In a time of uncertainty and adjustments, the NCAA came down with a ruling on Monday March 30, to answer some questions, but also open up a lot of other discussion.

Across the country, college baseball was cancelled early into the 2020 season.  The cancellation of the 2020 year created a lot of uncertainty as to how the players affected would be handled by the NCAA.  A couple of weeks ago both the NJCAA and the NCAA Division II council voted to give every player their year back, basically wiping the 2020 games off the calendar.  On Monday the NCAA Division I council met and followed the path set forth by the NJCAA and the DII Council.  Players at the Division I, II, and NJCAA would receive a year back on their clock, as if the 2020 season was just wiped away.

At the Division I level, the decision to bring back a full class of players, while still planning for the high school 2020 class to arrive, created some issues with scholarship allotment and roster sizes.  Typically a D1 program is only allowed 35 players on the roster, 27 players on athletic aid, and an athletic scholarship allotment of 11.7 to distribute to their players.  With the Senior class given the option to come back for another year, the NCAA is waiving the roster limit for 2021 rosters.  The scholarship allotment of 11.7 will apply to the players that were projected for program rosters in the 2021 season.  Seniors that decide to come back are allowed to receive athletic aid up to what they received in 2020, or less.  Seniors that are on athletic aid will not count toward the schools 11.7 allotment.

Conferences, Universities, Athletic Directors, and Coaches have been working since the ruling to figure out how the NCAA Division I Council’s news applies to their program.  Obviously, the roster will be larger than planned for the upcoming fall.  Programs also need to figure out if they are able to pay the scholarship money to their returning Seniors.  It is not a simple formula for schools where the NCAA says you can pay the scholarship money, so the schools pay the scholarship money… many schools are limited by a scholarship budget.  The budget is typically stretched to the end with four classes on campus, but in 2020-2021 the program will essentially have 5 classes of players on campus and the budget may be maxed, without an ability to just add funding.

After sifting through several program rosters and their signing classes, you will see a lot of schools with 45+ players on campus.  There will be schools that may push 70 players in their locker room, if everyone showed up today.  Coaches will need to figure out how many players they can afford to carry into the fall and into the spring.  Each player has a cost and most programs are working to stretch their budgets each year, maxing out what they can do for their players.  With a 5^th class on campus, this means more lockers, more uniforms, more bats, more gloves, more catching equipment, more helmets, and more food expenses.  The increase in roster sizes across all spring sports will also stretch the time and budgets of the strength and conditioning staffs, as well as academic coordinators.  There will be Power 5 Programs that just absorb the cost and continue with life as normal.  There will be programs that recognize their budget issues early and may make roster moves early to alleviate issues.  There will also be programs that decide to bring all the players in and then figure it out on the fly as to how to accommodate and develop each player.

The ruling by the NCAA is a public relations win for the NCAA.  It is the right thing to do by all the players that had their season cut short.  It also has a big impact on the next 4-5 incoming classes of players.  The roster sizes will be flooded with 5 classes on campus this year, but in 2021-2022 it looks like roster sizes will be back to 35, still with 5 classes on campus, as the high school graduates of 2019 and 2020 have been combined into one “super-class”.  This super-class will continue to have an affect on roster and scholarship allotment through 2023-2024, when most of the players in those classes will exhaust the playing eligibility. 

The next few weeks will tell us a lot about how college coaches and programs are going to handle their 5 classes of players.  Just like I am writing this and thinking about what could happen, they are working through their rosters, for the next several years, sifting through their options to maximize their positions in their roster and with their scholarship budget. 

I firmly believe we will see the high school classes of 2020 and 2021 affected in a big way.  Transfers, de-commitments, and red-shirts will all see their numbers climb.  As we get to the high school class of 2023, we may begin to see some normalcy in the recruiting practices and tactics. 

I also firmly believe the affects seen on college baseball, especially the 2020 and 2021 incoming classes will cause the NCAA to reflect on best practices for college baseball.  This may be the time that we see an increase in coaching positions, an increase in scholarship opportunities, an increase in roster sizes, and a change in the transfer policy.  The country, and world, is working to get through the COVID-19 pandemic.  The virus has affected all aspects of just about everyone’s lives.  While in the grand scheme of things, baseball may not be on a lot of people’s minds, and maybe it should not be on their minds, there are changes that could be positive coming out of a lost season.

 

More on the NCAA D1 Council’s Decisions

Throughout the cancellation of the 2020 season, our partners at www.D1Baseball.com have been working to provide up to the minute coverage of all NCAA issues.  Make sure to give them a follow and read Kendal Rogers article, NCAA Division I Council Gives Blanket Eligibility Waiver.

On Tuesday Brandon Hall sat down with Nathan Rode, Shooter Hunt, and Dave Seifert to discuss the affects of the NCAA’s decision on college baseball and high school baseball.  The guys also discussed changes to the MLB Draft for 2020 and 2021 and how it could affect high school players.  You can listen to the PODCAST HERE.

 

ABOUT BRANDON HALL

Prior to becoming the PBR North Carolina Scouting Director, Hall spent 18 years coaching at the Division I level in North Carolina. Raised in Raleigh, Hall coached 14 years at UNC Charlotte, including seven years as associate head coach and 11 seasons as the recruiting coordinator. Prior to joining the coaching staff at Charlotte, Hall spent four seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, UNC Wilmington, where he also worked with the pitchers. In his 18 seasons as an assistant at the two schools, Hall's teams have won eight regular-season championships and seven of his pitching staffs have been ranked nationally in ERA, including the top spot in the nation in 2007 (at 2.64).