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Davidson faces challenges following NCAA spring sports ruling



Since Davidson College doesn’t have graduate programs, its graduating spring athletes would have to look elsewhere to compete.
Doug Coats

A season lost to the COVID-19 outbreak has been restored in a way, as the NCAA voted March 30 to award all spring student-athletes an extra year of eligibility.

The NCAA shut down college sports the second week of March, just a few weeks into the spring schedule. Though men’s and women’s basketball did not conclude their postseason tournaments, winter sports were not included in the decision.

Davidson College Director of Athletics Chris Clunie was pleased with the ruling, but realizes his school faces challenges implementing it. Though he operates at a prestigious institution, Davidson does not have graduate programs among its 74 majors, minors and interdisciplinary programs.

“We’re a high-academic institute, and a lot of our seniors are on track to graduate,” Clunie said in an interview with WBTV. “They have the ability to graduate and if they want to play, potentially go to grad school. That’s one thing we don’t have is grad school. If they want to continue on, they probably have to play elsewhere.”

Division I rules limit student-athletes to four seasons of competition in a five-year period. The decision allows schools to self-apply waivers to restore one of those seasons of competition for student-athletes who had competed while eligible for the 2020 spring season.

The Wildcats have six spring sports – baseball, men’s golf, men’s and women’s track and field, women’s tennis and women’s lacrosse – and don’t have the same athletic funding as larger schools in Power 5 conferences. For example, the NCAA maximum scholarships for baseball is 11.7, but Davidson has seven – up from three prior to its Super Regional run in 2017.

“A lot of our scholar athletes are on partial scholarships and then financial aid, and that’s a strain on the entire institution,” he said.

The NCAA also increased the roster limit in baseball.

“If there’s anybody who’s built for this time, it’s scholar athletes,” Clunie said. “Nobody knows how to deal with difficult times, with failure, with getting knocked down. No one is as resilient as scholar athletes.” 

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