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On Monday, we began our three-part series asking “What will be the Impact of the Extra Year of College Eligibility?”
We asked dozens of players, parents and coaches what they thought of the eligibility decision from when NCAA voted in March to “allow schools to provide spring-sport student-athletes an additional season of competition and an extension of their period of eligibility.”
Today, we get the coaches and parents’ perspective…. Tomorrow, we’ll reveal what many current college and future college players said!
If you would like to share your opinion on the pros and cons of the extra year of college eligibility, email [email protected] and indicate if you’d like your name to be included or not…
Coming tomorrow: the players’ input….
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TJ Goelz (Head Coach of Tampa Mustangs 18U – TJ)
I have mixed feelings. I have former and current players in all ages in college and high school so I have seen the effects first-hand. I am happy for the college seniors, after experiencing what my high school team just did and our 10 seniors losing all that they lost (in the cancelled season). Sentimentally, I was happy for them.
Overall, though, I don’t like the decision. This awful experience is something everyone has had to go through. Granting a reprieve for the college players creates multiple ongoing issues going forward. Sentimentally… yes; business decision… no. Rip off the Band-Aid and let it heal.
I believe this will cause all kinds of questions and complications, now, not for just one year but for many. The 2020-2023 players’ paths, and perhaps partially why they chose where they chose, has been altered and I think there will be ongoing implications from this for many years.
As a fan of the game and as a competitor, you have five classes of athletes in school now instead of four and that should produce some competitive rosters and some great softball.
I think we will see redshirts increase for the 2020 class, I think we will see decommits, money changes, offers pulled for 2021 class, and I think the 2022s and 2023s will be re-thinking their paths. Don’t think the offers will change Sept. 1st for the top tier 2022s or the following Sept. 1 for the 2023s, but the next two tiers, they will certainly be much more patient on.
All and all , I think this will also cause an expansion of the transfer portal and many more players entering it. Coaches will allocate/leave money for transfers each year. Coaches will also budget in scholarship reductions and transfers out. Rosters could be bigger and good players will play and be found at all levels.
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A parent of a 2022 Top 100 player committed to a Power 5 university:
My heart goes out to the college students affected, but why are they given special circumstance in comparison to high school students who lost their seasons too?
Why do high school students lose their season and also opportunities due to increased roster sizes with players that college coaches already have a relationship with?
How many college coaches will choose a recruit over a current player? College students have the opportunity to get 4 ½ years while current high school students lose a year at high school, much of their summer travel season and have a very different college experience, if they are lucky enough to be offered a spot.
They have already lived through the early recruiting rule changes; this hardly seems like a fair decision.”
*** Scroll down to read more from coaches and parents on what they like, and don’t like, about the extra year of college eligibility….