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UM and Big Sky will not offer full-cost stipends

P

PlayerRep

Well-known member
http://missoulian.com/sports/college/montana/um-not-close-to-offering-athletes-full-cost-of-attendance/article_7fd0306d-2498-5bba-b675-7dda3d097515.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
i think it would be a mistake to pay players at this time. I'm all for it because some sports make the university money, but it would be a bad PR move. especially at this time of university budget cuts.
 
This whole deal is completely baffling me. Between their scholarships and God knows what else they get on the side, there's no reason whatsoever that they need a stipend to help out. It's so ridiculous.
 
Willie said:
This whole deal is completely baffling me. Between their scholarships and God knows what else they get on the side, there's no reason whatsoever that they need a stipend to help out. It's so ridiculous.
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Many, many athletes aren't on full rides (or scholarships at all).
 
So the question becomes, can Montana and the Big Sky remain competitive in a sports landscape that appears to be shifting, and for how long?
Liberty, a private Christian institution in Lynchburg, Virginia with about 14,000 undergraduates, may be improving its bid to become an FBS member in the near future -- "Liberty has the resources to jump into that pool and say, 'Look, we're all in on this,' " Haslam added -- but the Flames are hardly the only current FCS program weighing its options.

North Dakota State Athletic Director Matt Larsen mentioned on KFGO radio earlier this year that the four-time FCS football national champion Bison are looking at adding stipends for football, men's basketball and women's basketball to remain competitive in the recruiting realm.

The Griz play both schools during the opening four weeks of the football season this fall.

"We certainly want to do all we can to be competitive," Haslam said. "We also have to do it financially in a responsible way.

"It's going to be something where folks kind of stand back and see, OK, what are the others gonna do? Are we gonna go as a conference and how are we going to tackle this as an institution?"
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Time to fish or cut bait. Either play with the big boys or not.
 
It doesn't matter to those not on scholarship either. I went to a private school where the tuition was 3x that of the U of M and I had no problem making it through college. Didn't need extra money handed out to me. Worked in the summers and did my workouts, survived just fine.
 
Clearly the only player who has earned a full cost stipend, and I think Ken Jones will back me up on this one, is Caleb Lyons.
 
I'm in favor of some sort of Albertson's Card deal where athletes could have $XX.XX to spend per month on given food and drink items. I've seen and experienced how challenging it can be for off-campus student athletes. My coach in college straight up just told us to ask our parents for money so that we could work part-time in the summer in order to keep to our training schedule.

Giving athletes $$ and expecting them to budget it and spend it solely on groceries and transportation is a bad option. But a school account at a grocery store would be an option to monitor their spending and still feed them.
 
Change the moronic NC2A rules, particularly around "impermissible benefits" first, and then take a look @ where things stand.
 
Willie said:
It doesn't matter to those not on scholarship either. I went to a private school where the tuition was 3x that of the U of M and I had no problem making it through college. Didn't need extra money handed out to me. Worked in the summers and did my workouts, survived just fine.
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Back in "ancient times" when publicly-supported colleges/universities didn't cost so much, I could have used some extra dough ... but didn't feel I needed it. Summer job, etc. handled my costs just fine. (Zero money from my mother and step-dad.)

However, I've read enough stories -- in places like Sports Illustrated and so on -- about kids not being able to buy food, etc. that I'm starting to believe them. Athlete-students who get no help from "home" (if they even have one) apparently do have trouble making ends meet at school. So I'm not as "hard over" against the COA notion as I used to be.
 
IdaGriz01 said:
However, I've read enough stories -- in places like Sports Illustrated and so on -- about kids not being able to buy food, etc. that I'm starting to believe them. Athlete-students who get no help from "home" (if they even have one) apparently do have trouble making ends meet at school. So I'm not as "hard over" against the COA notion as I used to be.
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Except that unlimited free food and snacks for athletes is now completely legal.
 
Montana and the rest of the BSC are in FCS for a reason; it's cheaper. Adding the cost of such stipends conflicts that posture. If you want to take on such higher costs, move to FBS where you have a chance of covering it with increased revenue. The few FCS programs that have announced they are going to implement the stipends do not plan on being in FCS much longer. Unlike the rest of the BSC, Montana generates the FB revenue to cover this, but it gets diverted elsewhere.
 
Going to make it a lot tougher for you guys to get better in basketball. Heard many in the wcc and a few in the big west are going to pay their basketball players.
 
This whole stipend thing totally sucks for schools in states where finances are tight with limited corporate backing. This is just another thing that makes the playing field more uneven, which with time will just be the "haves". The "have nots" may no longer even exist in NCAA athletics.

Further upsetting is the football program is again short changed, in my opinion. It is upsetting and disappointing the football program sees so little of the revenue it generates for the university. If things don't change for the better toward the program, Montana GRIZ football may no longer be the sleeping giant and could lose everything the program has built.

I honestly feel, there should be something approved that will allow the football program to pay this stipend. That money would come directly from the revenue the football program has generated. Hell no, that is too damn easy, and that money is being used for everything but the football program. Seriously, screw this administration outside of the athletic department!!!
 
billings_poke said:
Going to make it a lot tougher for you guys to get better in basketball. Heard many in the wcc and a few in the big eest are going to pay their basketball players.
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Yes it will. Hell, the way things are looking, I can see a lot of smaller schools dropping the financial commitment altogether for NCAA football. All this may force smaller schools to focus on financial commitments and focus on building better basketball programs. It sure in the hell is easier to pay 12 to 15 players stipends for basketball than it is to pay so many football players. Speaking of which, do these stipends include paying walk ons something too, or just scholarship players?

I honestly feel this will also allow for the elite conferences/teams to add more scholarships for their programs. After all, the potential loss of schools cutting football programs which cannot afford to compete any longer, opportunities have to be made for those players still.

If, Montana does not focus on adjusting with the times, we GRIZ and Cat fans may not have teams to be fans of!!! If it does get to that point, fans have to consider focusing on supporting just on DIV 1 athletic program, by pretty much adjusting to system like Wyoming has in place. I'd be all for this if it meant having our state compete with the big boys in NCAA athletics.
 
billings_poke said:
Going to make it a lot tougher for you guys to get better in basketball. Heard many in the wcc and a few in the big eest are going to pay their basketball players.
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Yeah, for MBB this is going to be a requirement to compete. Much easier to do it for basketball as well. If you don't do it your program will be left in the dust.
 
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