Division I spring sports athletes will get their lost season back.
The NCAA Division I Council voted Monday to give all spring sports athletes an extra year of eligibility in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that brought the sporting world to a halt nearly three weeks ago, and provided provisions to account for the potential increase in roster sizes next season.
The council's vote essentially allows schools to apply waivers to restore a lost season of eligibility, or apply a one-year extension of eligibility for athletes who were at the end of their eligibility "clock." Current Division I rules limit athletes to four seasons of competition in a five-year period.
Teams will be allowed to carry more athletes on scholarship next season, as well, to account for incoming recruits and athletes in their final year of eligibility who decide to return. It will be left up to each school how it allocates scholarship resources for athletes who were in their final year of eligibility this year and who decide to return. Schools will be able to offer less aid to those athletes next year, or match what was provided this year.Â
People are also reading…
However, schools will also be able to use the NCAA Student Assistance Fund to assist athletes who would have exhausted their eligibility in the 2019-20 spring season. The SAF, in simple terms, is a fund to help college athletes cover expenses a scholarship doesn't cover.
"We're in such uncharted territory that there's just so many things to factor in," Nebraska softball coach Rhonda Revelle said Monday night on "Husker Sports Nightly." "There's heartbreak after heartbreak after heartbreak, so as we get this ruling today, you see a glimmer of sunshine in what otherwise is a cloudy sky."
Winter sports were not included in Monday's announcement.
"Council members declined to extend eligibility for student-athletes in sports where all or much of their regular seasons were completed," according to a news release from the NCAA.
The NCAA also announced that roster sizes for baseball would increase, essentially lifting the restriction of a 35-player limit. So Nebraska, for example, with its six current seniors could have a roster of 41 next season.
Monday's announcement came 18 days after the NCAA canceled its winter and spring sports championships. The NCAA announced the following day that "eligibility relief is appropriate for all Division I student-athletes who participated in spring sports."
However, that announcement was not an official decision.
That official decision came Monday after an afternoon meeting of the Division I council.
The council is made up of representatives from all 32 Division I conferences, among them athletic directors, conference commissioners, senior woman administrators and two student-athletes. The Big Ten's representation comes from former commissioner Jim Delany, Iowa athletic director Gary Barta, and Indiana faculty athletics representative Kurt Zorn.
Nebraska baseball is just one of many programs affected by Monday’s decision.
Husker baseball coach Will Bolt and NU's six seniors — Mojo Hagge, Luke Roskam, Ty Roseberry, Joe Acker, Gareth Stroh and Ben Klenke — were not made available for interviews Monday. Hagge and Roskam have previously indicated they would return to the Huskers if granted another year of eligibility.
In a March 20 interview, Bolt said most of NU's seniors were still weighing their options.
"I think the further we get away from the initial shock, guys will start to kind of evaluate where they're at. I know how much school they have left is a big part of it," Bolt said at the time. "I've started to have some of those initial conversations with some of these seniors, and they've had a positive attitude."
But the ruling affects more than just baseball.
On the men's side at NU, track and field, golf and tennis will also be affected. For the women, it's softball, golf, tennis, beach volleyball and track and field.
Revelle said there is still plenty to be worked through at the university level. The Husker softball team has four seniors, with eight recruits coming in next year.
"What I do know is that our university and our athletic department and our leadership, I know that they're right now, as we speak, talking about it," Revelle said. "And I know we have meetings set up in the coming days. As we'll know more, you'll know more."