SEC presidents vote to cap football scholarships at 25 per year
DESTIN, FLA. – Southeastern Conference presidents on Friday introduced sweeping legislation that will radically alter the way the league’s football teams go about recruiting.
Starting next year, SEC teams will be allowed to sign only 25 football players to a national letter-of-intent. The period that encompasses will be changed to Dec. 1 to May 31 and will include mid-year and summer enrollees as well.
In all there were five proposals regarding football scholarships that the presidents voted on and enacted on Friday. You may need a lawyer to interpret the details regarding what they’re now calling “roster management.” But essentially the SEC office will be overseeing the scholarship process, including the issuance of medical exemption scholarships.
The SEC also voted to eliminate the one-year, postgraduate exception it instituted only a year ago.
“The goal here is to make sure that we can balance the equities between prospective student-athletes and our institutions,” SEC Commissioner Mike Slive told reporters after the four-day meetings were adjourned Friday. “We believe these proposals are thoughtful and important to the extent we will be aggressive pursuing them on a national level.”
Only Slive and reigning SEC Chairman of the Board Bernie Machen remained to talk with media about the new legislation. However, as he was leaving the meeting, UGA president Michael Adams said, “It’s a good day to be in the SEC. Everybody did the right thing.”
The five roster management proposals enacted were:
(1) Eliminated the one-year graduate student exception adopted just last year. A student-athlete who transfers in to have two years of eligibility remaining in order to participate in athletics. However, this won’t be implemented the 2012 season.
(2) Will not permit an SEC institution to sign a prospect to a financial aid agreement until that prospect is enrolled and is a full-time student attending classes. It applies to a prospect who intends to enroll prior to the projected high school graduation date (aka early enrollment).
(3) Established legislation specifying that the conference office will oversee the administration of medical scholarship exemptions. The SEC will have a role in reviewing and deciding the outcome of each medically-related exemption.
(4) Reduced the permissible number of signees from 28 to 25 and moves back the start date for the window for counting date back to Dec. 1. Allow signees to be exempt from the 25 limit if they can be counted as an initial counter in the current year. Establish an oversight process involving a review of roster management issues by the conference office and the presidents and by the ADs. It will require written reports from all 12 institutions.In addition going to propose this legislation nationally. Will write to Dr. Emmert in the next few weeks to advise him that the conference has submitted this proposal we have adopted and we have an expectation that the NCAA should and will adopt the same proposal. It’s in the best interest of prospects, not only here but in the nation.
(5) A prospective student-athlete who attends summer school will count against that year’s scholarship total.
Slive said they will be writing a letter to NCAA President Mark Emmert urging the full national members adopt these proposals. The SEC was able to do that successfully with the 28-25 signing rule it introduced just two years ago.
“We understand the spotlight for the moment is here [on the SEC],” Slive said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that what’s good for student-athletes here is good for student-athletes elsewhere.”
Slive would not confirm reports that SEC football coaches voted 12-0 to stick with the 28 signees maximum. But he said they were listened to and carefully considered in the process.
“The first amendment was alive and well,” he said. “Every group had an opportunity to weigh in on this.”
As for coaches’ contentions that the 28 rule had not been in place long enough to know if it was working.
“It’s been two years. We feel like we’ve had enough experience with it,” Slive said. “I believe the coaches can manage this way and still have the flexibility to do all the things they need to do.”
“Clearly neither recruiting nor signing is an exact science and it’s not necessarily a precise activity,”Slive said.
Also enacted at the SEC meetings this week:
Divisional play in men’s basketball was eliminated.
The rule temporarily allowing Mississippi State to use artificial noisemakers (cowbells) was extended. However, the school was fined $30,000 for misusing them in the first two games of last season ($5,000 for first offense and $25,000 for second). The school will now be fined $50,000 for each additional offense going forward.
The presidents voted to eliminate 7-on-7, flag football tournaments and games on campus and coaches involvement or attendance of them.
They also approved the distribution of a record $220 million among the 12 member institutions. That’s an average of $18.3 million per school.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
115 comments Add your comment
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 4th, 2011
6:28 am
The SEC is not at a competitive disadvantage by the passing of this rule. It just means that the coach will now have to be more careful when handing out his 25. Some coaches better hope the recruiting service they pay, has a good evaluation period, or that coach better make it a point to really look the kids over. The rules for the medical redshirt are more strict now, but according to all the people on this blog, that has never been a problem for any of their schools. If some of these high school kids don’t watch out, they will be without a team if their grades are marginal, so I would think it might be wise for them and their coaches to start putting a little more time on the books though. But of course, nobody in the SEC has abused the system so it shouldn’t be a problem anyway, right?
