The Buckeyes sing “Carmen” at the end of the game against Maryland on Nov. 9. Ohio State won 73-14. Credit: Amal Saeed | Former Photo Editor
A free year of eligibility may initially appear to resolve the season postponement for seniors, but it may create more problems than meets the eye.
The NCAA Division I Board of Directors announced Aug. 21 a free year of eligibility for fall sport athletes regardless if they play the season or not. Returning players will not count against a team’s scholarship count, but the financial burden mixed with the extended time spent in school has not made the decision to return straightforward for fall sport athletes at Ohio State.
An extension of eligibility was also provided to spring sport athletes after their season was cut short due to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NCAA announced the extension March 30 which would allow student-athletes to return and not count against a team’s scholarship count.
Although the returning seniors’ scholarships do not count against each team’s scholarship count, which varies from rifle’s 3.6 scholarships to football’s 85, the financial burden was felt by both the university and the student-athletes who, for the most part, were on a partial scholarship.
Leaving the scholarship decision up to the schools, Ohio State moved to honor the scholarships of returning spring sport seniors, which Smith estimated would cost the university nearly $900,000.
Most spring sports are labeled as equivalency sports, meaning a set number of scholarships are given to be divided amongst the players of a team.
Fall sports, however, include a few head-count sports — sports that are given a maximum number of athletes that are allowed to be under scholarship resulting in full scholarships being given out to those athletes. Ohio State football and women’s volleyball are head-count sports that have received eligibility extensions from the NCAA.
An Ohio State spokesperson said that the Department of Athletics will fulfill scholarships, but noted “the final decision rests with the head coach and sport administrator.”
On the Ohio State men’s soccer team, which is allocated 9.9 scholarships, fifth-year senior defender Samuel Buzzas is set to graduate at the end of the fall semester, but a potential spring season has made him alter his thought process. Buzzas also said that being able to play again in the fall while working on a graduate program is something he is considering.
“At that point, I would be able to get a significant amount of courses into that, but it just comes down to a lot of financial decisions and decisions on what I really want to do after I get my undergraduate degree,” Buzzas said Aug. 25.
For senior midfielder Joe Ortiz, the eligibility waiver has provided him with the chance to play an extra year of soccer at Ohio State.
Although the decision to extend his education past his original spring 2021 plan is still being mulled over, he said that continuing his schooling was always in the cards.
“I guess it gives a little more incentive,” Ortiz said Aug. 24 on the extra year of eligibility. “I’ve always wanted to go to get my graduate’s degree in social work or my master’s degree in social work.”
Ortiz said that an unaffected fall season would have led him to pursue professional soccer opportunities before looking at further schooling.
Ohio State baseball head coach Greg Beals brought up roster concerns when it came to the spring eligibility extension, noting that his freshman class would be made up of 20 student-athletes for the 2021 season.
Beals said that would bring added difficulties to the team and force him to have tough conversations with players.
“While the roster is thick and strong, my lineup card still only got nine slots on it,” Beals said March 31.
The reality faced by Beals is now affecting fall sport coaches.
Before the decision to extend eligibility for fall sport athletes, Ohio State football head coach Ryan Day said that seniors returning in fall 2021 would cause the team to exceed its count of 85 scholarships.
Ohio State women’s volleyball coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg noted that her team was not exempt from the tough decision that now befalls senior student-athletes.
Fifth-year senior middle blocker Jordan Fry, who took her Medical College Admission Test and is preparing to go to medical school in fall 2021, is looking into extending her career and participating in a spring season.
“I think that says a lot more, who she is as a teammate and what we want to do as a program that she wants to be around,” Oldenburg said Aug. 20. “We’ve had difficult conversations with some of our players, but they’re invested in each other and they’re invested in this school and this program.”
