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clemson baseball

Apr 15, 2014, 8:53 AM

i know this will matter not to all the coach leggett haters but it should. it really should bring into question our administrations commitment to non major sports in the past. for whatever reason it looks like it is finally getting fixed. about time. maybe this and the facility upgrades and the hiring of lecroy will get us back where we need to be. flame away haters.

CLEMSON -- Chances are, you've never heard of something called the Academic Common Market.

According to the Southern Regional Education Board's web site, the Academic Common Market is a 35-year-old program that allows aspiring college students in 16 states to attend school outside their state without paying out-of-state tuition provided that no school in their home state offers the degree program that's available at a participating out-of-state school.

Tigerillustrated.com
Clemson University president Jim Clements believes the Academic Common Market will be a big deal not only for Clemson Athletics but also for general students.
There are more than 1,900 undergraduate and graduate degree programs available at the participating schools, most of which are in the South.

By now you might be on the verge of falling asleep because you care about Clemson sports and you clicked on this article expecting something other than boring academic statistics.

But if you care about Clemson sports, and in particular Clemson baseball, you should care about the Academic Common Market.

This ought to get your attention: The University of South Carolina participates in the Academic Common Market and has capitalized on it for years by allowing out-of-state baseball players to pay in-state tuition in Columbia.

Until last Friday, Clemson had participated in the Academic Common Market at the graduate level only. But the school's Board of Trustees approved a measure to include it for undergraduate students, and it is huge news even though it has generated zero headlines until now.

Here's why this is a big deal:

Baseball recruiting, or recruiting in any of the equivalency sports, is a numbers game. We don't want to bore you or lose you with too much analysis of that numbers game, but we can sum it up by saying this:

NCAA rules limit baseball programs to 11.7 full scholarships, with a cap of 27 players receiving baseball-related financial aid. Participation in the Academic Common Market allows South Carolina and other schools to make attractive financial offers to prospects. Now it allows Clemson to do the same thing thanks to the administration's move to include it at the undergraduate level.

This is something that's been talked about and groused about for several years, but only recently has there been real movement on it. Thus much of the credit needs to go to new president James Clements and athletics director Dan Radakovich for not only recognizing the importance, but recognizing the need to do something about it as quickly as possible.

You can also go even higher than that, to the trustees themselves. Over the last couple years under chairman David Wilkins, there's been a noticeably stronger commitment to give athletics everything possible within the rules to win big. A less rigid stance on junior-college transfers is a part of this, and so is the shift to incorporate the Academic Common Market for the equivalency sports.

Before we go any further here, let's dispense with any notion that we're making excuses for Jack Leggett or saying a loophole is the reason South Carolina's baseball program has been superior to Clemson's in recent years.

He needs to close the gap with the Gamecocks and turn the rivalry back in Clemson's favor. He needs to get the Tigers back to playing host to Super Regionals, back to Omaha. No one disputes those notions.

The crux of this topic, though, is the question of whether Clemson is willing to give Leggett and his staff every opportunity to succeed. The answer has been affirmative in the form of the facility upgrades both completed and planned. Now, after Friday, the answer is the same in the form of giving him and his staff the flexibility some of his rivals have in the area of talent procurement.

If you thumb through South Carolina's baseball media guide from last year you'll see four Gamecocks from the state of Virginia who were in a major called Insurance Risk Management. According to the university's web site, the major is included in the school's Academic Common Market offerings.

The 2013 Gamecocks also had five out-of-state players in the Sports and Entertainment Management major. That curriculum is also on the list of South Carolina's ACM offerings.

The Gamecocks' baseball staff has intensified its recruiting efforts in the state of Georgia of late, and the Peach State has been a sweet spot for Clemson's recruiting over the years.

Nine players on Clemson's current roster are from the state of Georgia, which is a part of the Academic Common Market. If Clemson utilized the program and provided those players with a 25-percent baseball scholarship instead of, say, 50 percent, the aggregate result could be the equivalent of two extra scholarships. And a few extra scholarships for every recruiting cycle can make a world of difference, particularly if you're in a pinch after an unanticipated early draft departure and need to go out and sell a first-rate player on coming to Clemson.

Nine years ago, Coastal Carolina's baseball program began a rise to unprecedented prominence by reeling off four 50-win seasons from 2005 to 2010. The Chanticleers used the Academic Common Market to hammer the mid-Atlantic region in recruiting, particularly Virginia and Delaware.

The Academic Common Market is just one part of the multi-faceted dilemma that faces Clemson coaches in the equivalency sports. Some states, such as Arkansas, allow reduced tuition rates to students who live in bordering states. Some schools with monster endowments, such as Virginia and North Carolina, are able to give recruits need-based financial aid without even touching the capped pot of scholarship money.