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 4th, 2011
6:33 am
MikeP,
Are you saying some coaches misused the medical redshirt? How can that be so, when so many of you deny that any college has done that in the past? If the kid is truly a medical case, there should not be any problem with that. If it was being given because the kid was not good enough to play and the coach circumvented the rules by putting someone on a medical that shouldn’t have been there, then that coach was cheating. But we all know that this was never done in the SEC, right?
Paddy
June 4th, 2011
6:48 am
Tobias Funke……..if you don’t think lawyers should draft these proposals, whom do you reccommend should be resposible for writing legislation and eliminating loop holes? What set of people are better at avoiding loop holes? Maybe the Quakers, Menonites, Shakers; how about the Catholics? You complain but did not give us your solution! Best bet is to send you ideas to the SEC office. And if you have a free weekend how about curing cancer!
DawgToo
June 4th, 2011
8:53 am
I think 85 rule is better. If you have room for 3, sign 3, if 80, then sign 80 to make 85. So the mean coaches will get meaner, the softies (i.e. Richt) will get softier.
Score Check
June 4th, 2011
8:56 am
Ahh! Finally got that settled.
What’s up next for Satan?
7 on 7 Camp funding investigated by the NCAA. This could get to really interesting.
dawgdip
June 4th, 2011
9:27 am
If a coach really cares about the “injured player” finishing school and getting his degree, he could pay for that kid’s education out of his enormous salary. Spurrier says the coaches could afford to pay the players so let them pay for the education if a player is sent home due to “injury.”
dawgdip
June 4th, 2011
9:32 am
FYI Medical hardship scholarships have not been eliminated. Now the SEC office must approve each one as I see it. Am I right or wrong?
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 4th, 2011
9:57 am
The way I read it dawgdip, the requirements for a medical red shirt will be more thoroughly reviewed, with the SEC head office involved in the process as well, since they will ultimately decide whether or not the kid can be red shirted. It will probably lead to less red shirting this way, if the rule works as advertised. It is a good idea, if it raises the process and eliminates any coach trying to use the red shirt rule to eliminate a player. It should help increase the integrity of the process in the eyes of other conferences.
AltamahaDawg
June 4th, 2011
9:59 am
Mike, why does this put the SEC as a competitive disadvantage? and to Whom? Didnt you say it was just going to be business as usual?
I also do not buy your medical exemption humane treatment argument.
1st of all, if what you say is true, then that’s an outright admission that some coaches were cheating. I’m sure everybody in that room is infinetely more familiar with what happend in the medical exmption process than you. So you are suggesting that (them knowing what you know) the conference should continue to condone cheating. Cheating will always come back to haunt. If you think the media is going away on this, you are mistaken. And bad publicity at the least, busted by the NCAA at the worst, never helps a conference. I have all confident that if everybody just played it it straight up, we’d all be fine in the competitive arena.
Secondly, I believe if you asked the player in question if he would rather play somewhere else, or not play and just be kept around while being used as a pawn, he would rather have been “encouraged to transfer” which is what you call put out on the street. Or better yet, not jerked around from day one, so he could have just signed with somebody that really wanted him to begin with. No football player wants to be a placeholder in line. I think the point you are missing is that reducing the signees, take pressure from needing to cull anyone in the first place. Nobody is going to get kicked to the curb to just come up with an empty seat.
MikeP
June 4th, 2011
10:04 am
Rocket Science: The coach has always had the power to just put the player on the street. Instead, some have put them on medical scholarship, which allowed the kid to get the rest of his schooling paid for.
That was no competitive advantage, just a nice gesture that was costing the schools some money. Those presidents saved a few bucks at the expense of the borderline players. That player’s option used to be go medical and finish getting your degree or leave. Now it’s simply leave.
MikeP
June 4th, 2011
10:13 am
PS: Note that the terms “medical redshirt” and “medical scholarship” are two entirely different things. Medical redshirt means the kid got hurt before he played in three games and that year won’t count as one of his four playing years. He still counts as one of the 85 roster players.
Medical scholarship means the kid is off the team, will not play again but still stays on scholarship. He no longer counts against the team’s 85 limit.
AltamahaDawg
June 4th, 2011
10:47 am
I think medical “redshirting” is a different thing that what this rule was about.
