Few Athletes Benefit From Move to Multiyear Scholarships

Until recently, major-college athletes were bound by annually renewable contracts that allowed NCAA colleges to reduce or eliminate their scholarships for failing to meet certain expectations.

That uncertainty was supposed to change last year after the NCAA adopted a policy allowing programs to guarantee athletics aid for multiple years. But since August, when the change went into effect, very few elite athletes have benefited.

Nearly two-thirds of the 56 most powerful Division I public universities now offer multiyear awards, according to a Chronicle review of public records. Yet few of those institutions do so for more than a handful of athletes.

Among the holdouts are some of the wealthiest programs, including the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Oregon, and Texas A&M. At the University of Arizona, Georgia Tech, and the University of Louisville, this year’s NCAA men’s basketball champions, you can count the multiyear beneficiaries on one hand.

Officials from some of those colleges say their hesitation is not about the money—they just oppose making long-term promises to prospects who may not hold up their end of the bargain.

“Who gets a four-year, $120K deal guaranteed at age 17?” Christine A. Plonsky, women’s athletic director at the University of Texas, wrote in an e-mail to The Chronicle. “The last thing young people need right now is more entitlement.”

Officials at big-time programs say they renew the vast majority of scholarships every year, and typically cut players only for flunking classes or flouting the law. But critics, including many former players, say discretionary cuts happen far too often, with institutions relying on the one-year contracts to help push out athletes who, for whatever reason, no longer fit into coaches’ plans.

“It’s like an employee who doesn’t work out—you may have all the credentials, but you just may not fit in philosophically,” says Jason Pappas, an assistant instructor of sport management at Florida State University. “It’s easier to have a one-year agreement so you can say, ‘It was nice working with you, but we’re not going to renew you next year.’”

He and others would like to see colleges sign more multiyear accords to encourage students to persist. “It sends a strong message that you’re committed to develop that student as a whole person, not just as an athlete,” says Mr. Pappas, a former director of academic support for athletes at Florida State. “You should support them all the way through until graduation, or until they have an opportunity to play professionally.”

Grudging Acceptance

The impetus for multiyear agreements came out of a presidential summit organized by Mark Emmert in August 2011, and the NCAA president has made it a key part of his reform agenda. But the new policy, which was designed to give athletes more rights amid growing cries to pay players, failed to catch on with many coaches. Last year, Division I colleges nearly rolled back the change, failing by just two votes.

Since then the concept has slowly gained acceptance. At least 35 of the 56 institutions surveyed by The Chronicle—all of the public universities in the six biggest conferences—said they offer multiyear agreements to players.

Among those, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the outlier, making multiyear aid the default unless coaches argue otherwise. Illinois handed out 192 multiyear awards this year, representing more than half of its players; so far, 101 of its 119 recruits for next year have accepted multiyear offers.

“We felt it was the right thing to do,” says Ryan Squire, associate athletics director for compliance at Illinois. “We thought it would send students the message that we stand by our commitment.”

But even colleges that have moved toward the longer agreements have done so modestly. Six institutions signed at least two dozen multiyear agreements this academic year. They include the University of Florida (60), Ohio State University (47), North Carolina State University (40), Michigan State University (30), Arizona State University (27), and Auburn University (27).

But multiyear awards still account for less than one-tenth of all athletic scholarships at most of those institutions.

The University of Alabama, which voted to override the multiyear policy last year, says it has signed 23 agreements across various sports. The university would not say whether Nick Saban, the head football coach, who has supported the idea of longer-term contracts, has used any for his players.

Other coaches are staunchly opposed, saying multiyear deals allow them less flexibility to release players.

“If you give a 60- to 70-percent scholarship and the guy’s not panning out, that kills you,” says one major-college tennis coach who asked not to be identified. “That’s a difference in 30 rankings spots easily.”

NCAA rules are designed to discourage programs from cutting players for athletic reasons. But critics say one-year aid agreements have helped contribute to a revolving door in some sports. According to NCAA data, about 40 percent of men’s basketball players will not be competing at their original institution by the end of their sophomore year. The transfer rate in other sports is also climbing.

Many coaches pin the problem on players, who come in looking for star treatment and are quick to initiate a transfer if coaches don’t give them the spotlight.

