University of Iowa - Math majors?

[Killian]

Just heard on rivals radio that when the freshman class reports in the fall, Iowa will have 89 scholarship players. Interesting. JON, you know of 4 players who suddenly don't want to play football anymore?

[MuchoBulls]

Could some of those players be on a partial scholarship?

[Killian]

Could some of those players be on a partial scholarship?

I didn't think partial scholarships were allowed in football.

[Killian]

Counters are counters in football.

Iowa is probably counting on four guys to transfer or not qualify.

I thought about the "not qualify" thing, but their (Iowa) guru said fans were worried and seemed to be worried a bit himself. So I would guess it's the transfer route.

And recruits that don'tt qualify? That's something that happens at FSU,

Sin,
JON

[TheJON]

I'm sorry, but I haven't got a clue what you're talking about. Did something happen while I was on vacation? I could be wrong, but I believe that the U of Iowa is cutting back on athletic scholarships due to financial reasons. Maybe that hasn't started yet.

Personally, I could care less about how well our athletes do in academics. As long as they are eligible and are not cheating, I don't care. Do you really care if your starting QB got an A on his latest chemistry final? I sure as hell don't. If a player is eligible, that is good enough for me.

Now, getting in trouble with the law.....that's a different story. I don't want hoodlems on my team. But I don't really care about their academics.

[Killian]

I didn't know they were doing that. That is shitty. That should be an NCAA violation.

[TheJON]

It's not the athletic departments decision. The university wants to cut back on spending, so they voted to cut down on athletic scholarships. I don't understand why. The football program brings the univesity a ton of money.

[Killian]

Actually, I do care how they do. I hope they do their best at Notre Dame because most won't make it in the NFL.

The football program is allowed 85 scholarships. Including this freshman class, they have 89 scholarship players. They have to find 4 players who don't want to play or don't want a scholarship. They may have to rescind a few scholarships to get to the 85 allowed.

This has nothing to do with Iowa cutting back on their scholarships.

[TheJON]

Good point. For some reason, I was think it was over 90. I actually have no idea why we have 4 extra scholarships. I think it is possible that Blake Larsen is factored into that. Blake quit the team because of back problems but graduated in May. He would have been considered a senior.

Also, Clinton Solomon could be reason for another of those extra ones. He actually came back after being at JUCO for a year but Ferentz didn't give him a scholly last year. He had to earn it back. So he was given a scholarship this year again.

Another one might be for a punter. John Gallery and Andy Fenstermaker have been battling for a scholarship in spring practice. I'm assuming that one of them will end up getting a scholly. Perhaps, Ferentz already gave one of them one.

Those could be the reasons, but I could be wrong.

Now, if you give someone a partial scholarship, it does not actually count towards the 85 scholarships allowed? I had always thought that partial scholarships were factored into that 85.

[Killian]

I didn't even think partials were allowed in football. You can only have 85 scholarship players on the roster and you are given 85 scholarships. If you give a partial to two kids, you then have 86 kids under scholarship.

[TheChief]

IOWA does not have 89 on scholarship right now. That is what they will have IF every single high school recruit qualifies and enrolls this summer or fall.
Now if they are like FSU, 4 will be so fucking dumb that they can't get in so the will be straight at 85. If all 89 do qualify, IOWA will have the ability to issue a grey shirt to 4 players, which will allow 4 players to enroll in January (2nd Semester of 05-06 school year). That is exactly what FSU did last fall with Gregg Carr. He enrolled this January, after some seniors hit the road.
If they do not issue grey shirts, then the lowly last four will be cut from the team or be asked to "walk-on".

[Killian]

IOWA does not have 89 on scholarship right now. That is what they will have IF every single high school recruit qualifies and enrolls this summer or fall.
Now if they are like FSU, 4 will be so fucking dumb that they can't get in so the will be straight at 85. If all 89 do qualify, IOWA will have the ability to issue a grey shirt to 4 players, which will allow 4 players to enroll in January (2nd Semester of 05-06 school year). That is exactly what FSU did last fall with Gregg Carr. He enrolled this January, after some seniors hit the road.
If they do not issue grey shirts, then the lowly last four will be cut from the team or be asked to "walk-on".

Hmmm. Grey shirting. Didn't think of that. Good call. If they don't go that route, I believe the 4 that would be asked to "walk-on" would be players already on campus. I think the LOI guarantees a scholarship for one year if they qualify.

[Killian]

Nope. It doesn't. An LOI doesn't bind a school to anything at all.

Wow. Not even for Freshman year? I know the whole bit about scholarships are issued on a year by year basis, and you have to sign it to renew, but damn. That's some cold hearted shit.

[Killian]

Well, you have to remember the intent of the LOI. LOIs were dreamed up by the old SWC to end the recruiting process, not to guarantee a roster spot. Kids would commit to, say, TCU and Texas and A&M would continue to hound them. The LOI made SWC member schools commit to no longer contacting the kid.

Bud Wilkinson would take advantage of this by getting a kid to sign an LOI with Baylor or something so that the SWC schools couldn't contact him anymore, then bring him to Norman in August.

