Extra year for college players

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Mar 4, 2015
526
93
New England
Before the covid thread went poof, I was enjoying the discussion on the extra year for college players.

How many players will exercise this allowance, and how many will get on with their lives? I don't have a dog in the fight (or daughter in the arena, as it were), so haven't thought much about it.

I would expect that many would feel they'd played enough and want to go to work or grad school or whatever. How many redshirt seniors are there in college softball in normal times? Not a ton, really. Probably a reason for that.
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
Its a bit hard tell what caused more strife.

The D1 Coaches not knowing of spots, opening or not.
Or
The no in person D1 recruiting
Or
The big question mark ? of $

From travel coach and college feedback about
D2/D3 Colleges are experiencing a harvest of talent!

* Ask this of DFP
How many players do you know of changed their plans, perhaps opened the door to other/new plans of opportunity?
 
Mar 4, 2015
526
93
New England
I don't follow it closely as I once did, but I know one mid-major player who wanted to return to get a full senior season but didn't feel it was worth delaying law school. She would already be graduated, so she couldn't justify putting the rest of her life on hold just to play softball, even though she loved it.

So many players don't play 4 seasons anyway. They quit, get hurt, get run off. I'll be curious to see how many this really affects. I hope it doesn't put college coaches in the position of ''processing'' players that they don't want. That happens even in normal times.
 
May 14, 2015
493
43
Bismarck ND
Well DD is a 22 and she is hearing that some of the D1 budgets are being cut 10-20% at the schools she is talking to, but some of the coaches are saying it ($$) will be reduced for some of the lets say upper classmen. I am sure it will affect girls in all years.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Personally, I am in favor of allowing the athletes to play 4 seasons, but not in favor of adding extra years. I didn't even realize that was a thing to be honest.

DD is currently in her junior year. During her sophomore year, her team played 2 games and then the season was cancelled. The team was told that the spring of 2020 would not count against them, so they would retain that year of eligibility. There was 3 seniors on the team. 1 graduated and moved on (got a job). The other two are going to graduate school, and plan to play this season, if there is a season. DD will also attend graduate school once her undergrad is complete and is considering playing that 5th year (4 years of eligibility). The team has not said anything about additional eligibility and I doubt DD would consider that even if it was offered.

Note: She would have missed the spring of 2020 regardless due to shoulder surgery. So even without covid, she would still be eligible during that 5th year.
 
May 27, 2013
2,353
113
I don’t think there will be a big impact of players returning to strictly undergrad-only schools. I do think schools with grad programs at all divisions will be affected.
 
Nov 5, 2014
351
63
This is a repost from a similar thread in the Playing College Softball Forum. Not everyone scrolls that far down the page so I thought it was worth reposting here. Disclaimer my DD is a 2022 so I am biased in my opinions but she is already committed and while it made recruiting more difficult it will have very little if any impact on her college career as her school is in a conference that does not allow athletes to play as graduate students.

I don't have anywhere near complete data to be certain but the anecdotal evidence suggests the number of athletes utilizing the extra year are significant at multiple levels of the sport and the impacts, both direct and indirect, are huge. Here are some examples:

DD's teammate is a 2022 Notre Dame Commit. Notre Dame had 3 seniors return as a result the coaches told her the 2022 recruiting class of 3 was the smallest they have ever had. No reason to believe that this will not impact the next 3 classes at minimum due to the extra year of eligibility granted last spring to all athletes. This would increase even more if another waiver is granted.

Arizona had 6 seniors opt to come back. This led to 5 transfers from their current roster creating indirect impacts to the schools those players eventually land at.

Heard 2nd hand that Furman currently has 28 players on the roster where they typically carry 19 creating quite the logjam.

A 2021 Missouri committed P from NY received a voicemail from the coach saying due to the Covid eligibility waiver they would no longer be able to honor her commitment. She landed a spot at syracuse but other committs might not be as lucky especially at less valuable positions.

DD's HS teammate is a freshman at Tufts, 4 seniors opted to attend grad school and utilize the extra year making the playing time prospects for those freshman considerably worse.

Those are just the examples I have personally heard about, I am certain there are tons of other stories like these and it is impacting everything from SEC, Pac 12 all the way down to high academic D3 NESCAC(this one I never expected)

In my biased opinion, DD and her teammates are all 2022/2023, the current HS players are bearing a disproportionate amount of the burden created by Covid19. They all missed 1 HS season already with this spring still uncertain and are having their college opportunities impacted as well.
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
This is a repost from a similar thread in the Playing College Softball Forum. Not everyone scrolls that far down the page so I thought it was worth reposting here. Disclaimer my DD is a 2022 so I am biased in my opinions but she is already committed and while it made recruiting more difficult it will have very little if any impact on her college career as her school is in a conference that does not allow athletes to play as graduate students.

I don't have anywhere near complete data to be certain but the anecdotal evidence suggests the number of athletes utilizing the extra year are significant at multiple levels of the sport and the impacts, both direct and indirect, are huge. Here are some examples:

DD's teammate is a 2022 Notre Dame Commit. Notre Dame had 3 seniors return as a result the coaches told her the 2022 recruiting class of 3 was the smallest they have ever had. No reason to believe that this will not impact the next 3 classes at minimum due to the extra year of eligibility granted last spring to all athletes. This would increase even more if another waiver is granted.

Arizona had 6 seniors opt to come back. This led to 5 transfers from their current roster creating indirect impacts to the schools those players eventually land at.

Heard 2nd hand that Furman currently has 28 players on the roster where they typically carry 19 creating quite the logjam.

A 2021 Missouri committed P from NY received a voicemail from the coach saying due to the Covid eligibility waiver they would no longer be able to honor her commitment. She landed a spot at syracuse but other committs might not be as lucky especially at less valuable positions.

DD's HS teammate is a freshman at Tufts, 4 seniors opted to attend grad school and utilize the extra year making the playing time prospects for those freshman considerably worse.

Those are just the examples I have personally heard about, I am certain there are tons of other stories like these and it is impacting everything from SEC, Pac 12 all the way down to high academic D3 NESCAC(this one I never expected)

In my biased opinion, DD and her teammates are all 2022/2023, the current HS players are bearing a disproportionate amount of the burden created by Covid19. They all missed 1 HS season already with this spring still uncertain and are having their college opportunities impacted as well.
Brutal ripple effect.
 
May 27, 2013
2,353
113
Those are just the examples I have personally heard about, I am certain there are tons of other stories like these and it is impacting everything from SEC, Pac 12 all the way down to high academic D3 NESCAC(this one I never expected)

Tufts (NESCAC) doesn’t surprise me at all as they have pretty robust and highly sought after grad school programs.

ETA: I believe in order to be able to continue to play a varsity sport in D3 you have to maintain a full time credit course load which is typically 12 credits. I could be wrong about that, though. I know most grad schools consider 9 credits to be FT.
 
Last edited:
May 21, 2015
116
43
South
Tufts (NESCAC) doesn’t surprise me at all as they have pretty robust and highly sought after grad school programs.

ETA: I believe in order to be able to continue to play a varsity sport in D3 you have to maintain a full time credit course load which is typically 12 credits. I could be wrong about that, though. I know most grad schools consider 9 credits to be FT.

The NCAA is being very generous with waivers. The 12 hour requirement you mention appears to not be an issue at the D3 level.
 

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