https://www.houstonchronicle.c...
I guess this is par for the course in the NCAA now, but it's just insane that someone who declared going pro and signed a contract could work their way back. Have to imagine this is opening a huge can of worms
Dirtrunner wrote:
I guess this is par for the course in the NCAA now, but it's just insane that someone who declared going pro and signed a contract could work their way back. Have to imagine this is opening a huge can of worms
Does anyone find Citius post borderline unethical? There is no link to the original source. The Houston Chronicle did all of the reporting on this.
Brojos - please put this link up top:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/college/cougars/article/track-louie-hinchliffe-carl-lewis-21940438.php
The Houston Chronicle broke the news. Article below.
As soon as all those college basketball players were granted NCAA eligibility after playing professionally, I figured it was only a matter of time until we saw this in the NCAA.
British sprinter Louie Hinchliffe won the 2024 NCAA title. Then he turned pro and signed deal with ASICS . He ran professionally in 2025.
But Hinchliffe wanted to be coached by Carl Lewis again, but Lewis would only accept him if he was enrolled at school or graduated. NIL Go, the clearinghouse that evaluates NIL deals, looked at his contract and approved his return. He's got two years of eligibility left and is running Big 12s this weekend.
This was the key line in the story:
There is no designation for professional track, Lewis said, paving the way for Hincliffe to return to school.
Basically, it looks as if the NCAA has thrown its hands up and says it doesn't care about pro deals anymore in track. We've seen Kenyans come over here and be eligible after running pro races in Europe in pro kits.
I don't think we're going to have a bunch of top stars come back to college after turning pro -- the very best like the flexibility of being a pro and will seek out top competition. But we could certainly have more athletes like Hinchliffe who go pro, have a rough or injured first year and then decide to come back.
I think the bigger impact will be on young international athletes. Now you could run as a pro for a few years and come over to the NCAA in your mid-20s. The NCAA is supposed to be a development system, not a finishing school, but I worry that is what it is becoming...
This is potentially great news. In two years, maybe we can get Cooper L in some NCAA meets as it's kind of embarrasing to see the NCAA record be so much slower than the HS record. ;)
What's the difference between a pro and a person who signs a NIL deal? One can get a bonus for making an Olympic team or running fast and the other can't . It is a pretty meaningless distinction these days ...
Anyone actually attending college and taking and passing a full schedule of classes ought to be able to compete. With a limit of four years of competion actually engaged in. Say you begin in 2026 and run for two years and then drop out...would be able to return years later and run two more years
Who will show up in the NCAA next? Kenenisa Bekele? Keely? Hoey? All bets are off.
Umm… ever heard of Galen Rupp?
I remember when I was nervous about accepting a gift certificate for winning a road race, as the NCAA was notoriously draconian about eligibility. Now the pendulum has truly swung the other way.
rojo wrote:
This is potentially great news. In two years, maybe we can get Cooper L in some NCAA meets as it's kind of embarrasing to see the NCAA record be so much slower than the HS record. ;)
Didn’t they change their mind and not allow that guy for Alabama play anymore?
Dirtrunner wrote:
I guess this is par for the course in the NCAA now, but it's just insane that someone who declared going pro and signed a contract could work their way back. Have to imagine this is opening a huge can of worms
Bet his Filipino mother made him go back to school. Jk.
Kind of ridic but I guess that’s sports nowadays.
This is horrible news and will almost certainly be the death of college track. If Hinchcliffe has 2 years of eligibility left then it looks like his eligibility clock paused during his pro time because he is already turning 24 this year.
The NCAA used to be about people who were focused on getting a degree that also competed in sports. Now the focus is on getting paid huge salaries as a college athlete and their academics are the lowest priority.
And big schools have 45 scholarships per gender to spend on pro athletes. 18 year olds will not get any decent opportunities.
We could see a plethora of pros who have never been in the NCAA and those with elgibility left be eligible.
IMO - the power 4 NCAA season and structure for a sprinter is ideal year in-year out. It is far superior to the depth most pros even see on the IAAF circuit. Let's be real.
Yeah, this is BS. The NCAA has basically given up.
This must have been a very humbling experience to Louie to come back to Carl/Houston in order to continue in the sport. I'm glad Carl stuck to his coaching rules. Wish Louie the best of luck.
I wouldn’t say ‘given up’….they lose in court in every circumstance like this.
So much LOL here. UH worked hard for this because they need him badly. Just like a few years ago, some magic points transferred into town at semester. That program is hanging on by a thin thread.
We see stories like this every month but god forbid Mo Bati receives 6k for tuition- he needs to be banned IMMEDIATELY.
Runnings a funny sport because most earnings come from sponsorship contracts that could be considered NIL, not competitions. If he never really won “prize money” then he never really went beyond NIL. These are strange times we live in.
I see this as potentially being a great thing for Track and Field. For basketball and football an athlete coming back to NCAA is a downgrade. This opens up the option of the NCAA becoming a permeir track and field league. Imagine all track professionals turning to the NCAA. The infrastructure is in place and the facilities are better than most professionals have access to. This could be what track nerds always wanted with the last few failed professional track leagues.
We just need to get rid of the 4 year eligibility limit. Which is already basically gone. NCAA can think big and turn their non revenue sports into premier leagues for each sport. The development system would switch to DII, DIII, and junior college.