Receiving a second chance

The National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Council decided Monday to allow student-athletes who competed in the spring an additional season of competition and extend their period of eligibility by one year. 

This allows UTRGV spring-sport athletes, including current seniors, to return for an additional year of competition in the 2020-2021 academic year.

The council voted after the sudden end of the spring season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What the NCAA did is they gave us the guidelines, they set the parameters, they put some waivers in place that allow us to have some flexibility,” Chasse Conque, vice president and director of Athletics, said Wednesday in a telephone interview.

Conque clarified how the extension would be implemented at UTRGV. 

“They really left it up to each institution to determine what they can do and, truly, it comes down to resources and having the ability to be able to pay for those seniors and for their aid in the 2020-21 academic year,” he said. 

Financial aid rules will be adjusted so that it allows teams to carry larger rosters on scholarship. 

Student-athletes returning for the 2020-2021 season will be provided with the same financial aid that was awarded to them in the 2019-2020 academic year.

The one-year extension of eligibility will extend each athlete’s five year “clock” by a year, as reported by the NCAA on its website. 

Student-athletes are limited to four seasons of competition in the five-year period by Division I rules

“The Council’s decision allows schools to self-apply waivers to restore one of those seasons of competition for student-athletes who had competed while eligible in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 spring season,” according to the NCAA website.

“It was a decision that we were waiting for and it’s one that we thought would go in this direction and it was certainly the right decision,” Conque said. “You look at the sports on our campus that were impacted, which are a total of seven, and it was good news for us.”

Sports at UTRGV impacted by the shortened spring season are baseball, men and women’s golf, men and women’s outdoor track and field, and men and women’s tennis. 

The number of seniors at UTRGV who could return for competition next year is about 25 students, said Jonah Goldberg, associate athletic director for communications.