Can a Coach Tel Me How Oregon Gets All Its Recruits With Only 12.69 Scholarships?

math major wrote:

So that would imply most of these people are on average 1/3 scholarship?

That's basically your answer. Not many guys on a team like Oregon, or most teams for that matter, are getting a full scholarship. Coaches break them up and most contributors will at least end up with something. There isn't a lot of scholarship money in running, but Oregon helps its chances with things like its track record of success and good resources/facilities.

they're probably getting scholarships...the Bill Bowerman Grant, the Dellinger Scholarship, the Prefontaine Memorial Scholarhsip...for excellence in the classroom and on the track. Lots of ways to get kids financial aid without it coming from athletic scholarships allotment.

I ran for a top 15 in the country school. We had a couple on fulls, a couple on around 30%, a few on 20% and 5 or so on about 10%. Had a sibling run for a national championship winning school and it was very similar there.

math major wrote:Do these kids all pay $38,000 to go run for the Ducks when they could get a scholarship at other schools?

If you've ever been to college, you'd know that most of them offer kids whether athletic or not, funding for their education. My school gave me 12k in grants per year. That's money that wasn't needed to be paid back. That takes care of 30% of the tuition right there, no need for a full scholorship.

A coach is able to get all of the recruits he wants because he can make a promise that most schools can't. He can say that they will win a National Championship. I would take no money to win that, and Vin has proven he can keep that promise.

Did he uphold that promise this year in Cross Country?

You'd pay $200,000 to be on a team that'd probably win the national championship?

The Vindicator wrote:

they're probably getting scholarships...the Bill Bowerman Grant, the Dellinger Scholarship, the Prefontaine Memorial Scholarhsip...for excellence in the classroom and on the track. Lots of ways to get kids financial aid without it coming from athletic scholarships allotment.

This would be countable aid if they are related to any athletic requirement, whether they are awarded by Oregon, a high school booster club or any organization. If said scholarships existed (I'm sure they don't) a kid could take it but it would count against Oregon's 12.6 limit. Making up stuff like this is absurd.

Part of how schools spread money is by giving out what coaches call "12 hour fulls". A full scholarship is 15 credit hours per semester. Some schools are set up where students can pay by the credit hour regardless of how many credit hours are taken. Most schools have a flat tuition rate once they go over 12 hours. So 12 is the same as 15 hrs. However, when 12 and 15 are different there is an athletic scholarship advantage. A lot of your great track schools are set up this way. Coaches tell a kid they are on a full tuition scholarship but they are limited to 12 hours per semester. That means they can take four scholarships and turn them into five (4 x 12 hrs vs. 5 x 15 hrs).

The other way schools spread their money is non-athletic aid. I bet the academic scholarships are east to get (probably partial scholarship for 1100 SAT or 24 ACT) at a place like Oregon. Kids can also get Pell Grant ($4000). You put together a lot of forms of aid and suddenly your athletic scholarships go farther for more athletes. Coaches have to learn to be creative and use every financial aid resource available. Great coaches know how to use the system (not cheat, just use).

Another trick I heard one very prominent retired coach used to use was he'd give one kid room and board scholarship (example $950 stipend per month) to live off campus. Then he'd tell that kid that another kid on the team gets live with him but not pay rent. So two kids get free rent for the scholarship of one. This is actually not NCAA legal but it happens.

The last way is recruiting kids for a certain level of scholarship and then after year one decreasing their scholarship. Lots of BCS level programs pull this. They give a kid 50% one year and then quickly drop them to 25% the next year. They know they're going to cut scholarships after kids are locked in to open cap room for newcomers. Kids don't like to transfer, especially from places like Oregon so they'll likely not lose them. Plus at that point they have an idea of which kids are going to pan out and which ones aren't. The ones who aren't going to be the next big thing get reduced aid. In the BCS the mentality is that there is no room for development, just recruiting. That is why kids outside of the Footlocker scene are better off in schools just outside of the BCS (MntWest, A10, MVC, ConfUSA) where there is still some commitment to development.

If you want to be at a big time program you better understand that it's more business than track and field. You're a product more than a project.

Mr. Scholarship wrote:

(4 x 12 hrs vs. 5 x 15 hrs).

Sorry, meant 5 x 12 hrs vs. 4 x 15 hrs. Both equal the equivalency of 4 scholarships but one gets you five athletes on "full"

I can't imagine that it would be too hard to get an academic scholarship at a school like Oregon. Just show them that you can read and they'll probably give you a three quarter scholarship for academic achievement. Get the other quarter paid with your running and you're set.

rumor had it that there wasn't one person on the razorbacks team of the mid 80's through the mid 90's on a full ride. B teamers could have been top tier on other teams. sometimes, you just do what it takes to be good. even if that means swallowing your pride or taking out loans.

I'm guessing Russell Hornsby is not going to need a scholarship.

myriad boards wrote:

rumor had it that there wasn't one person on the razorbacks team of the mid 80's through the mid 90's on a full ride. B teamers could have been top tier on other teams. sometimes, you just do what it takes to be good. even if that means swallowing your pride or taking out loans.

Or scamming the room and board scholarship set up. Who do you think concocted that scam. $950 a month goes a long way in Fayetteville.

Anonymous alums ran up to me and gave me $5k at a time in old $20 bills when I was in school. I still don't know who they were and it's been 20 years already now.

myriad boards wrote:

rumor had it that there wasn't one person on the razorbacks team of the mid 80's through the mid 90's on a full ride. B teamers could have been top tier on other teams. sometimes, you just do what it takes to be good. even if that means swallowing your pride or taking out loans.

Rumor is wrong. Numerous canadiens were on full ride at university of Arkansas during that time. I know. I was one of them.

Insight on to what happens at u of o. They tell the incoming class they have no or little money, BUT next year, don't worry , we will help you out. Next year comes, maybe they help out one or so,....by then, do you transfer?

The Arkansas teams were ridiculously deep.

They would have a Penn Relay champ DMR, All American 4X4, multiple All American long jump and triple jump, score in the 100 and one of the throws and win the NCAA CC title with 12 scholarships.

They had to have at least 20 guys that would be worth a full scholarship anywhere.

Just hard to imagine any athlete qualifying for and scoring top 8 in the NCAA taking a partial scholarship.

I know at my school a lot of it was academic. You could get free room and board from the University if you had a 25 ACT or higher. Our tuition was cheap so if you were smart enough for a 25 ACT and could run fast you were basically on a 1/2 ride.

Which conference was your school in please?

Where did you hear Verzbicas was getting a full ride? Oregon didn't even offer German a full ride.