Holy shit are you serious! :o I had no fuckin idea! That's hilarious. I honestly had no idea of the history behind the LOI. Is there any other interesting tidbits I'm missing out on?

[Killian]

Man, there's tons of great recruiting stories from the old SWC out there. I"m sure that some of our resident Horns and Aggies would be more than happy to share.

I do know that Barry Switzer once actually hid a kid from another team's recruiter so that they wouldn't talk to him.

I know SMU hid Tim Brown in a closet when the NCAA came snooping around. Recruiting stories are awesome.

[indyfrisco]

I remember hearing Switzer tell a story on 1310 AM The Ticket in Dallas that when he was recruiting Billy Simms, he called him from the locker room at halftime and said something like “Hey Billy, you hear all that noise in the background? That’s the fans screaming their ass off because we just hung half a hundred on the other team. I’ll give you a call back after the game when we hang another half a hundred on ‘em.”

I'm pretty sure it was Simms he was talking about. Don't flame me if I'm wrong.

[the_ouskull]

Elaborating on THAT story... Billy was pumping gas at the time, and Switzer called him on the pay phone outside of the gas station that Billy was working at because the station didn't have its own phone. Other than that, you pretty much nailed it. Barry's assistants were doing the halftime coaching and Barry was just being Barry.

the_ouskull

[Terry in Crapchester]

I gotta think this is sig-worthy:

Personally, I could care less about how well our athletes do in academics.

Thanks, JON.

[King Crimson]

Elaborating on THAT story... Billy was pumping gas at the time, and Switzer called him on the pay phone outside of the gas station that Billy was working at because the station didn't have its own phone. Other than that, you pretty much nailed it. Barry's assistants were doing the halftime coaching and Barry was just being Barry.

the_ouskull

yup, halftime of a OU-CU game in Boulder.

[Nolesy]

Terry, you may want to add to that new sig-" but I am obssesed with Bobby Bowdens every fart and transgression"

[TheJON]

Yep, I heard that Bowden farted about 5 minutes ago and it smelled like eggs. What a classless schmuck!

[Nolesy]

Yep, . What a classless schmuck!

That coming from you is like Michael Jackson saying'' I am just like walmart, we both have boys pants half off"

[Left Seater]

Just wanted to clear up one thing on the LOI. Once signed it does hold both parties to a few things. The signer can only practice his or her sport with the team he signed with. The school is obligated to give a scholly to the athlete for one year as long as the athlete meets both the school's and the NCAA's guidelines for entrance. Furthermore if the athlete decides to get caught beating up his girlfriend or smoking some weed it is considered a breach and the school is off the hook.

[Nolesy]

I was under the impression that if a kid signed a LOI with a school and then backed out, the kid could not play for a school in the same conference. Is this true?

[SunCoastSooner]

I was under the impression that if a kid signed a LOI with a school and then backed out, the kid could not play for a school in the same conference. Is this true?

Each confrence has its own rules governing this.

The Big 12 you have to sit 2 years.

[Terry in Crapchester]

Terry, you may want to add to that new sig-" but I am obssesed with Bobby Bowdens every fart and transgression"

Either that, or "but I consider Notre Dame to be one of Iowa's rivals, even though they haven't played since before I was born." :wink:

[Left Seater]

BTH, I am certainly not a fan of the recruiting process or the LOI for that matter, but having signed one myself I know for a fact that as long as the athlete qualifies grade wise and doesn't go Randy Moss or Nebraska I back prior to matriculating then the school owes them one year.

Now onto the LOIs and the old SWC and ol Bud. Nothing posted so far is incorrect as far as I know, however, I know it also isn't the whole truth. Ol' Bud is a big reason the LOIs are all across the NCAA today.

In the RICE football offices there are a few framed examples of Ol' Bud lying to recruits. In one there is a hand written note in which he assures a recruit that by signing an LOI with RICE it doesn't mean he can't play football for A&M. When in fact it does mean exactly that, unless the kid wanted to sit out and not play for two years. A small detail that Ol' Bud didn't mention until after the kid had signed with RICE.

This is just one example of Bud's actions. I guess depending on your rooting intrests you would either say that Bud was just playing the game or that he was out and out cheating. But this didn't only hurt Texas or A&M or SMU, it really hurt RICE and Baylor. Remember that this was back in the day of unlimited scholarships. The larger schools like OU, Texas, A&M, etc could afford to have 150+ players on scholarship. RICE on the other hand didn't have the money to do that and in fact had a limited budget for scholarships. Therefore the RICE frosh class often had only 10 or 12 players. Furthermore, many players and their families were pissed that Bud worked them.

All of this led to RICE, Baylor, and a few parents pushing hard for the LOIs to be expanded beyond just the SWC. It took awhile, but we all know the LOIs now. RICE is quite proud of their work in bring the LOI to the NCAA as a whole and therefore have preserved a decent amount of items from the effort.

[Left Seater]

Yeah. Like I said it depends on your perspective.

[Vito Corleone]

Boy those years when there were little to no rules regarding Scholarships were freaking crazy. One year Texas had over 400 football players on scholarship.