LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Saw a friend's post on FB about giving Seniors another year of Eligibility. He is kind of swaying me against it.

His reasoning is if you give seniors and extra year, you should give it to Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors otherwise you are potentially making it harder for them to get a chance to shine ( his words). His example a junior playing behind a senior for 2-3 years will not get a chance to compete for spot and doesn't get a chance to be a team leader. Coaches go with what they know is working and will usually only change when an option is not available. I know this is a simple example and I'm sure everyone will have an example of why it is flawed. But I am sure we all had to deal with waiting for an upper class men to get our chance.

As much as we love lax, it is an extra curricular activity, the goal of college is to prepare you for life and a career. I'd say this is a hard life lesson, there are no after game snacks and participation trophies in the real world.

Well said !!

I don't know if this is true at all schools, but at my son's school....
If the seniors are on schedule to graduate this May and they do, the team might not be able to afford him/them for an additional year.
Masters classes/courses become much more expensive to the program. All of his current (undergrad) academic/merit money becomes athletic money. This now athletic money becomes too much for the lax program to absorb.
The best FINANCIAL decision for the player would be to pick up a dual degree. That way, the academic/merit $ stays as just that.
(that is, if they don't already have a job lined up)

Pretty obvious there's no easy solution, and the complex solutions create cascading side issues- kind of the definition of difficult solution.
College is about education and preparation for life, and lesson one is that unpleasant, undeserved things can happen.
Time for seniors to move on unless there's a legit redshirt issue.

This isn't a senior only thing.
All of these kids on teams will have a pretty good case for an extra year of eligibility, if they want it and can afford another year of tuition.

It does stink for the kids but this is another example of how sports are the ultimate teaching tool for life. There will be unfortunate things, out of your control, that happen in life that derail your best hopes, dreams and expectations. It absolutely stinks. But it is life, unfortunately.

It seems the majority of teams have played their full fall ball seasons and half of their regular spring schedules. Yes this is unfortunate, but I think eligibility should be given to legitimate redshirt injuries that missed the season, freshman that did not touch the field, and graduate students that had an additional year of eligibility remaining. There is a new incoming class of freshman too which seems it would lead to roster cuts. There is no easy solution to this, and it pales in comparison to what is going on in the country.

Trying to roll back 2020 like it never happened will open a can or worms I don't think would satisfy anyone in the end. Folks are going to be unhappy no matter which way things go. There are half a million student athletes out there across. Regardless of the decision, a ton of kids are going to see a negative impact.

For a select few, lacrosse becomes a career after college. For the majority it's part of a life lesson and a huge part of that lesson is how to accept, deal with, and move on from adversity. Fair is often not part of the equation.

For so many students, college is already a five-year mission.

So, let’s boldly go where no one has gone before and give everyone five years of eligibility. Maybe won’t get their scholarships for all five years (that can change over time), but give the kids some additional flexibility.

Would have enjoyed watching Paul, Kyle, and Tucker play five years at Hopkins.

DocBarrister

DocBarrister wrote: ↑Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:27 am For so many students, college is already a five-year mission.

So, let’s boldly go where no one has gone before and give everyone five years of eligibility. Maybe won’t get their scholarships for all five years (that can change over time), but give the kids some additional flexibility.

Would have enjoyed watching Paul, Kyle, and Tucker play five years at Hopkins.

DocBarrister

First I acknowledge there is no one size fits all solution.

Second, while we seem to always want the appearance of fairness, it never is fair to all.

That being said, there are few things that upset me more than the entire higher learning situation. The propensity towards the five year new normal you mention, the cost without any free market influences, the NCAA heavy handiness, the cash cow sports with no in kind remuneration, allowing debt levels in majors with no chance of repayment, etc. etc.

The blanket allowance of a fifth year of eligibility, in my biased opinion, is yet another step in the wrong direction. But I see why people would want it: that fairness thing.

How about this then: everyone given a fifth year of eligibility should be put on a full ride for that fifth year. And that scholarship does not count against the normal scholarship count.

Either that or sorry it happened to you, life isn’t fair.

Dip&Dunk wrote: ↑Fri Mar 13, 2020 12:20 pm Either that or sorry it happened to you, life isn’t fair.

Didn't Duke 2006 already test these waters? ----> I'll see myself out

bearlaxfan wrote: ↑Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:22 am Pretty obvious there's no easy solution, and the complex solutions create cascading side issues- kind of the definition of difficult solution.
College is about education and preparation for life, and lesson one is that unpleasant, undeserved things can happen.
Time for seniors to move on unless there's a legit redshirt issue.

