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No fifth year eligibility for college athletes
Gabe House
ghouse@dailyegyptian.comA proposal to allow collegiate men's basketball players an additional season of competition has been withdrawn.
The proposal, developed by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, would have amended several sections of NCAA bylaw 14.2, a piece of legislation specifically relating to the number of seasons student-athletes are allowed to compete.
As it stands now in men's basketball, student-athletes have five years to obtain a degree, four of which they can compete in.
According to data in the proposal, the general student body takes 4.8 years to earn an undergraduate degree. Therefore, it was reasoned the fifth season of competition would be an incentive for eligible student-athletes to return and complete degree requirements.
According to Christian Spears, the assistant athletic director and compliance officer for SIU, college basketball has been stigmatized by low graduation rates. Spears said the proposal was aiming to address that problem.
"It gives them more time to complete their studies," Spears said. "Why wouldn't you support a kid for five years through an athletic scholarship by allowing him to compete for five years?"
Spears' question is one commonly asked, and as usual, is answered by people on both sides of the fence.
Opponents to the proposal say it wasn't about allowing student-athletes to stay on track with the average student, but was actually about retaining marquee athletes in the highly competitive world of college basketball.
Rodney Watson, assistant men's basketball coach for SIU, thought that idea was ludicrous. "I can't believe anyone would say that," Watson said. "What you would do is keep everyone around for five years."
The proposal had also been called a tool for keeping players from joining the pros and staying at the college level. Watson said that didn't make sense - athletes wanting to join the professional ranks will do it no matter what.
"It's actually helping the teams on the higher level compensate for those players that do decide to join the pros," Watson said.
Also, the lack of an analysis regarding the issue of the costs an additional year would entail was cited as a reason for the withdrawal of the proposal. Spears was confused why costs might be viewed as a problem.
"I think they're totally missing the boat on the cost thing," Spears said. "If a kid's on a full scholarship and needs four and a half years to graduate, then we're going to pay for that last half."
Spears said many schools have "exhausted eligibility" aid programs with the purpose of providing financial aid to student-athletes who have run the term of their eligibility.
In the same vein, Spears also said the NCAA has the "Student Athlete Opportunity Fund," which is funded through the NCAA basketball tournament and then dispersed through the major conferences.
"The cost thing isn't as big an issue as opponents of this proposal would like it to be," Spears said.
Another major sticking point in the proposal was the abolishment of waivers currently allowing student-athletes to participate for another season.
The current structure allows basketball players to get a "hardship waiver," which applies to an injury or illness that prevented them from playing for a long amount of time.
The Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee of the NCAA thought even with a fifth year of eligibility, instances might arise where a waiver would be needed, and the inability to sign a waiver was a glaring problem in the proposal.
Spears was confident the proposal would resurface, albeit in a slightly different form, with a cost analysis and modifications to the waiver issue.
"I think it's a good proposal," Spears said. "Students in general aren't always ready for a career right after four years of college, and the same applies to student-athletes."
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Last update: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 at 12:25:29 AM
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