AltamahaDawg
June 4th, 2011
11:02 am
Coaches may have always had the “power” to tell one of his own recruits to please leave for no other reason than they didn’t turn out as good as he thought and he needs to make room for somebody better in the future ………..BUT they don’t. For a multitude of reasons, none of which will have changed now.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 4th, 2011
11:28 am
A scholarship also binds the school to an obligation as well. Try releasing a kid by just throwing him out because you think he is not good enough and YOU made the mistake when you evaluated him and gave him a scholarship. Can you spell lawsuit, or ACLU?
AltamahaDawg
June 4th, 2011
11:47 am
Not sure its grounds for a lawsuit. A scholarship is not a right, it’s a gift. What it certainly would be is a case that a coach would have to own his action, and have no cover.
I just don’t think the medical exemption was ever a choice between the lessor of two evils. It was never “fake” an injury or get kicked off the team without cause. It never worked that way, so that’s not some new harm done by this. It might very well have been abused as a way of managing injuries, and now a coach might have to just accept that a kid that has lost a step or two is still going to count, and he is not as quick to use that as (better for him) alternative to just having a kid sitting o the bench the rest of his career. Getting kicked out wasnt going to happen then, its not going to happen now.
I’d love to see the first coach tell a kid with cronic knee inflamation, “sorry kid, the league says you could still play, but we are done paying for your college education, as we promised. Now go on home and tell your local newspaper and your old high school coach, how we handled that”.
7576DAWG
June 4th, 2011
12:00 pm
In order for the new rules to have the positive affect for the SEC that they are intended to have it will be a must for the SEC to convince the NCAA to make all conference adopt the same rule. The ACC will have a field day and especially Florida State , Miami, and North Carolina. UCF, AND USF will also benefit. Look for the three ACC teams that I mentioned to all be in the top 15 the next few years with Florida State in the top 5 .
We all know the eight SEC teams that over sign to an extreme. This will make 24 additional recruits that would have ended up in the SEC go somewhere else.
7576DAWG
June 4th, 2011
12:17 pm
Hopefully other conferences and the NCAA will see the benefit in these rule changes the SEC are taking the lead in implementing and understand that they could have just as easily loosened the rules which would have benefited them even more than before. THE SEC WILL BE WAITING TO SEE WHAT DIRECTION THE REST OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL WANTS TO GO.
Dawg Tired
June 4th, 2011
12:18 pm
Won’t work for one reason: “…the SEC office will be overseeing the scholarship process.” That’s the same office that can’t read and apply the rule that clearly states if any family member (most would have thought that would include the kid’s father) solicits money in return for a scholarship offer the player is automatically ineligible to play for any SEC school. If they can’t get that one right, there is no way they can control the Nick Sabans of the world. I guarantee you he is a whole lot smarter than anyone at the “SEC office.”
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 4th, 2011
12:22 pm
Altamahadawg,
I think it would probably be held up in court, as it is an obligation both the coach and player have agreed to. It is a gift, in that it is granted, but it goes above just the coaches wishes.
A number of years ago, the military or rather the government wanted to change the way it covered medical benefits for the retired guy. It was considered a gentleman’s agreement and a benefit, not a requirement. For those of us that had a lot of time in the service, it was a severe blow to us. The supreme court ruled that they could change the rules but the intent of the agreement had to remain somewhat in tact. Now we pay for our health care, but our premiums are very low, in comparison to the civilian population. It is not free anymore, but we are no longer bound to use military medical facilities or the VA.
I think the same thing could be used if a coach just decides to let a kid go, because he over estimated his talent and has a chance to get a better player in the scholarship spot. It is an agreement with certain obligations assumed by both parties. It would be a pretty weak argument to say that I as a coach made a mistake in evaluating a player and therefore I want to take the scholarship away from him. I think most courts would side with the player on this one.
AltamahaDawg
June 4th, 2011
12:44 pm
Wasn’t about controlling the intentions of Saban, or others. It was about controlling he things that could be controlled. Numbers, dates, medical exams.
AltamahaDawg
June 4th, 2011
12:53 pm
Rocket, I am sure the court of popular opinion would side with the player, But are you sure that really the same thing as VA benefits after retirement?
In my mind its more like the rules that say when an employer wants to fire somebody, they fire them. And they don’t need to give any reason. (at least in Georgia). Now there is unemployment insurance for that that the state dictates companies pay into, but thats not the same as requiring them to employ the guy and continue to pay his salary.
Only if a person had an iron clad contract for a certain pay period, or buy out. Do college football players contract with thier grant in aid quarantee them its paid if they are kicked off for no reason? Maybe it does/should, but if so them MikeP is wrong that a coach had always had the power to do that.
