Football
Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer 17y

NCAA's new baseball rules draw ire of coaches

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- In more than three decades as a college baseball coach, Mississippi State's Ron Polk has never been a fan of the NCAA.

Polk has criticized college sports' governing body for reducing the number of scholarships available for his sport, eliminating coaching positions and reducing the number of games baseball teams can play each spring.

Fresh off an upset of national seed Florida State, and as the Bulldogs prepare to host Clemson in an NCAA super regional at Polk-Dement Stadium this weekend, Polk is once again fuming about the NCAA.

And this time, Polk might have a legitimate beef.

"I've been on their case forever," Polk said. "I think Title IX was the greatest thing ever for college sports because I think women were really being discriminated against. I've got no problem with that, and I don't think anyone else does. Women's sports were underfunded and didn't have the facilities and good coaching staffs.

"I just say, 'Where's Title X?' Our boys, our families and our coaches are being discriminated against in terms of scholarships."

The NCAA Board of Directors in April approved multiple rules changes that Polk and other coaches believe will forever change the face of their sport. Already hampered by having only 11.7 scholarships to award to more than 30 players each season, the NCAA has approved legislation that will dictate how those scholarships are awarded.

College baseball has always had the short end of the stick in terms of scholarships. Division I-A football teams receive 85 scholarships, and men's and women's basketball teams have 13 scholarships. Women's equestrian can dole out 15 scholarships, and women's crew teams can award 20 scholarships.

In the past, Polk was able to fraction the 11.7 scholarships to nearly three dozen players. His team has 34 scholarship players this season, with half of those players receiving less than 33-percent funding for tuition, housing and books. One player receives 74 percent of a full scholarship, and the next highest is 54 percent. Several players receive only 4 percent, which Polk describes as "books scholarships" because they pay for nothing more than required texts for classes.

Under the new rules, which will go in effect for the 2008-09 academic year, baseball rosters will be capped at 35 players, with only 30 players being eligible to receive financial aid. Starting in 2009-10, only 27 players can receive financial aid, each of whom must receive at least one-third of a full scholarship.

South Carolina, another NCAA super regional participant, has 22 of 36 players receiving less than one-third of a full scholarship this season, coach Ray Tanner said.

"They're giving us chump change, and now they're telling us how to spend the chump change," Polk said.

The new college baseball rules also include legislation that is targeted at increasing player retention and graduation rates for college baseball. In the past, baseball players could transfer from one school to another without penalty. Football, basketball and men's hockey players have to sit out one season at their new school if they transfer. Under the new rules, baseball players also will face that one-year penalty if they leave.

Polk believes baseball players have been more likely to transfer because they can get better scholarships at other schools.

"Am I supposed to tell a kid who's getting a 4 percent scholarship that he can't leave?" Polk asked.

Why are our boys playing for 10 percent scholarships and 4 percent scholarships when other athletes are getting full scholarships? Baseball has always been hammered by the NCAA. This is another crisis.

Ron Polk

Under the new rules, players also must be academically eligible during fall semester to play the following spring, which will require more players to attend summer school.

Most college baseball players don't attend summer school because they can't afford it, Polk said. If a player receives only a 4 percent scholarship during the school year, he receives the same financial aid during summer school. Scholarship athletes in basketball and football attend summer school because their scholarships will cover all the costs.

"A lot of our kids opt not to go to summer school because they can't afford it," Polk said. "Fortunately, there are NCAA-sanctioned summer baseball leagues at Cape Cod and Alaska and all over the place. They can play summer baseball and get jobs to save money."

The rules changes are the results of the NCAA's new Academic Performance Rates, which measure each student's progress toward obtaining an academic degree. Teams failing to score 925 in the APR -- equivalent to a 50 percent graduation rate -- can lose scholarships.

Last month, the NCAA released a list of 112 programs that were subject to penalties because of poor APR scores. One-quarter of the programs on the list were baseball teams.

"It's criminal to say our kids are not good students," Polk said. "That's not true."

Most college baseball coaches agree that they need to do a better job of retaining and graduating their players. But decreasing the size of scholarships isn't the way to achieve that goal, Polk said.

Polk believes the new rules will do more harm that good. Because of the new rules, Polk said college baseball teams won't be able to lure top high school players to their schools anymore.

"How am I going to be able to convince a kid to come to college, instead of going pro, when I can only give him a 33 percent scholarship?" Polk said.

Polk said teams also will encourage juniors to enter the major league draft, instead of returning to school for their senior seasons, so coaches can open up roster spots for the following season. And teams will be less likely to retain injured players, because coaches won't want to risk spending a scholarship on a player who might not be able to play.

"Why are our boys playing for 10 percent scholarships and 4 percent scholarships when other athletes are getting full scholarships?" Polk asked. "Baseball has always been hammered by the NCAA. This is another crisis."

Mark Schlabach covers college football and men's college basketball for ESPN.com. You can contact him at schlabachma@yahoo.com.

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