Letter of Intent

[Oldtimer]

I believe to get an athletic scholarship you need to sign a Letter of Intent. I am confused by a previous thread that the commitment seems to be only for one year.

Does anyone know the NCAA obligations of the student or the school when a student signs such a letter. As a former counselor, I am somewhat familiar with NCAA requirements and did work with Division I athletes but never saw a student lose a scholarship. Confused and in need of help???????????

[B9j2j6s]

I’m not an expert on this but from what I have understood about this subject is

 

Essentially a scholarship is a one year contract between a player and the school; it has to be renewed every year. In most cases it is but it is up to the coach to renew the contract.

 

A national letter of intent is sort of like an early decision for a typical student. It is an agreement stating that you’ll attend the college/university if they accept you up front and play the sport that you were recruited for.

[UA_MA_2000]

I’m not an expert on this but from what I have understood about this subject is

 

Essentially a scholarship is a one year contract between a player and the school; it has to be renewed every year. In most cases it is but it is up to the coach to renew the contract.

 

A national letter of intent is sort of like an early decision for a typical student. It is an agreement stating that you’ll attend the college/university if they accept you up front and play the sport that you were recruited for.

 

But you can still back out of your letter of intent, right?

 

The interplay between NCAA athletics and student athletes seems strange to me. It appears as though the term "contract" is rather amorphous and slippery, whether we're in the context of current athletes or recruits.

[alum73]

As far as I know, Letters of intent are not administered by the NCAA.

[alum73]

http://www.national-letter.org/faq/

[UA_MA_2000]

Alum73, thanks for the link. There is great information there.

 

I was most curious about the consequences for a breach of a national letter of intent, to which the following answered my inquiry:

 

"If you do not attend the institution with which you signed, or if you do not fulfill the terms of the National Letter of Intent, the basic penalty is that you lose one year of eligibility in all sports and must serve one year in residence at your next National Letter of Intent institution. " Releases and Transferring, Paragraph 1 (emphasis supplied), http://www.national-letter.org/faq/.

[VeoDane]

I don't know if you were talking about my comment in a previous post where i talked about the relationship between student and the university but most of what i said was based on my sociology course "Sports and Society" where we discussed student-school relationships. I was informed by my professor that schools commit one year and can renue or choose to 'give up' the student's scholarship whereas the student must commit for 4 years. If the student does not then it results in them sitting out a year.

[Patch]

VeoDane - you are pretty much on target.

 

The reason for sitting out a year when transferring DI to DI is to stop DI schools from raidng each other. Especially BCS type schools coming in and stealing a Jamar Wilson from UA. Jamar may have left if he didn't have to sit out a year.

 

But an athlete can actually leave a DI institution anytime they want and play immediately if they transfer to a DII, III or NAIA school.

 

In the case of Ross if he goes to DC as he says and plays DII he will get his schooling paid for and will play next season.

[Oldtimer]

Thanks for all of the clarifying information. I'm glad I played in the days of the NAIA, No scholarships, NO tuition, and you could get a BS and MS degree in 5 years for a TOTAL COST of less than $3000--thats THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!--- for all 5 years NOT PER YEAR!! That's why I'm an "OldTimer"