In today’s world, byu Kenneth Rooks Or James Corrigan He might never have had the chance to compete on the track and in cross-country beyond high school. They may never have had the chance to establish college records in the steeplechase and qualify for the Paris Olympic Games last summer and, in the case of the Rooks, Win the silver medal.
Thanks to a benchmark, an income sharing regulation, spectacular changes arrive in university athletics which will have a particularly deep effect on athletes in “Olympic” sports not returned. Football and basketball players will share millions of dollars in direct payments of their schools, but for other athletes, the regulations will mark the end of their sports career due to a serious reduction in alignment places .
Byu was a model to produce a successful and wide basis sports program in which Olympic sports prospered. None have excelled more than athletics / cross-country programs. Seven current and old distance runners Qualified for the Paris Olympic Games – most of all the country’s schools – and in November, the male and women’s teams won the NCAA cross -country championships.
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But even these teams are forced to reduce the size of their lists. Ed EyestoneThe trainer / director of track and cross-country programs by Byu de Byu, met his athletes last week to tell them how the NCAA Settlement would have an impact on the and the program.
Some 15-18 places on men’s and female track teams will be eliminated, effective for the 2025-26 school year. For some athletes, this could be the last year of their collegial career.
“There will be a certain attrition in the losses of graduation, but at the end of the day, the lists will be reduced next year,” said Eyestone.
These cuts are actually generous. Out of respect for the immense success of the distance program, Byu granted the team the maximum number of list points authorized under the new NCAA rules (explanation to follow).
In 2020, Grant House, a swimmer of the state of Arizona, was the main applicant in A trial against the NCAA arguing that the rules of the NCAA prevented the athletes from taking advantage of their own name, their own image and their resemblance (Nile). The NCAA, finally reading the room after years of ignorance and tenacious naivety, settled the case.
Among other things, the regulations mean that schools will make annual payments of more than $ 20 million directly to athletes. To help respect such a financial obligation, the NCAA has reduced the size of the lists. Take athletics, for example. The NCAA can no longer restrict the number of scholarships that a school can offer, it therefore ran an end of the end and limited the size of the list to 45. A warning: it was left to schools to decide to ‘They want to finance less than 45 athletes and 45 purses, but they cannot exceed these figures. Most schools will probably choose less.
The message from Eyestone to his team last week was good and bad news. The good news: byu will finance the maximum size of 45 and will maintain the status quo of 12.6 grants for men and 18 for women (“we were fighting for 35 or 30 lists”, explains a clearly relieved Eyestone); The bad news: the size of the lists will be considerably reduced.
“The meeting has gone better than expected,” explains Eyestone. “People were prepared for new worst. We will have to cut about 15 on the male side and 18 on the feminine side – 28% of the team. »»
More specifically, for male and female teams, Eyestone Allotra a little more than half of the points on the list of riders at a distance and at the intermediate distance, the rest being divided between sprinter / hedges, launchers and riders / multis .
“We are going to focus on our strengths,” says Eyestone.
The lists are strongly tilted to distance runners because of their immense success (the school will also allow the maximum limit of 17 for the cross-country lists, which are among the 45 on the track).
The women have finished among the first two at the NCAA cross-country championships four times in the past seven years, winning twice. The men ranked in the first three at the NCAA championships six times in eight years, also winning twice.
The former school athletes also drew the considerable attention of the school. Conner Mantz and Clayton Young Are the two main marathonists in the United States, and Mantz has set the American half-marathon record this winter. Whittni Morgan won two races against world class competition this winter, beating Olympians and an Olympic silver medalist.
The greatest shame of all the changes is that they will eliminate, for all practical purposes, the elimination of walking in collegial sports and those who are ready to compete for small partial scholarships; In other words, prospects still in development that could have unrealized potential (this will also eliminate those who just want to participate, for nothing – Rudy would not be Rudy for Notre Dame in the new era). Few schools were more successful with these athletes than byu.
For decades, Byu attracted athletes who were ready to compete for little or no money from the scholarships, and these teams have greatly benefited. Some have even sent scholarship offers from other schools to a walk in Byu due to affordable tuition, culture, low cost of living, facilities and excellence of teams. This is how the school was able to align solid teams in all the events of the NCAA limit of 12.6 grants for 21 events. Now these athletes will be refused for the most part.
“Yes, we will always find a place for someone who presents himself now and can beat a bunch of guys on our list, but we will be much more cautious with whom has a place on the list,” explains Eyestone. “The days to take a leaflet on a child who could have potential with a little work is done. They must already be developed … We will see less development, fewer possibilities for developing athletes.
“In the past, we could take a leaflet on a Kenneth Rooks or a James Corrigan. They might not have cut 45 compared to today’s standards. I like to think that my eye would have recognized a future silver medalist, however (referring to the towers).
“… At Byu, we prefer to have more on the list than more scholarships. Years and sometimes 70s.”
The modifications are all motivated by Nile and the new challenges of payment of athletes in money sports in football and basketball. “We know who pays the bills,” says Eyestone. “We want them to (succeed). There is no resentment.
