@adbono posted:There are always outliers like Stanford and Vanderbilt that do things differently. And my comment clearly defined top 25 D1 programs as those I was referring to - so that’s not very broad. It may be more out in the open now but this is not news. I played at a top 25 D1 program 40 years ago and it was that way then. If you didn’t perform you were shown the door. I will agree that it’s worse now than ever before but I witnessed it myself back in the day decades ago.
Vanderbilt has a sliding scale for top talent...I don't mean to infer they shouldn't or it is bad just that they do.
There are very few if any, I am inclined to believe there are none, that don't have a sliding scale if they want to compete at the top levels. Some slide more then others and some are quieter about it but IMO nobody who is constant top 25 type school doesn't do this.
Some slide more for important sports (football, basketball, ladies basketball, ya got to be inclusive) some slide less for sports where a higher percentage of athletes are closer to the normal acceptance level but they all slide as needed to get what they want.