State based scholarships used for baseball and softball...

[maroonmania]

Noticed in the SEC blog on ESPN that Jay Jacobs is going to push this as an issue at the SEC meetings.

----Jacobs and Auburn will also propose a rule that counts state-funded scholarships against athletic totals for sports like baseball and softball, which typically have to divvy up dollars to offer partial scholarships.

"This is an unfair competitive advantage," Jacobs said.----

Don't know how far it will get but I wish something could be done to make baseball recruiting more equitable across the board.

[engie]

Excellent note. Thanks for sharing.

My guess is that this gets voted down 10-4. He is going to get overwhelming support from Strick, Bjork, and Battle. No one is is going to want to give up the advantage they have over us though. But with Bama and Auburn on board, we might see a little traction...

[msstate7]

Excellent note. Thanks for sharing.

My guess is that this gets voted down 10-4. He is going to get overwhelming support from Strick, Bjork, and Battle. No one is is going to want to give up the advantage they have over us though. But with Bama and Auburn on board, we might see a little traction...

Too bad it isn't football related bc auburn and bama would carry more weight. Maybe I'm underestimating their clout in other sports

[maroonmania]

Excellent note. Thanks for sharing.

My guess is that this gets voted down 10-4. He is going to get overwhelming support from Strick, Bjork, and Battle. No one is is going to want to give up the advantage they have over us though. But with Bama and Auburn on board, we might see a little traction...

I'm pretty sure that AL, MS and ARK don't have this so that's 5 votes but that may be all the support it would get. There are a few of the other SEC states that I'm not as familiar with what they have for State based scholarships usually off of lottery money.

[Barkman Turner Overdrive]

Instead of making an uphill, strawman argument to the SEC ADs, why don't we petition the state legislature to pass a state lottery to fund HOPE scholarships within the state or to somehow fund college scholarships with existing casino revenue?

[ShotgunDawg]

Baseball recruiting isn't going to be fixed until Title 9 is fixed or the NCAA gives more schollys to baseball.

The key to fixing Title 9 is to remove football from the scholarship equation. Football funds every sport on campus & supports the academic side of the university, but, with 85 scholarships for Males being allowed in the sport, every other men's sport suffers scholarship reductions because the women's sports have to be equal to the percentage of women in the school, & thus, after football takes 85 schollys, the women's sports have to catch up.

With that being said, I can't help but laugh this morning when Bo Bounds was praising Tim Corbin & Nashville for Vandy's baseball program without even mentioning or considering the fact that Vandy has substantial scholarship advantages over every team in the SEC.

[engie]

Instead if making an uphill, strawman argument to the SEC ADs, why don't we petition the state legislature to pass a state lottery to fund HOPE scholarships within the state or to somehow fund college scholarships with existing casino revenue?

We aren't making any uphill arguments -- the SEC ADs themselves are making the argument. The lottery deal has been pushed for awhile, but will never find the traction to actually pass in MS. And given the market saturation of it, and the much smaller population base, I'm not at all sure it would be that successful anyway.

The specific way this is seemingly worded -- I don't think it should pass. It shouldn't take away scholarship $$ to baseball players at other places in the SEC, thus hurting all of those schools. It should just allow us non-lottery schools to match the numbers available(27 basically instead of 11.7) thus unleashing us to help ourselves "fix" it.

If we were allowed to endow "leadership" scholarships earmarked specifically for baseball and softball players, can you imagine how quickly we would be at the full limit of 27 the NCAA allows? That couple million dollars would be raised overnight.

[confucius say]

Instead if making an uphill, strawman argument to the SEC ADs, why don't we petition the state legislature to pass a state lottery to fund HOPE scholarships within the state or to somehow fund college scholarships with existing casino revenue?

My thoughts exactly. I would buy a lotto ticket if I knew it meant another scholarship for our baseball team.

[5 Star]

The key to fixing Title 9 is to remove football from the scholarship equation. Football funds every sport on campus & supports the academic side of the university, but, with 85 scholarships for Males being allowed in the sport, every other men's sport suffers scholarship reductions because the women's sports have to be equal to the percentage of women in the school, & thus, after football takes 85 schollys, the women's sports have to catch up.
I think this will happen eventually. The toothpaste is out of the tube when it comes to college football amateurism, unfortunately.

[5 Star]

Instead if making an uphill, strawman argument to the SEC ADs, why don't we petition the state legislature to pass a state lottery to fund HOPE scholarships within the state or to somehow fund college scholarships with existing casino revenue?
It is a bigger problem than this. In general, states without those scholarships just have less money period, across the board. Georgia and Florida are wealthy, whereas Mississippi and Alabama are not.

The obvious answer is more overall scholarships from the NCAA. 11.7 is ridiculous.

[Barkman Turner Overdrive]

We aren't making any uphill arguments -- the SEC ADs themselves are making the argument. The lottery deal has been pushed for awhile, but will never find the traction to actually pass in MS. And given the market saturation of it, and the much smaller population base, I'm not at all sure it would be that successful anyway.

The specific way this is seemingly worded -- I don't think it should pass. It shouldn't take away scholarship $$ to baseball players at other places in the SEC, thus hurting all of those schools. It should just allow us non-lottery schools to match the numbers available(27 basically instead of 11.7) thus unleashing us to help ourselves "fix" it.

If we were allowed to endow "leadership" scholarships earmarked specifically for baseball and softball players, can you imagine how quickly we would be at the full limit of 27 the NCAA allows? That couple million dollars would be raised overnight.

Agree with the last two paragraphs of your post. It would be a win-win for the SEC and all its members. However, the OP is quoting AU's AD solution as to making all member institutions scholarship poorer.

