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FAYETTEVILLE — There is nearly universal agreement amongst fans, coaches, athletes and media that spring athletes deserve to get an extra year for the one they lost because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Making the situation even more unique, the NCAA quickly came out in support of the cause, as well. In wake of all spring championships being canceled - and the SEC’s subsequent cancellation of all spring sports - everyone seems to have the same opinion.
However, exactly what that eligibility relief looks like remains up in the air. Ask coaches of the affected sports - as local media had the opportunity to do via a teleconference with four Arkansas coaches Wednesday morning - and you’d likely get varying responses on the unprecedented issues such a thing creates.
“Each individual sport, I'm sure they feel the same way, we want to know what to do,” baseball coach Dave Van Horn said. “We want to know how many scholarships we're going to have. We want to know that everybody is going to get their year back.
“We need to know all these things so we start putting our roster together. The student-athletes need to know these things so they'll know where they stand.”
According to D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers, there is “increasing confidence in the industry” that the eligibility relief will apply only to seniors. However, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said Wednesday that it was “not just a senior issue” because all athletes - freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors alike - all lost the year of competition.
All of the Razorbacks’ coaches seem to agree with that sentiment, including softball coach Courtney Deifel, even though making it work for all classifications would come with quite a few adjustments.
“I was on a conference call yesterday with the SEC just trying to navigate through roster sizes, travel squad sizes and I think that there would have to be some kind of changes,” Deifel said. “As I said before…it’s a problem I’d like to tackle that they all get their year back. I don’t mind working through that.”
Scholarship limitations would be the biggest obstacle when it comes to granting eligibility relief. If current seniors are allowed to stick around an extra year, they would not graduate and vacate a spot to be filled by incoming freshmen in the Class of 2020. If all classifications are granted an extra year, then it throws a wrench into the next several classes, as well.
Unlike football and basketball, the spring sports operate primarily with partial scholarships. In baseball, for example, Van Horn has to split 11.7 scholarships amongst 27 players, with the remaining eight roster spots filled by walk-ons. The numbers are similar for softball, with 12 scholarships for a roster of 24-28 players.
To allow all athletes to get the year back, Van Horn said it’d require expanded rosters and more scholarships, which he hopes would be spread out over four years - a complete cycle - with the limit gradually reduced back down to normal.
Adding additional scholarships in baseball, softball and other Olympic sports - such as track and field - would not be a big deal in the SEC because it is one of the most profitable conferences in the country. Other leagues, though, don’t fund the current maximum scholarships and already operate at a disadvantage against those who do.
Women’s track and field coach Lance Harter, who won 13 national titles at Division II Cal Poly before coming to Arkansas, said he could see that becoming an issue.
“That will be an interesting conversation at the NCAA level,” Harter said. “I’m curious if there will be a vote, because the Power 5 type conference schools, they probably can afford a one-year adjustment. But coming from a school that doesn’t have those types of resources, if it comes to a vote, traditionally there are the haves and the have-nots.
“I would see the have-nots going, ‘Hey, we’re already kind of at a disadvantage because we can’t give a full allotment of scholarships in particular sports. And then of all of a sudden you’re allowing the haves to have even a few more?’ I could see reality hitting real quick that they wouldn’t want to put themselves at even more of a distinct disadvantage.”
That is something Van Horn sees as a hurdle, as well, but he is hopeful the bigger conferences - ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC - flex their muscles and get it done regardless. Autonomy is something he thinks is coming one day anyways and he’s okay with it because he wants to be able to take care of his players.
“With some of the other conferences, when it comes to a vote, they're maybe going to vote against it,” Van Horn said. “Hopefully the Power Five will say, ‘You do what you want to do, we're going to do what we want to do.’”
Unfortunately, there is no eligibility plan that would lead to guys like Heston Kjerstad, Casey Martin and Casey Opitz returning to Fayetteville for another season. Van Horn hasn’t discussed it with them, but all three are highly regarded prospects who will probably receive seven-figure signing bonuses when taken in the MLB Draft.
What could impact the baseball team is whether the relief is limited to only seniors or it’s granted to all players.
Zebulon Vermillion, Matt Goodheart and Kole Ramage are just a few of the current juniors who would likely get drafted and sign professional contracts this summer under normal circumstances. Talented players with professional aspirations rarely return for their senior seasons because they lose all leverage in contract negotiations.
Despite being a first-team All-SEC selection and 10th-round pick, Carson Shaddy received a signing bonus of only $10,000 in 2018 because he was a senior with no leverage. That’s a stark contrast to Kacey Murphy, who got a $145,000 signing bonus as an 11th-round pick that same year.
If they’re still considered juniors in 2021, Vermillion, Goodheart, Ramage and others could return to school and maintain their leverage.
“I would think those three guys (Kjerstad, Martin and Opitz) will probably sign a professional contract this summer for sure and there’s a couple others that are iffy,” Van Horn said. “I think a lot depends on where they get drafted, how much money and what status are they - are they a senior or do they get to be a junior again?”
Although it’s “unlikely,” according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, some coaches - like men’s track and field coach Chris Bucknam - believe the eligibility relief should also extend to winter athletes who weren’t able to compete for a national championship because of the coronavirus.
Bucknam and Harter’s squads were already in Albuquerque, N.M., and warming up for the NCAA Indoor Championships when the decision to cancel was announced. Men’s and women’s basketball, gymnastics, and swimming and diving also had their championships/tournaments called off.
“I think you go through the grind of the season, everything is tilted towards getting to the NCAA Championship - that’s what we’re about, that’s in our DNA,” Bucknam said. “You do the grind and you battle and fight and then you can’t compete at the highest level. That’s why I don’t think it should be just spring sports talk, I think it should be winter sports as well.”
The much more likely scenario, Harter said, is getting the year back for spring athletes. For him and Bucknam, that impacts the outdoor track and field season.
“As a realist…I would think they would just focus on the outdoor season and kind of wipe away the indoor season,” Harter said. “Which is really unfortunate, because we had a team that definitely was in the top 10 and I think on a good day could have been a trophy team, and then outdoors we were loaded.”
Another hurdle Van Horn addressed is the Academic Progress Rate (APR), which was created to hold schools accountable for the “student” part of their student-athletes. Part of the formula factors in transfers, which are inevitable if all athletes are granted an extra year.
“There's going to be kids that transfer out because someone in their position is coming back and they didn't think they would,” Van Horn said. “They're not going to get to play again and it shouldn't hurt us.”
Regardless how the eligibility relief shakes out, it will ultimately still cost several athletes a year of collegiate careers.
As previously mentioned, these spring sports rarely offer full scholarships. Most of the athletes have to supplement their athletic scholarships with academic scholarships, or pay for the difference out of pocket.
They must decide between another year of paying for school or racking up more student loans and moving on with the next step in their life.
“Some of our athletes that were seniors had to sit down and make a hard decision about, ‘Do I even attempt to think about the idea of coming back and capturing an indoor and outdoor (season), or do I go to grad school or accept a job?’” Harter said. “Those are real hard decisions and discussions with each and every individual.”
