College Baseball Reacts to Eligibility Relief for Seniors
Image credit: (Photo by Mike Janes/Four Seam)
The NCAA’s Division I Council on Monday approved a proposal that will grant eligibility relief to all Division I baseball players after their 2020 seasons were cut short due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
This decision allays fears that no eligibility relief would be granted for anyone or that the decision on eligibility relief would be kicked down the road until June. It also goes a step further than just granting relief to senior players, which was another possibility on the table. This decision follows earlier decisions by Division II, Division III, NAIA and the NJCAA to do the same.
Additionally, we know that the schools will be able to determine aid given to returning players, from nothing all the way up to what they received for this season.
And still, there are tons of questions to be answered. Most notably, it remains to be seen how coaches handle the roster crunch that will come from returning nearly full rosters, plus incoming recruiting classes, which could be larger than normal due to MLB’s decision to limit the size of the draft this year.
That’s to say nothing of the decision the players have to make themselves, particularly seniors who might already have internships or job offers in hand for an expected May graduation. How many set those aside to play another season of baseball?
Given the importance of this decision and its many ramifications, the reaction from those in the college baseball community came in quickly.
Sacramento State Head Coach Reggie Christiansen
Great day for the spring sport student-athletes!
— Reggie Christiansen (@CoachRC9) March 30, 2020
Mississippi Assistant Coach Mike Clement
Georgia Head Coach Scott Stricklin
Washington State Head Coach Brian Green
Youngstown State Head Coach Dan Bertolini
McNeese State senior Jake Dickerson
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi senior Michael Williams
Cal State Northridge Head Coach Dave Serrano
TCU senior Haylen Green
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