AltamahaDawg
June 4th, 2011
1:04 pm
Should a player be held by the courts to have to stay and play for a coach they don’t like. The NCAA has some rules governing how a player can transfer, as a matter of governing competitive sports, but it’s not a legal issue.
What the difference between: I promised to pay for you college as long as you were a willing member of this team…..and I promised to be a willing member of this team as long as you were willing to pay for my college.
UGAgrad71
June 4th, 2011
2:13 pm
Oh, do I miss the good old days when the “Bear” could stockpile players, so that the rest of the SEC could not have them. I remember over the last decade or so of players signed by UGA only to discover congenital defects such as spinal problems, HBP, or suffer a stroke aka David Jacobs. To me, it would be better to sign true students prepared for college and just happened to be football players. I would love to see a developmental league for the NFL, much like minor league baseball. Then, these kids whose only desire is to go to the NFL, could develop their skills, and not be confused with a true college student who happened to be a football player.
UGAKEV
June 4th, 2011
2:41 pm
Enter your comments here
UGAKEV
June 4th, 2011
2:48 pm
ZERO arrest so far ! Yeah how about that haters…GO DAWGS
AltamahaDawg
June 4th, 2011
3:18 pm
If any student is on scholarship to play on the football team, He is no more or less a true college student than David Jacobs was.
How bout those golfing Dogs?
June 4th, 2011
5:19 pm
All state matchup for NC tomorrow with Augusta State, defending national champs. A win would move UGA’s total NCs toward the 40 mark, spread out across many sports. Hats off to one of the premiere athletic departments in the nation!
Tideman
June 4th, 2011
5:51 pm
I am glad they passed this so you Dawg fans can quit complaining. I am sure you will find another excuse for not winning. I like coach Richt but the bottom line is Saban was recruiting within the rules and is a better coach. Richt is the better person . Good luck Dawgs in 2011.
51WTGW50
June 4th, 2011
8:18 pm
I guess that means there will be a few less Housing Majors next Fall.
Roadrunner
June 4th, 2011
8:24 pm
The SEC should not do anything that the other major conferences don’t also have to do, period. After the overblown Jan Kemp ordeal, Georgia held itself to a higher academic standard than any other athletic department in the SEC. What did this accomplishment, several signed athletes not making the higher bar at UGA, and just heading over to Auburn, Alabama and the like to play there. So Georgia lost valuable athletes to ‘prove’ that Jan Kemp wasn’t right about the school. Who cares? If its a rule worth having, then all NCAA division 1 schools should adopt it. Otherwise, forget it.
Hit A Single
June 4th, 2011
8:31 pm
Why we are worried about football scholarships why dont’t the Presidents fight for more baseball scholarships? 11and 1/4 scholarships are a joke. There should be at least 18. You talk about discrimination this is it. I would like to see basketball down to 11 an 1/4 you would have a suit filed.
And don’t give me that revenue sport crap. College baseball is growing and getting bigger and bigger. I am not sure the NCAA wants it to prosper.
MikeP
June 4th, 2011
10:27 pm
A scholarship is an annual agreement. A player and his head coach have to sign a new one every year. Players have been being let go at many schools for years now. There can be no lawsuit, it was a one year agreement and the school lived up to the one year.
Nobody hold your breath waiting for the NCAA to follow suit on these changes. All that will happen, if anything, is schools from the other BCS conferences will jointly sign a Thank You card and send to the SEC office.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 5th, 2011
8:21 am
Here is an approach the NCAA might want to think about adopting. No letter of intent can be signed or given until the kid is academically qualified to attend college. It could have a positive affect on both the high school kid as well, as give the coach a firm idea of his numbers and prevent them from having to offer 35 letters just to get 25 eligible to sign. Might that cut down a lot on the potential for over signing that exist?
MikeP
June 5th, 2011
9:47 am
Quoting Rocket Science: “Here is an approach the NCAA might want to think about adopting. No letter of intent can be signed or given until the kid is academically qualified to attend college.”
Now that makes a lot more sense than the misguided junk the SEC presidents just passed.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 5th, 2011
9:58 am
You might want to venture over to Al Dot COM as they have a pretty good article concerning over signing as well. This, for sure is going to be a hot topic for the near future in the SEC at least.
AltamahaDawg
June 5th, 2011
12:30 pm
The problem with that is having a recruiting period that doesnt end, and nobody has any idea where they are going, and school have no idea what kind of class they have till June. Seriously want to the LOI to get signed 12 weeks before the season starts? Wouldnt that all but insure dealing that are 10 times worse than anything goin on now?
How eaxactly does that make more sense that what they just did with numbers, and dates, and medical exams?
