Here's my problem with the whole "oversigning"/medical scholarship issue. A University gives out SCHOLARSHIPS to a large number of students each year. They are given to students based on those students various talents, e.g., musical, academic, artistic, athletic. Full ride scholarships are normally characterized as a 4 year deal. Yet, in reality, all of these 4 yaer scholarships have a performance clause. Each of these students has their performance evaluated each semester. For the vast maojority of scholarship students, this evaluation is done by professors and comes in the form of a grade. Maintain a "B" average and your scholarship is renewed for the next semester/year. Don't, and you pay your own way. The NCAA makes a big show about treating the scholarship athlete as a regular student, yet regular scholarship students get "kicked to the curb" based on their performance every year. This happens at Ohio State, Stanford, Harvard, etc.
Athletic scholarships are one year deals, with the coaches evaluating the students' practice and game performance. These coaches have the right to cut any scholarship athlete based on their evaluation of the student's excepted contribution to the team. Yet we rarely hear of a scholarship athlete being cut because he is buried in the depth chart.
I know many on this Board played sports in high school; many of us also tried out for teams but were cut because the coach said you can't hit, you're too slow, you're too short, etc. Why doesn't this happen more on the college level? Because of competition for the elite athlete. If a coach gets a rep for cutting players who don't perform, this could be used as a negative recruiting tool against him. So, if an athlete doesn't perform as expected, the staff has to look for ways to move him off the roster without cutting him. Encourage him to transfer, if he's had a series of nagging injuries talk to him about a medical scholarship, or lastly, ride him so hard he quits
The Big Ten has a conference rule against oversigning; this doen't mean you can't give out more than 25 LOI's a year. It meands that you can only give out the number of LOIs necessary to bring you to the 85 limit. They make a big deal about how the Big Ten "honors" their scho;arship commitments to these players. But I'l guarentee you that the Chemistry Department is kicking scholarshiped students to the curb evey year if they don't make their QPA.
In the end, the atheletic scholarship is a vehicle to allow a young person to achieve a college degree at no cost to him/herself. So to that end, why dos it matter if the kid is put on medical scholarship? Isn't that better for him instead of being taken off scholarship?
Athletic scholarships are one year deals, with the coaches evaluating the students' practice and game performance. These coaches have the right to cut any scholarship athlete based on their evaluation of the student's excepted contribution to the team. Yet we rarely hear of a scholarship athlete being cut because he is buried in the depth chart.
I know many on this Board played sports in high school; many of us also tried out for teams but were cut because the coach said you can't hit, you're too slow, you're too short, etc. Why doesn't this happen more on the college level? Because of competition for the elite athlete. If a coach gets a rep for cutting players who don't perform, this could be used as a negative recruiting tool against him. So, if an athlete doesn't perform as expected, the staff has to look for ways to move him off the roster without cutting him. Encourage him to transfer, if he's had a series of nagging injuries talk to him about a medical scholarship, or lastly, ride him so hard he quits
The Big Ten has a conference rule against oversigning; this doen't mean you can't give out more than 25 LOI's a year. It meands that you can only give out the number of LOIs necessary to bring you to the 85 limit. They make a big deal about how the Big Ten "honors" their scho;arship commitments to these players. But I'l guarentee you that the Chemistry Department is kicking scholarshiped students to the curb evey year if they don't make their QPA.
In the end, the atheletic scholarship is a vehicle to allow a young person to achieve a college degree at no cost to him/herself. So to that end, why dos it matter if the kid is put on medical scholarship? Isn't that better for him instead of being taken off scholarship?