Agreed. No matter what 2020 scenario you try to fix, that "fix" will have untold ramifications on others.

While this 2020 situation is certainly unfortunate, compounding it with fixes (that are well-intended) simply creates other unfortunate circumstances of the next ripple-effect. I'm sure there are plenty of JRs & SOs waiting-in-the-wings for current SRs to graduate . . .

Sound like it going to happen in some way

Per source, NCAA sent a note to membership today saying it believes "it will be appropriate to grant relief for the use of a season for competition for student-athletes who have participated in spring sports."

NCAA will start working on issues tied to this & winter athletes.

https://twitter.com/nicoleauerbach/stat ... 72321?s=21

Not sure why discussion centered around seniors. Four classes lost part of their season. I suppose it can be argued that it was ‘their year’ for the seniors regarding playing and leadership opportunities, but the fact is, any discussion around an extra year of eligibility should include all four classes.
That said, believe it a bad idea to grant anyone an extra year unless they were previous redshirt or have played in less than 1/4 of scheduled games, which I believe is the cut off (this could be an argument for those schools that started late, like Ivys and NESCAC and not yet through 1/4 of season). But all others, need to move on. Otherwise the pig in the snake of having 5 year players in a 4 year curriculum will just catch up and effect someone else down the road. Also, need these people in the workforce and contributing to my soon-to-be Social Security payments.

So it’s seen as unfair by the senior that they loose a year or unfair to those underclassmen or high school players that get stuck behind upper Class fifth year players. In the second case not all players will take the fifth year and everyone can still challenge for time.

I’m inclined to choose the later admitting it has its flaws, like everything else in life. There are so many red shirts now that I don’t see a big difference. My guess is most players would agree, let’s give everyone equal time and let competition play out.

Give them all an extra year - just like what '06 Duke lacrosse team got.

Good news

https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/college/s ... ty-by-ncaa

For the 2021 freshmen class, competition will be even tougher especially if they have also lost their HS senior season

As one poster touched on briefly above, it will be interesting to see how an additional year of eligibility will impact incoming classes.

2020 HS seniors would be faced with rosters that lost far fewer players than expected. I'd imagine that taking a post-grad year will become even more popular and we may see lots of 20 year-old "freshmen" showing up in 2021 and thereafter.

If the "additional year" is granted to every current college athlete (not just seniors), the roll-back wave could become permanent.

I could also imagine "overstuffed" rosters serving to bring additional parity to all divisions of college lacrosse as players seek out schools they may not have previously considered because they are able to contribute/play sooner.

10 10 2 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:34 pm Give them all an extra year - just like what '06 Duke lacrosse team got.

Fully agree! and it looks like that is what has been done.

Stating the obvious, this is an unprecedented situation that will or should require creative solutions. Solutions that will require flexibility from all parties. As a parent of two D1 players, including a senior, I am breaking my pledge never to post while they are playing.
Firstly the entire team, not just the seniors, have been denied a season. I am glad that everyone will be granted an extra year. There will be a self-selection process, Anyone with an extra year might hit the workforce, go pro, or live in the parent’s basement. My senior has a great job lined up and is likely to move on. I know other seniors who will go pro, but some may chose to stay for another season. They have all worked too hard to deny them the option, an option that should be theirs to exercise.
There will be arguments that this hurts the new recruits, but the pain is equally distributed across the classes. Everyone is disadvantaged but in different ways.

Scholarships & tuition costs are big stumbling blocks. Schools aren’t cheap . Many of the student/athletes and parents will exclude themselves because of the costs associated with a 5th year.
To get at the cost issues so as to limit that consideration for the schools and parents,
• Schools and NCAA will need to look at upping the scholarship ceiling from 12.5 to 16?? How this gets funded will require creative solutions.
• Schools & parent groups could look at some combination of internships or work/study programs for part or all of the year. Placing students in paid internships/work study programs that align with their majors is a win win. Hopefully Schools charge no tuition & student makes money.
• Parent groups should play an active role in placing kids in substantive jobs.
• If granted an extra year, underclassman might chose now to align their curriculum with a 5 yr combined masters program, double major etc etc.
• Other solutions?
We need to make this work for everyone. There are a lot of smart, connected people on this forum. The players have earned it, its up to us to enable them.