SEC Baseball - A threat to Competitive Position

[The Federalist Engineer]

I read this article and taking it for what it says, it's just a nice article on why the 3rd coach is good and how the Big-10 can view it more favorably.

https://d1baseball.com/columns/rogers-michigans-run-serves-as-wake-up-call-for-big-ten-admins/

But, making a leap into reading between the lines with maroon colored glasses, SEC teams (outside of Vandy [#24]) that like baseball, should read it as YOU FOOLS COULD BE FLANKED!

What if.....Stanford (#5), Duke (#12), Notre Dame (#10), USC (#21), UCLA (#12), California (#12), Oregon, Washington, TCU, Texas (#3), Maryland, and Ohio State (#23) start funding teams of 35 players with their massive and ample Endowments and Scholarship funds, just like Michigan (#8)?

Rankings by each college are by endowment size. I think many colleges, thanks to the Endowment Final of Vandy and Michigan, have noticed they can be relevant in baseball very quickly and even exceed (on a relative basis) Vandy in both academic prestige and dollars. Michigan even pumped in the Washington Post how their team is more racially diverse than the very-white SEC teams from expensive Elite Travel Baseball backgrounds. Very unfair because they don't mention the scholarship advantage and how they can afford developmental players.

Might it force the SEC to preemptively fund 25 players before the crowd locks-in 1/2 a decade of elite recruits.

[Cooterpoot]

If more schools did what Vandy is doing, it would be eliminated. And not many with great football are going to waste their big money on it.

[Tbonewannabe]

Baseball is pretty much the only sport that you can gain an advantage like that. Football and basketball have enough scholarships or else Bama would have figured out a way to abuse the limits. As it sits, does Bama process people on medical scholarships to get around the APR?

[Todd4State]

I think if more schools used their endowment money on players other schools would do something about it. In an odd way it may lead to 25 scholarships for baseball.

[Todd4State]

Baseball is pretty much the only sport that you can gain an advantage like that. Football and basketball have enough scholarships or else Bama would have figured out a way to abuse the limits. As it sits, does Bama process people on medical scholarships to get around the APR?

Walk-ons can't be on any other financial aid in football. Same thing needs to happen with baseball and endowment scholarships.

[The Federalist Engineer]

I think if more schools used their endowment money on players other schools would do something about it. In an odd way it may lead to 25 scholarships for baseball.

I see it the same - but it’s a question of waiting to be clobbered or just doing it. U of Texas is so wealthy, they can pull a Michigan in two recruiting cycles. They are the most meat-headed university in the top endowment list, so I’m shocked they haven’t already.

UT and TAM probably spend more on football locker room maintenance and upkeep than money required to Vandy their way into CWS championships.

[Todd4State]

I see it the same - but it’s a question of waiting to be clobbered or just doing it. U of Texas is so wealthy, they can pull a Michigan in two recruiting cycles. They are the most meat-headed university in the top endowment list, so I’m shocked they haven’t already.

UT and TAM probably spend more on football locker room maintenance and upkeep than money required to Vandy their way into CWS championships.

The difference between Texas and MSU in this instance to me is that they have won National Championships in baseball without using their endowment. So, they're probably not as hungry as we are to win one or sensitive to teams like Vanderbilt doing what they are.

I do agree that they could do what Vanderbilt is doing if they wanted to. And they might. But I can also understand why they haven't.