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On Tuesday, the University of Texas announced that the Board of Regents unanimously approved a $160 million endowment to provide full scholarships starting in fall 2020 for in-state students with a household income of less than $65,000.
Speculation immediately turned to whether the endowment would allow the Texas Longhorns baseball program to provide more financial assistance to players above the 11.7 scholarships allowed by the NCAA, as many private schools do across the country.
Unfortunately, it seems that the endowment won’t change things in that regard for head coach David Pierce.
Before folks think this is a huge deal for @TexasBaseball, sources tell me this will have minimal impact on the baseball program. Texas cannot stack athletic aid with this. Good move by UT, but rules need to be written to be more advantageous for athletics, IMO. https://t.co/jAnKmQpe5R
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) July 9, 2019
Texas and Texas A&M really need to get on the ball in terms of having more aid for potential student-athletes (and students in general). The two schools have endowments well over #13 billion. The money is there to make it happen.
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) July 9, 2019
Since the resources are available, it’s not clear why the school doesn’t provide more help for its baseball program, which is currently operating at a disadvantage compared to some of the programs it competes against in recruiting.
The lack of scholarships makes recruiting more difficult across the board in college baseball, disadvantaging prospects who don’t have the financial resources to accept a partial scholarship. Combined with the cost of playing select baseball to even become a recruitable prospect, the entire system privileges players from families with higher incomes, as well as the schools that choose to stack financial to gives their programs an edge against schools like Texas.
Following a 2019 season that put into sharp relief just how little talent the Longhorns had at the plate, it seems like a perfect time for the school to step up and provide the baseball program the ability to stack financial aid to help Pierce take the next step.