penn State Hockey as an example. Team had 10 seniors and 3 have now signed pro contracts. Say for example that they hadn’t though and 7-8 of the seniors wanted to return. How the heck does Guy manage that with new talent coming in? Very challenging and cascading impacts.
 
I agree. I HATE it for the student athletes impacted, however I think it causes more issues than benefits. I use Penn State Hockey as an example. Team had 10 seniors and 3 have now signed pro contracts. Say for example that they hadn’t though and 7-8 of the seniors wanted to return. How the heck does Guy manage that with new talent coming in? Very challenging and cascading impacts.

I agree and much like life it sucks and isn’t fair. To give everyone an extra year just creates more situations that aren’t fair for other athletes and programs. Smaller programs would struggle to pay for and support the expanded rosters. This is going to be an issue for the Spring sports as well.

What are you going to do about stats? For example: the lack of a BigTen and NCAA tournament left PSU Basketball player Lamar Stevens just shy of Talor Battle’s career scoring record. I believe it’s 2207 to 2213. Give him an extra year and he will crush the record.
 
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Thought.... there were 96 seniors who qualified for the tournament and 29 who were top ten seeds.

Why not create several “senior all star” teams that compete in tournaments and even some duals and can qualify for the NCAA next year?

That could satisfy all parties!
 
Not sure why Cael didn't express his feelings prior to the NCAA ruling.Now that they already ruled on it I don't see the NCAA changing.
 
Here is my wrestling match over the issue. Let's narrow it down to 2PSU guys and tell me how each can be treated fairly. Mark Hall lost a chance to be a 4 time finalist and 2 time champ. That's pretty rarified air.So what has happened to him is unfair. Let's say the NCAA allows qualifiers another year. That make Mark whole, in fact more than whole. He gets an entire 5th dual season.
Now look at the Carter Starocci end of it. In this scenario, he likely sits behind Mark for one of his eligible years of competition. He never gets a chance to be a 4 time finalist, or to even compete for a season of duals for Penn State. He did everything right during his red shirt year, but the only way he gets 4 years of competition is to transfer, apply for a medical red shirt, or bump a weight on a roster that doesn't have many holes. Especially with Cenzo, Hall, and Shak eligible for another year.
How is fairness balanced in this single situation? Then fairness would have to be examined with every domino that falls. I wouldn't want to have to sort it out. It's like going to the funeral home. You can't fix it. You just have to hug the ones you love and let them know you're there for them.
 
The great thing about wrestling is that fairness comes in the form of a true wrestle off. I feel for guys in the situation that Hall and Starocci would be in, but what isn’t fair is that Hall only got the chance to compete at 3 NCAAs. Starocci still has 4 chances at NCAAs no matter how this issue is resolved.

I say give the 330 qualifiers another year if they want it. Make the seniors exempt from the 9.9 limit. Have wrestle offs and let the best man win.
 
Wow. There is a good chance that Gable Steveson will be a 4-time NCAA D1 non-champion.

Who would’ve guessed that Aaron Pico, Chance, Gable Steveson, and Zahid’s brother might fail to get even one title among them. ... It’s hard to win a title.
 
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