You are still not answering why this was so bad?
gcs
June 5th, 2011
12:35 pm
The crybabies win again.
.
AltamahaDawg
June 5th, 2011
12:38 pm
Mike, can you name a couple of players at whatever school you keep up with, that were ever told “your grades, attitude, and standings are fine, but you are too slow. Take a hike”.
Randall H.
June 5th, 2011
4:43 pm
Advantadge every other conference and school. These things really only mean anything if everyone is doing same. Great day for dogooders though. Liberals are going to screw over college ball like they have MLB and NFL.
AltamahaDawg
June 5th, 2011
6:32 pm
Doesn’t affect Georgia recruting against the other conference. Or the other SEC team that didn’t do this in the first place. Helps Georgia recruiting within its own conference. Not sure what the problem is.
AJC Editor
June 5th, 2011
9:13 pm
“A not-so-dirty secret about UGA football: It’s making the grade” This is such an awesome article we’ve decided to keep it posted through 2015.
MikeP
June 5th, 2011
10:54 pm
AltamahaDawg
June 5th, 2011
12:38 pm
“Mike, can you name a couple of players at whatever school you keep up with, that were ever told “your grades, attitude, and standings are fine, but you are too slow. Take a hike”.”
No, since I wasn’t sitting in the room. I do know of players that transferred out. Reading the press in Alabama, if they left Tuskaloser, it was to “help them find a place where they can succeed”. If they left Auburn, it was because “they were ruthlessly kicked to the curb.”
No matter how you spin it, some every year are encouraged to finish school elsewhere. This phenomenon is directly correlated to how many spaces are needed to get the roster down to the 85 limit. I strongly suspect that if I followed the Dawgs closely, I could find some that leave Athens almost every year for reasons other than bad grades or misconduct. Everybody does it when the numbers start to crunch.
Saban has a lot of attention lately because he’s overloaded with players and so has had to let more go than many other schools. Others have done this in the past and will again when the need arises, and these new rules did absolutely nothing to address this little item.
Observer
June 6th, 2011
6:40 am
I’m reasonably intelligent.
I have no idea what the new proposals are except that it reduces the number of signees from a maximum of 28 to 25 total signees in any one year. Right???? I dunno…………
Maybe a better explanation will be forthcoming from a better writer.
Paddy
June 6th, 2011
7:01 am
Back in the day you didn’t need laws for good people to act right. What the hell happened to our morals. It is one of the reasons I admired CMR. He may not win as many games as I want him to. But he is a stand-up guy you can count on. If I still had a college age son, I would encourage him to play for CMR.
Bulldog59
June 6th, 2011
7:35 am
The ADs did the right thing. Before last season, I did a tally and Saban had signed 106 players over a 4 year span. During that same time frame, UGA signed 88. The SEC is onto these schools signing more kids than the depth chart can manage, followed by the inevitable….coaches “supporting” the player’s transfer to smaller schools when the player can’t win enough playing time.
Rule modification #3 also indicates the SEC is onto the massaging of the numbers by coaches, i.e. mysterious career-ending injuries that seem to always involve a junior or senior that is, at best, 3rd string and a marginal contributor.
joe
June 6th, 2011
8:20 am
It is just like anything else. After a period of cutting the corners or over signing players, and coaches skirting the rules, the administration takes away the choices supposedly that should be made by the coaches. Eventually this type of action destroys the program.
DawginLex
June 6th, 2011
8:22 am
So Mark richt was right afterall?
The Presidents agreed with him?
Will Saban now take his ball and go home and run away like he has everywhere else he has ever coached?
DawginLex
June 6th, 2011
8:24 am
Truther, since no players have been arrested this year at all, you must be an inmate yourself since you describe details about the inside of the Clarke County Jail.
Your truths are all lies.
Get some new material son. Even the TROLLS are complaining.
AltamahaDawg
June 6th, 2011
9:03 am
I always thought 3 less, was 3 less.
Uuugh
June 6th, 2011
9:23 am
I think the point here is that now Saban and Chizik have to be a bit more selective with their offers. These guys have been coming through GA offering any and every kid with some talent at the beginning of their junior year…skewing their favorites before the recruiting process has even begun.
We fault Richt and Co. on the recruiting blog for being so slow on the draw on offers but it is because they want to make sure the kid can a) get in and b) is a good fit.
We have been losing in state recruits because they all want to play for a contender (Alabama) or want to be paid (Auburn). We usually hear “X school was the first to offer me” or “these guys have wanted me since the beginning.”
This solution is far from perfect but if it stops Saban and the Chiz from wallpapering GA highschools with offers–I am happy about that.