On 30/03/2008, Mark Lewin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>  Assuming that athletes under scholarship must sign a contract with the
>  school, would it be legal to include a clause in that contract that
>  stipulates the athlete must repay any scholarship money if he/she chooses to
>  fore go eligibility in order to turn professional.
>
>  the school probably treats an athletic scholarship as a one year deal so they can
>  withdraw it if the athlete turns out to be "not deserving".  If they treat
>  the scholarship as a four year package, they may be forced to pay everyone
>  for all 4 years even if they don't play the sport for all four years for
>  whatever reason.  By treating an athletic scholarship as a year by year
>  grant, after the year is over and the scholarship has been paid, there is no
>  way to recoup it.

IANAL, but that's basically it. All athletic scholarships are
year-by-year (I believe even semester-by-semester). Talk of a
"four-year" scholarship is a misnomer.

The school has the ability to parcel out (and split up) its 18
scholarships as it sees fit, and can change that distribution
essentially on a whim. This is why college coaches have the power that
they do over players and teams.

If there is a semester/quarter left at Niagara, then any money that
would have gone to Rogers for that term can be dispersed to players on
the rest of the team. At the very least, that scholarship is now
available for Niagara to distribute next year - be it to a recruit or
a player(s) on the current team.

John

-- 
John Edwards
I used to put quotes here.