Major Fla. Schools Oppose 4-Year Scholarships
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (CBSMiami) – Lost amidst the hubbub over the potential of a plus one national championship game in college football; a measure that allows schools to offer full four-year scholarships to players barely survived an override vote.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, several major schools, including most of the Big Ten and Big XII Conference teams, voted to override the rule and prevent any school from offering full four-year scholarships to athletes.
Schools like Florida took advantage of the four-year offer during last year's recruiting and other teams fear some teams offering full, four-year rides will gain an instant recruiting advantage.
Florida State University was one of several schools in the ACC to vote against giving out four-year scholarships. Joining FSU from the ACC in voting to override the rule were: Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, and Virginia.
The University of Miami and the University of South Florida voted to keep four-year scholarship offers in place. FIU abstained from the vote while FAU and UCF voted to override and not give out four-year scholarships.
For some cash-strapped mid-major schools, and some BCS schools, it's easy to see why they would oppose giving out four-year deals that could cost the school millions. But, without it, the players are the only one taking the risks.
Plus, schools like FSU, Alabama, USC, and Texas, which all opposed the rule, have the money, but simply didn't want to give out the four-year scholarships and in turn didn't want anyone else to have the ability to do it either to save any recruiting advantages.
