Justice Dept Reviews 'Revoked Scholarships'

[TexasTerror]

Article explains a kid who played mop-up duty as a freshman and did not have his scholarship renewed. Brings up the fact that many student-athletes across the nation are led to believe that they'll retain their scholarship, only to find out that it's been pulled from them.

Does the U.S. Justice Department have a legitimate anything to chase after with this? I was always under the impression that student-athletes were very much aware that these were renewable deals and that they had to keep up their side of the bargain to get it renewed. It's like a 'team option'.


Those discrepancies apparently have caught the attention of the U.S. Justice Department. Its antitrust division is investigating the one-year renewable scholarship, with agents interviewing NCAA officials and member schools. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined comment because the probe, announced on May 6, is ongoing.

“This happens a lot more than anybody even believes,” said New Haven management professor Allen Sack, a former Notre Dame football player and vocal NCAA critic. “You're allowed to do it. According to the NCAA, there's nothing wrong with it.”

“Coaches don't go out of their way to clarify (scholarship length),” said Sack. “They make it as vague as they possibly can.”

http://diverseeducation.com/article/13826/revoked-scholarships-surprise-college-athletes.html

[Lehigh Football Nation]

First, love the fact that Calipari is the featured photo on the article.

Second:


Exactly how often athletic scholarships are revoked to make room for better players is hard to quantify, though a pair of recent studies on turnover in college basketball offer a few clues.

The National College Players Association, an advocacy group that lobbies for athletes' rights, found an average roster turnover rate of 22 percent among the 65 schools in the 2009 NCAA tournament. That works out to 169 players out of 775 possible returners.

The group includes players who lost scholarships for academic reasons or who sought transfers but excludes graduating seniors and those who left for the NBA.

That's relevant. Some players are seniors but don't graduate, and of course players pursuing an NBA contract don't "graduate" but either drop out or put it off. That the 22 percent number doesn't include those players is extraordinary - that means that it could be anywhere from 1/4 (conservative) to 1/3 (high estimate) of players that don't graduate in four years.

Also worthy of mention is that of the 65 schools in the tournament, there were schools like Butler, Lehigh, Duke and Cornell represented, who certainly do not have a 25% dropout rate. That means there is probably many Kentucky, WVU, Maryland and Texas-es that are "balancing them out" to REACH 25% (conservatively). There are probably a lot of 0-10% dropout schools and a lot of 50%+ dropout rate schools. Again, extraordinary.