“From a coaches’ standpoint, it would be better if we could get a four-year commitment from the players,” says Bobby Lutz, associate head men’s basketball coach at N.C. State, where about 10 percent of athletes signed multiyear deals this year. “It is a misconception that coaches run off players more than players choose to leave for what they see as greener pastures.”

Other athletic departments in the Atlantic Coast Conference have not adopted the change as quickly. Officials at the University of North Carolina, which offered two multiyear awards this year to its 463 scholarship athletes, sign them only at the request of coaches. (For next year, just nine of the Tar Heels’ 105 current incoming recruits have received multiyear offers.) The University of Virginia, which signed five multiyear deals for the 2012-13 academic year, plans to give at least 14 next year, in sports including men’s basketball and tennis and women’s golf, softball, tennis, field hockey, and track.

The Big 12 Conference, which was the only one of the six major leagues to oppose the new NCAA policy last year, still has little support for the idea. Only four of the conference’s eight public colleges offered multiyear scholarships this year, benefiting fewer than two dozen students.

The University of Kansas offered 16 awards, Texas Tech handed out two, and Oklahoma State gave one, according to records provided to The Chronicle. The University of Oklahoma reports that it has given multiyear scholarships but wouldn’t say how many.

Several Southeastern Conference institutions—including Louisiana State University, the University of Tennessee, and Texas A&M University—are largely opposed to the multiyear approach. But some of the league’s teams have used multiyear awards when necessary to land recruits.

The University of Missouri, which says it has matched multiyear offers for one or two prospects, has not supported the idea.

“I feel like it’s a very justified process for the year-to-year renewal, especially when academic aid is structured that way,” says Mitzi Clayton, associate athletic director for compliance, emphasizing that she was speaking for herself and not the university. “I’m also a big incentive person, and think it’s important to teach students that, no matter what we do in life, we’re all judged by our performance. That’s how you move up in the world.”

Chris Fuller, a senior associate athletic director at Tennessee, has a similar take.

“Fundamentally, why wouldn’t your scholarship be tied to performance, however you measure it?” he says. “It’s not to say you’ve got to have 1,000 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns, but are you living up to your responsibilities?”

Recruitment Tool

Instead of offering more guaranteed aid, the most powerful programs are relying on their rich athletics traditions, broad television exposure, and other advantages over less-wealthy foes. But a handful of power programs appear to be using multiyear aid as a recruiting inducement in the biggest sports.

Florida says it has given multiyear awards to “pretty much every eligible football player.” At Ohio State, more than half of its 41 new offers of multiyear aid went to football and basketball players.

Some mid-major programs are using the four-year guarantees as points of differentiation against bigger programs. Fresno State University handed out 425 multiyear awards this year—one for every scholarship athlete—says Jason Clay, an assistant director of communications. One reason, he says, was to reduce pressure on students who had to compete for spots every year.

Other mid-major officials say they are open to multiyear agreements when athletes demand it.

“We’re not out there selling it, but if a student-athlete says, ‘I want a two-year deal,’ or, ‘I want this guaranteed for four years,’ we can certainly do that,” says Mario Moccia, athletic director at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

But multiyear contracts are not exactly a blank check. As a precaution, some institutions have added language to their agreements requiring players to meet a broader set of responsibilities to keep receiving their aid. Those stipulations, which in some cases include academic or behavior guidelines that are stricter than those for one-year awards, are intended to give institutions an exit clause should players not meet their basic obligations. Those moves have encouraged some institutions to make more multiyear offers.

The more institutions that offer multiyear agreements, the more prospects and their parents will start asking about them, says Brad Barnes, assistant director of compliance at Texas A&M, who says coaches there have not heard many requests.

On paper, he says, the change allows for more of a “free market,” in which players can negotiate for more years on their contracts. The same thing happens already in nonrevenue sports, such as track and field, golf, and wrestling, where players can receive different scholarship amounts from different institutions.

“Right now kids don’t understand their bargaining position,” Mr. Barnes says. If that changes, he says, his institution could be more open to guaranteeing extra years.

For their part, players are not always in favor of the longer-term deals.

“Part of being a student-athlete is ensuring your team’s success,” says Nick Fulton, a former swimmer at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

“I can tell you that I would’ve been as motivated to succeed in the pool and in the classroom if I had four years guaranteed,” says Mr. Fulton, a past chair of the NCAA’s Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. “But I’m not sure everyone would have had the same motivation to push themselves.”

Few Student-Athletes Receive Multiyear Scholarships