NavyBuck
Beer Guzzling Buckeye Fan
MaxBuck;1643715; said:I've read this quote by Helwagen several times and in several places. But I think he had it wrong; I find nothing in the NCAA rule book to the effect that any student-athlete who has made an official visit "must be put on scholarship" under any circumstances, even if that student becomes a starter on the team. This is, I believe, an urban legend.
Helwagon is technically wrong, but what he is referring to is not an urban legend.
Bylaw 15.5.1.2 Football or Basketball, Varsity Competition states:
In football or basketball, a student-athlete who was recruited by the awarding institution and who receives institutional financial aid (as set forth in Bylaw 15.02.4.1) granted without regard in any degree to athletics ability does not have to be counted until the student-athlete engages in varsity intercollegiate competition (as opposed to freshman, B-team, subvarsity, intramural or club competition) in those sports. For this provision to be applicable, there shall be on file in the office of the athletics director certification by the faculty athletics representative, the admissions officer and the chair of the financial aid committee that the student?s admission and financial aid were granted without regard in any
degree to athletics ability.
Please note that a SA can qualify as a "recruited" SA with far less contact with the staff than an official visit. Note also that the bylaw only specifies when the walk-on SA becomes a "counter", i.e. counts against the teams 85 scholarship limit. Nothing in the bylaw actually requires the institution to put the SA on scholarship. One can be a counter and not be receiving a scholarship.
In truth, I think Helwagon may be thinking of (or has been told by the notoriously misleading OSU SID about) bylaw 15.5.1.2.2 Exception?Receipt of Institutional Academic Aid Only. This bylaw is an exception to the above cited general rule and states:
In football or basketball, a student-athlete who was recruited by the awarding institution and whose only source of institutional financial aid is academic aid based solely on the recipient?s academic record at the certifying institution, awarded independently of athletics interests and in amounts consistent with the pattern of all such awards made by the institution, may compete without counting in the institution?s financial aid team limits, provided he or she has completed at least one academic year of full-time enrollment at the certifying institution and has achieved a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.300 (on a 4.000 scale) at the certifying institution.
The interesting thing is that a SA who receives absolutely no financial aid, could be a recruited SA, walk-on, and play from his freshman year on and NOT be a counter.
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