ETA: all HOPE scholarship institutions poorer, not all member institutions.

[TheRef]

Instead of making an uphill, strawman argument to the SEC ADs, why don't we petition the state legislature to pass a state lottery to fund HOPE scholarships within the state or to somehow fund college scholarships with existing casino revenue?

I wish we could do it. In 1992, the state voted to bring in a lottery. The fault lies with the legislature as they failed to enact the referendum.

[ScottH]

I'm pretty sure that AL, MS and ARK don't have this so that's 5 votes but that may be all the support it would get. T.

DO we know about Texas, Missouri and Kentucky?

[lachepas565]

UGA and Florida will still have the big advantage on the state lottery issues just because it only counts towards in-state kids and those states are talent hot beds. It will certainly even the playing field some for MS and AL to get the lottery, but still a little slanted just because there's not nearly as much talent in MS as other states.

[maroonmania]

UGA and Florida will still have the big advantage on the state lottery issues just because it only counts towards in-state kids and those states are talent hot beds. It will certainly even the playing field some for MS and AL to get the lottery, but still a little slanted just because there's not nearly as much talent in MS as other states.

Its a big advantage regardless. Places like Louisiana, Tennessee, etc. still have a number of high D-1 prospects and for every player in state that you want and sign that you don't have to use any of the 11.7 money on, that allows a bigger scholarship pot for all of your out of state signees.

[the59dawg]

We aren't making any uphill arguments -- the SEC ADs themselves are making the argument. The lottery deal has been pushed for awhile, but will never find the traction to actually pass in MS. And given the market saturation of it, and the much smaller population base, I'm not at all sure it would be that successful anyway.

The specific way this is seemingly worded -- I don't think it should pass. It shouldn't take away scholarship $$ to baseball players at other places in the SEC, thus hurting all of those schools. It should just allow us non-lottery schools to match the numbers available(27 basically instead of 11.7) thus unleashing us to help ourselves "fix" it.

If we were allowed to endow "leadership" scholarships earmarked specifically for baseball and softball players, can you imagine how quickly we would be at the full limit of 27 the NCAA allows? That couple million dollars would be raised overnight.

You do realize that some of our bb players also have academic scholarships don't you. Of course this is on the really smart one.s

[turkish]

And an academic scholly in MS = academic scholly in LA or GA??? Thats the point, or part of it.

[engie]

You do realize that some of our bb players also have academic scholarships don't you. Of course this is on the really smart one.s

Of course I realize that. And Cohen has been a lot smarter/better with that than Polk ever was. That's why we are setting GPA records every semester. You do realize that these other states give free rides to kids that aren't academically inclined as well, right?

Something is very wrong when LSU can offer a kid from Jackson, MS a better/more significant scholarship than MSU or OM -- all things equal. And they can and do. It's pretty amazing that we get the kids that we do when they are offering 60% and waived OOS tuition -- and we are offering 25%. They can do this because all of the kids from Louisiana are on free rides from the lottery. They use their entire 11.7 on OOS kids. So, they have 15 full rides to give kids from Louisiana. Basically.

[Homedawg]

Of course I realize that. And Cohen has been a lot smarter/better with that than Polk ever was. That's why we are setting GPA records every semester. You do realize that these other states give free rides to kids that aren't academically inclined as well, right?

Something is very wrong when LSU can offer a kid from Jackson, MS a better/more significant scholarship than MSU or OM -- all things equal. And they can and do. It's pretty amazing that we get the kids that we do when they are offering 60% and waived OOS tuition -- and we are offering 25%. They can do this because all of the kids from Louisiana are on free rides from the lottery. They use their entire 11.7 on OOS kids. So, they have 15 full rides to give kids from Louisiana. Basically.

True. Only part they, lsu, for example , has to spend on an in state kid is room and board. Also, lsu has the same academic-"leadership" scholarships to give that we do. It's apples and oranges, it's just that no one hears Jc complain about it like coach Polk did.

[maroonmania]

Agree with the last two paragraphs of your post. It would be a win-win for the SEC and all its members. However, the OP is quoting AU's AD solution as to making all member institutions scholarship poorer.

ETA: all HOPE scholarship institutions poorer, not all member institutions.

I don't know if what Jacobs is proposing is the best solution to even things out or not. However, what he is saying is EXACTLY what is done in football. If you recruit a football player and then sign him and try to put him on anything else other than a football scholarship, it doesn't matter, it still counts against your 85 total.

[engie]

I don't know if what Jacobs is proposing is the best solution to even things out or not. However, what he is saying is EXACTLY what is done in football. If you recruit a football player and then sign him and try to put him on anything else other than a football scholarship, it doesn't matter, it still counts against your 85 total.

After contemplating it a good bit today, I think it's a calculated hardball negotiating ploy instead of actually wanting this passed. Attempt to take something away from the big boys in a manner to highlight the unfairness in a way that freaks them out -- then talk them into throwing us a bone in legislating something to narrow up the gap a bit and lessen our persecution.

They aren't going to pass legislation that would hurt the SEC in baseball overall in the sake of fairness, which is what this legislation would do, and I wouldn't want them to. But if it gets us even halfway to a level playing field from where we're at now, I'll take that as a win all day and we'll fight the battle for more fairness somewhere else down the road after we see what kinda powerhouse we can actually build with twice the scholarship money(which would only put us 65% of the way to LSU/UGA/UF, etc)...

[gravedigger]

Instead of making an uphill, strawman argument to the SEC ADs, why don't we petition the state legislature to pass a state lottery to fund HOPE scholarships within the state or to somehow fund college scholarships with existing casino revenue?

Because the lottery is too much like gambling. Unlike blackjack and slots.