As of March 30, the NCAA rules allow eligible student-athletes who had their seasons cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic another year of eligibility regardless of their class year. As of April 1, the NCAA has also extended its dead period of in-person recruiting until May 31.
While other sports have been affected by these changes, winter sports and particularly spring sports have been the most affected by these new NCAA restrictions.
So, what does this mean for coaches, players and specifically recruits in spring sports?
“One thing with recruits, I usually mention on their visit you know is, ‘What is your timeline you are looking at to make a decision by?’” said Mackenzie Sher, head women’s softball coach. “I tell them if you have a coach telling you you need to have a decision by tomorrow, to me that is not very fair because it’s like anything else. You wouldn’t just go to a car dealership and buy a car without doing any research. You would not get married after a day. You gotta take the time to build that relationship.”
Recruiting is a relationship seed that takes time to grow and needs to continually be watered. As players enter into the softball program at Union, they are expected to grow the program and grow the coaches.
Just as the relationship with a college for four years is a huge commitment, staying for a fifth year brings about its own implications.
“I am going back to the recruiting beast of how many years you are out,” said Sher. “You know if I have a senior, I am likely recruiting someone to — I don’t want to say replace her — but you know, fill the hole in the lineup, and you are two years out and some schools are deeper than that. So if you have a freshman that played and ends up staying, that’s getting into what you recruited.”
For this next year, scholarships will not be affected because the NCAA passed an equivalency waiver. Normally, coaches have a budget they have to stay in when giving out scholarships. This waiver states that if coaches go over the allotted budget this season, there will not be any consequences. After this next season though, the budget will remain the same as before. So moving forward, coaches will not be allowed to exceed that amount.
Depending on how many athletes stay for Sher, an extra year of eligibility could affect incoming players two to three years down the line in the recruiting process. However, Sher does not try to get too far down the line in the process because of the unknowns.
“We have to let it unfold. There’s still a lot in front of us that is unknown in this, still a lot of roles that have to be defined,” said Sher.“I firmly believe that God is going to put people where they should be, when they should be. So on the management side, it is one of those things where you think you have a plan in place and God says wait a second.”
In the meantime, Sher is excited to spend more time with the girls on her team that have become her family. She even sees this time as beneficial to her.
“Gosh, I just think this is the perfect time to slow down,” said Sher. “For athletes too, it helps that identity is not in sports. I think as coaches, too, it is a reminder that it is not just players that need to remember that; it is coaches as well.”
Ryan Chandler, head men’s and women’s golf coach, has the same perspective of family and unity when it comes to his team next year.
“At first when we found out that they were going to cancel the season, obviously we were pretty emotional,” said Chandler. “It’s tough to see them regain their confidence and have it be taken away from them with that feeling of initial uncertainty that they may not get to do that anymore. But on the back end to just be able to be there for them, let them know that whatever happens, we are going to get through it, and that I was proud of their efforts.”
For Chandler, he can see the full picture now that his four senior guys will most likely return to use their extra year of eligibility. Initially thinking he was going to lose four seniors while only having three signed for the incoming class seemed okay, but to potentially have seven players only means that he has to navigate a larger group. He is excited his senior class has this opportunity.
“I try to look at the positive parts of it,” said Chandler. “I just think it is a weird time. We have to be able to adapt and adjust to the things that they are requiring us to do, but everybody is on the same page.”
As long as everyone is on the same page, Chandler does not see any major problems with the new recruiting rules. If anything, like Sher, it is more time with his team and more time to encourage them.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