These perks and breaks can be a tough sell to a university administration because they cost money. Clemson does not have the luxury of a massive endowment. It also doesn't have the luxury of nearly as much state funding as before. So there's been some natural resistance to the possibility that a flood of out-of-state students would take advantage of the tuition breaks.

These issues were on Terry Don Phillips' radar during a conversation all the way back in the fall of 2009:

"With the equivalency sports, some universities have an advantage, either through state programs or through large endowments or what it may be, to provide better financial aid packages than what we presently can do. That's one of the reasons the university is really working hard in their private fundraising efforts, to create endowments for scholarships for all students. If student-athletes would qualify, then it helps them with their package.

"The kids in baseball, track and field and soccer sometimes make their decisions on where they're going to go to school based on the total financial-aid package. They want to go to good programs, but if Clemson is offering a 50-percent scholarship to an out-of-state student, that student still will probably have to pick up $18,000, $19,000 of expense. Whereas if another school in the league, say they offer 50 percent but also have some type of non-countable aid that they can put in there and combine packages, they've got another four or five thousand dollars. You can save a family $10,000 a year.

"That's an issue that I believe has impacted our program. Now, to what extent I'm not sure. But it is an issue that we have to try to address in some form if we can."

Radakovich began examining the issue in the fall of 2013. And it didn't take long for the Academic Common Market to appear on Clements' radar earlier this year. Late Friday night, some of Leggett's disappointment about a series-opening loss at Virginia was no doubt tempered when he learned about the trustees' approval of the Academic Common Market.

Said Radakovich: "We're excited about Clemson's inclusion of the Academic Common Market and giving students an opportunity to attend Clemson under this program. It will be a tool in our recruiting toolbox for many of our equivalency sports programs.

"I know Jack has talked about it a long time. And I sympathize with the struggle that all baseball coaches have as it relates to the minimum scholarship amounts they have to give, how you spread it around amongst people, how some private schools utilize academic endowment scholarships for players that is non-countable aid - all of those things. What this has done is just create a really positive tool for that recruiting toolbox."

Said Clements: "This was a very important step for us. A lot of major universities do this. This will be good for athletics, but it will be good for the general student as well."

The numbers game just became a lot more favorable for Clemson Baseball and the other equivalency sports -- and at not a moment too soon.

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I saw your previous post and link and don't think it is pertinent to the issue. That interview was exceptionally broad. Perhaps the school is allowed to charge the athletic department the instate rate when a full scholarship is at issue - because if the student athlete is receiving a "full scholarship" it becomes irrelevant what rate is being charged. But when a student in a non-revenue sport is being offered a partial scholarship it becomes extremely significant what they are directly being charged for school. The Academic Common Market exists for a reason and Clemson did not participate for undergraduates. Why would such an entity even exist if schools could arbitrarily offer in-state tuition to any student athlete? So despite your previous link, it is quite apparent that Clemson was charging its out of state, partial scholarship athletes at the full out of state tuition rate. Your link dealt strictly with what the Athletic Department was reimbursing the University - which has nothing to do with what the school bills the student.

clemson baseball

Hiring of Lecroy? Mat LeCroy?

Its his split personality Bradley LeCroy***

Oh, I thought deroberts was referring to something

Re: Hiring of Lecroy? Mat LeCroy?

Apologies for the misunderstanding, sir.***

It's too late for that Prod

I think I've been on his bad side for a number of years.

You did the right thing by not trying to use humor

Re: You did the right thing by not trying to use humor

Re: You did the right thing by not trying to use humor

I'm not making it about you, and I appreciate the

Re: I'm not making it about you, and I appreciate the

You didn't say "smh" you added an "f" in there

Ding! Ding!

Re: I think I've been on his bad side for a number of years.

Re: So you are a goober?***

Re: It's too late for that Prod

He obviously made a mistake and even went

So ? ? ?

Re: He obviously made a mistake and even went

Re: It's too late for that Prod

Re: It's too late for that Prod

I think y'all are taking this much more seriously than I am.

Re: clemson baseball

When I was a student-athlete at Clemson....

Re: When I was a student-athlete at Clemson....

Hey...if the abacus ain't broke, don't fix it.***

Re: if the abacus ain't broke, don't fix it. You took that

I'm not old....I'm experienced. Yeah...that's it !!!!***

Evidently

yep...the change hit Iptay hard......wasn't that long ago***

Overall

Do you mind posting the unabridged version?

Thanks for the post. Definately something we need and

Re: Thanks for the post. Definately something we need and

Re: It is going to take a lot more than that to for some of

So when did things change?

Re: So when did things change?

It's sad that most of the dumb, Leggett-haters won't have

Great News!

The Problem With Your Argument Is

Re: The Problem With Your Argument Is

Re: You can't argue with facts.***

Re: clemson baseball

Point for longest post ever***

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