College athletes should have UNLIMITED eligibility, as long as they are full-time students

Jim Walmsley Superfan wrote:

If someone wants to compete for 10 straight years while they do undergrad and their PhD, I'm alright with that. If a 30-year-old is going back to school and happens to be in great shape they should be able to participate as well. Athletes like Grant Fisher and Jim Walmsley will move onto their pro careers, they won't drag out their eligibility. Otherwise I think college athletics should be open to all as long as they're bona fide students.

This is one of the dumbest things I have heard on letsrun. SMH.....

Scholar Expert wrote:

That would ruin running. The 13:50 guys could stay in college earning a living for 20 years while there would be no money for the 14:15 guys because the pool would be so much deeper. Many decent HS runners would give it up because there woukd be so few roster spots and scholarships. And if you allowed headcount sports to be paid and to stay in school forever, the same thing would happen there. Only the very best would get scholarships because many guys would decide to stay in college for many years. Most full ride BB and Football players have no post college opportunities but they would be able earn a living for 20 years in college.

In a sport like running I suspect most guys would graduate and move on, never to run again, like they do now. Regardless, though, there are way more scholarships in running than there are decent runners. That's a relative statement, I know. If you look at NCAA cross country national results there are dozens and dozens of guys between 30 and 31 minutes but anyone sub 30 is pretty decent at the D1 level. (In 2018 there were 40 guys under 30, in 2019 there were none because of course/conditions). I suspect most 30+ minute guys would move on and get a job rather than remain in the austere college lifestyle. As for people like the 7th man on the lesser teams in the Power 5 conferences, I believe the coach would be happy to regularly rotate those guys out and give their support to someone else.

comedyrelief wrote:

Who are you Al Bundy? 5th year and 6th year students on injury redshirts is already too long. You need to move on with your life.

This.

No way. A 13:50 guy who is pretty much living for free today for 4 years moves on and gets a job. In this proposal, he would be a fool not to continue with school through a masters and PHD if paid for. He will get to live for free for 10 years and get a better job than his peers who left college 6 years before him.

All of the current 13:50 guys would be there in addition to the 13:50 guys who graduated last year and the year before and the year before. Scholarships would be nonexistent for 14 minute guys which would hurt American running.

Scholar Expert wrote:

All of the current 13:50 guys would be there in addition to the 13:50 guys who graduated last year and the year before and the year before. Scholarships would be nonexistent for 14 minute guys which would hurt American running.

In the 2019 outdoor season there were less than 50 guys in the nation under 13:50. I think there's room for the incoming 14 minute runners.

At the very least, it would be nice if there was some sort of national club league for non-elite post-collegiates who want to stay in shape and compete while working a full-time job (but didn't do the distance events in track, so no road races).