Division II Punts on Proposal for Five Years of Eligibility

[Matt Witwicki]

https://www.d2football.com/division-...f-eligibility/

Content from this morning..NCAA membership vote.

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Here is some of the play by play via Twitter also..

https://x.com/NCAADII/status/2012167187255947567

[Thunder]

It seems like this is something that will eventually happen, but the NCAA membership is (rightfully?) afraid of some of the consequences of this change in the courts. I know this is for D2, but I think the D1 coaches were looking at something similar and there was a proposal to allow 9 games and still redshirt for football instead of just switching to 5 years of eligibility. In reading the tea leaves, it seemed like the reason a fear of lawsuits on eligibility. That is the one arena where the NCAA has at least had a small amount of success defending its model in the last couple of years. I'm assuming D2 will not make any significant changes until our D1 big brothers do, but I would love to get Witt or Chuck's thoughts on this.

[TheBigCat2192]

I wonder if the membership decided to wait after a federal judge denied the request for a preliminary injunction in Patterson v NCAA (a lawsuit about the four year limit). Perhaps they think the odds favor the NCAA winning the full case whenever it’s heard and as such they don’t want to make a change that takes them out of line with the other two divisions.

[Matt Witwicki]

It seems like this is something that will eventually happen, but the NCAA membership is (rightfully?) afraid of some of the consequences of this change in the courts. I know this is for D2, but I think the D1 coaches were looking at something similar and there was a proposal to allow 9 games and still redshirt for football instead of just switching to 5 years of eligibility. In reading the tea leaves, it seemed like the reason a fear of lawsuits on eligibility. That is the one arena where the NCAA has at least had a small amount of success defending its model in the last couple of years. I'm assuming D2 will not make any significant changes until our D1 big brothers do, but I would love to get Witt or Chuck's thoughts on this.

The feedback that I've gotten about this is mixed. State schools and bigger D2 programs wanted this as it made things clear cut but at the same time there could be unintended consequences with needing more grad schooling options (harder for smaller schools) and then also D1 athletes dropping to D2 for a final year of football while D1 did not pass this same motion. So if it's N/A in D1, what's to stop a flow of players to drop into D2 for their last season. Once again, kinda unintended consequences. *This would've become active immediately..so a player that didn't redshirt and just played their 4th year or football..they would've been granted another season of competition. A player that redshirted a year, played 4 seasons after that, they'd still be done..because they already did their own 5 for 5.

8-10 months ago when this idea was first coming to my attention it felt like this was going to be a slam dunk..as it seems like a good idea on it's face. I didn't get any impression that potential litigation slowed this down any..if anything it was trying to create clear cut rules without "but how about this" kinda thinking. Once schools started thinking more about how it could impact them individually, some hesitation seemed to creep in. Depending on how your individual school goes about their business, this could be good or bad for your institution.

There was some talk of this trying to be quickly amended this and put it forth again quickly..but with the wide gap in the vote, it would seem there's some real reluctance to just move forward with this and instead the can is being kicked down the road to 2028 for talks at that point. Personally, I don't have strong thoughts about it one way or the other, but it's certainly the topic of the moment in D2. If felt like there was a lot of support in the MIAA, the GSC as well..but mixed support elsewhere..and a broad part of the membership just didn't seem ready for it at this time.

[tsull]

Four years of eligibility is enough. A redshirt year is good for freshmen who are not yet ready or injured players. It was a good system, now D1 guys, like the UO/Miami lineman, get 9 years of eligibility or six years; many get 7. Allowing 5th year of playing is yet another one of many rules that just hurts high school players and their recruitment. I don't know what it's like in your state, but out here in the Northwest, the states of Washington and Oregon not only have lower football turnouts, the talent level has dropped dramatically. Not long ago, the state of Washington had national players of the year, I believe 3 or 4 in a 20-year span. Now CWU -- more power to them -- is signing the Gatorade prep players of the year, I believe they have two of them on their roster.

Add the portal, and prep players are really out of the recruiting market. Of course the decision makers and 8-figure coaches want to control things so they can keep their money. The absolute last people on earth they are thinking about are prep football players.

Stop it, just stop. Play four years, get your degree and move on in life, like most college students.

[Rambunctious1]

Four years of eligibility is enough. A redshirt year is good for freshmen who are not yet ready or injured players. It was a good system, now D1 guys, like the UO/Miami lineman, get 9 years of eligibility or six years; many get 7. Allowing 5th year of playing is yet another one of many rules that just hurts high school players and their recruitment. I don't know what it's like in your state, but out here in the Northwest, the states of Washington and Oregon not only have lower football turnouts, the talent level has dropped dramatically. Not long ago, the state of Washington had national players of the year, I believe 3 or 4 in a 20-year span. Now CWU -- more power to them -- is signing the Gatorade prep players of the year, I believe they have two of them on their roster.

Add the portal, and prep players are really out of the recruiting market. Of course the decision makers and 8-figure coaches want to control things so they can keep their money. The absolute last people on earth they are thinking about are prep football players.

Stop it, just stop. Play four years, get your degree and move on in life, like most college students.

Amen. Regular kids going to school to get degrees that pay are having to help pay for this. If college sports is now a business, ( not saying it already wasn’t in big schools at least), then it shouldn’t be subsidized by kids trying to get a education that is actually to the benefit of their future. I know that athletic fees have been there a long time as the collegiate experience, but this is now at a much higher level. Otherwise, parents and kids need to become more informed and proactive about new avenues to education outside of the old mindsets that the previous generation had about where to go for post high school education. Based on how things are now and what campuses are teaching, there has to be a radical change parent/student perception of what is “ higher learning “ and what that “education “ will actually mean once that young person gets that “degree” and will the cost/debt incurred will be worth it.

[boatcapt]

It's hard putting the COVID-eligibility genie back in the bottle but that is what they are trying to do.

Anyone see the post game interview with the Miami QB who was in his SIXTH year of eligibility? Reporter asked him about weather he was going back to class (presumably relating to his NFL Draft preparation). Guy chuckled and smirked a little and his answer was spot on for the time we are in now...He said no because he graduated two years ago and has only been taking 6 hours since then. I read somewhere he had made almost $4M in NIL $'s. Ahhh...Remember the old days when players played for 4 years and "only" got a college degree as payment? Good times...good times...

[Tdobson]

This will be something interesting to follow. I don't think they can allow only D2 players to get that 5th year of eligibility.

My question is: if this passes and its only for D2, how do you enforce it? Can only athletes who played all four years at a D2 school get the fifth year? That would make it very interesting to me.

[SW_Mustang]

It's hard putting the COVID-eligibility genie back in the bottle but that is what they are trying to do.

Anyone see the post game interview with the Miami QB who was in his SIXTH year of eligibility? Reporter asked him about weather he was going back to class (presumably relating to his NFL Draft preparation). Guy chuckled and smirked a little and his answer was spot on for the time we are in now...He said no because he graduated two years ago and has only been taking 6 hours since then. I read somewhere he had made almost $4M in NIL $'s. Ahhh...Remember the old days when players played for 4 years and "only" got a college degree as payment? Good times...good times...

Our QB had six years, this was 2018. Much easier to understand how he got there back then though. Now I have no idea.

[tsull]

So glad the covid years are ending. Let's get back to some normalcy here. I know Division 1 now let's professional basketball players play, they're getting rid of junior colleges counting as eligibility. I think division 2 should have some semblance of normalcy with some true student athletes. Stop the insanity.

[FoothillBison]

No need to have kids playing 6 years of college football. One redshirt year and that is it. I don't even like the idea of a medical redshirt on top of a typical one (unless the player missed 8 or more games).

[boatcapt]

So glad the covid years are ending. Let's get back to some normalcy here. I know Division 1 now let's professional basketball players play, they're getting rid of junior colleges counting as eligibility. I think division 2 should have some semblance of normalcy with some true student athletes. Stop the insanity.

True. However what happens in D1 has a direct and near immediate effect on DII normality.

[boatcapt]

Our QB had six years, this was 2018. Much easier to understand how he got there back then though. Now I have no idea.

Four years plus a redshirt year plus a COVID year.

[SW_Mustang]

Four years plus a redshirt year plus a COVID year.

Nope - four years + redshirt + medical redshirt. I believe he took six credits his final season.

[TheBigCat2192]

So glad the covid years are ending. Let's get back to some normalcy here. I know Division 1 now let's professional basketball players play, they're getting rid of junior colleges counting as eligibility. I think division 2 should have some semblance of normalcy with some true student athletes. Stop the insanity.

That was a one time blanket waiver brought on by a judge’s initial decision in Pavia v NCAA. The NCAA has stated that it’s not a permanent rule change and they intend to fight the expanded Pavia suit seeking another year.