JUCO scholarship renewal questions

what has brought about the lack of trust? i assume this wasn't an issue when the LOI was signed. only asking because we are looking mostly at juco's and need all the advice we can get.

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what has brought about the lack of trust?

Some things learned since arriving on campus.

Ask all the questions you can -- especially of current/former players and their parents.

there is a really good list of questions to ask on the coppell cowboys web-site. printed it off this morning and giving it to the boy. you can never have too much information.

Assuming that the JC is part of the NJCAA, the Eligibility Guide may be of some help. As far as I know, the actual NJCAA Bylaws are not available for download, but can be purchased as a Handbook.

The Eligibility Guide isn't well written or edited and the section on Grants in Aid contains sentence fragments. However, Article VII, section 1.D contains:
"Renewal of the Grant-in-Aid must be given in writing as soon as eligibility is determined."

I imagine that means the coach needs to decide if the player will receive aid the following year as soon as the spring term is ended, and the player's academic eligibility is known. If correct, that's actually pretty similar to NCAA practice, which has a hard date in June.

Why not have your friend call the NJCAA?

3FingeredGlove, I will recommend that to my friend. Thanks!

I truthfully can't remember if my son son signed a letter on his second year at a D-1 JUCO but he was not told of the decision until after the last game of the season was played.
They went to the play-offs so classes had concluded and coach met with each player after they returned from the road trip.
He was renewed but there is no guarantee and you won't know until that meeting...at least that's what has occurred for everyone with whom I am familiar.

bluesky, thanks for sharing. That's the scary thing -- having to wait until the end to learn what your fate is. I'm hoping for my friend's son that there truly is a written document putting the coach's "money" where his "mouth" is.

So if a kid walks on at a JUCO, makes the team, has a successful year, then he is "open" to the highest bidder? Does this happen much?

in retrospect, having a son in the JUCO league, halfway through his freshman season, I would not wish playing in the JUCO's on my worst enemy. Really there is not a good reason to go JUCO unless you have grade trouble, or your skills are such that you want to stay draft elegible every year. In son's case he wasn't getting the offers he thought his talent merited, because he played football and wasn't sharp during the fall showcase/camp season both his junior and senior years. He went JUCO trying to improve his lot and work his way onto a D1 roster. What has caught him and me off guard are the following: 1) the numbers of players invited in the fall (over 50) that were recruited with no intentions of being on the fall team; 2) the lack of technical instruction; two coaches now 26 players (none cut, just quit and give up or fail out) leaves just enough time to manage the game logistics and get the field ready for games / practices; sons skills (and most of his team mates) have actually regressed; 3) I believe that because the commitment is from year to year that relationships and loyalty between coaches and players is negligible; 4) the amounts of performance enhancing compounds used is staggering, and worrisome according to son.
Son has many friends from high school and travel ball playing college baseball and almost without exception the guys in the JUCO league are not having fun, the direct opposite of the guys at four year schools. To do over son would be at a DII getting his education preparing for his future and having fun playing ball. In the future this will be my advice to all players I have any influence over: to find a place they want to go to school and try and play ball there, if you aren't good enough to play on the team there, then it's time for club ball. To the point of the thread at sons school of the 14 class of 08 freshman only 7 were resigned and one soph from another juco transfered in. Results are what mattered to these guys.

I am sorry to hear that your son is not enjoying his JUCO experience. It definitely sounds as though you were blindsided going in. If you are not a scholarship player, in any program I believe that your status is tenuous at best.

The reason my son chose JUCO was in fact to remain draft eligible, but he also was granted a 100% scholarship that included room and board as well as books and food. He was fairly sure he would see playing time.

And, the renewal of his scholarship for next year has never even been a question. The coach is a man of integrity.

He chose the particular JUCO he did due to the work ethic that the coach is known for. He expects a great deal from his players and works them very, very hard every morning during the Fall at 5:30AM in a pool one day doing resistance and lower body workouts and the next in the weight room. Practices were and still are daily after class, sometimes on Saturday as well.

Grades and class attendance are mandatory or you are cut. He demands good grades; his team consistently has one of the highest GPA of JUCO's in the NJCAA.

Players are tested for performance enhancing drugs periodically and randomly through the year; I know my guy has been tested once so far in his Freshman year.

I don't want folks to get the impression that JUCO is a poor choice and a place where anything goes. It must vary widely program to program. Although none of the programs we looked at in Florida would have proved any different for my son. They are all pretty well run with very good coaches.

I don't know the answer for every individual family, but I know that the first thing that we focused on was "go where they love you". We were fortunate that we still had several choices after answering that question. D-1, D-2, or JUCO.

Although there have been issues that I and my son have not been overjoyed about, overall it has been a great experience! My son is happy, he is playing and the team is winning!

I just heard back from my friend, who contacted the NJCAA as suggested. Here is what was learned:

A LOI will be used to document the award if it is offered for the second year. Unfortunately, there is no set time frame for its issue; it can be issued and signed all the way up to the time that the next school year starts. So, unless the discussions from the coach happen before the end of the season and/or playoffs conclude then you are stuck waiting to find out your status.

Oh, he is on a scholarship, that's not the problem. It's a general lack of teaching baseball, and discern for the players as a whole, nothing personal or specific towards him. Obviously you can't blanket statement "JUCO ball is not a good experience" or "JUCO ball players are juiced" but the facts are that generally speaking most of the guys at the JUCO's are at their particular school because of baseball, and if the baseball experience is bad then the school experience is bad. The only thing that blind sided us was the performance enhancing stuff, caught me completely off guard, never had a conversation with him about that, fortuanately it fell into the category of "something bad" for him and he has stayed away. He opened at a tournament at a florida JUCO and those kids were huge, linebacker big. As a example the team they played last weekend had a second baseman that was on sons summer team that had grown 3 inches taller and gained 25 pounds since summer, there is no doubt in my mind he is using something. The kids talk about it openly, and in some twisted way are excited that they are at a level where using performance enhancers is part of the deal.

I am sorry your son is not enjoying his experience.My son is at a JC(same thing).So far we havent experienced what you have. Did have a ton of kids in the fall try out.I think thats somewhat typical for good junior college programs. I like my sons coaches, all of them.They are not perfect by any means, but my son is learning and not just about baseball. My son has not spoken of teammates using enhancing drugs,I am sure it happens everywhere.
My sons was a very good student in HS, he also went to a JC to hopefully play at a four year school. My son is learning to balance everything out, and he just moved out.
Maybe the difference with JC and JUCO is JCs do not offer any scholarships, so money isnt at the issue.I believe coaches have given most guys on roster a good shot to prove themselves so far this Spring. We start our league on Saturday.
I think for my guy a JC was a good place to start, hes growing up and learning about life in many different areas. And he has some more growing to do.
I know everyones exp. is different, but their our a lot of guys playing at JC or Juco, who are enjoying their exp., like their coaches, are learning about game and college.
I hope your son finds where he belongs and can enjoy the rest of college. Good luck and God Bless

Understand this---Division I, II or III can be bad experiences as well as NAIA and JUCO---I think some did not do their homework prior to making the decision

Our experience has been excellent with JC ball up in the Northwest, and the quality of play is much higher than I would have anticipated. performance enhancers are everywhere unfortunately, don't really think about the scholarship, if you play well it will be there if not, someone else deserves it.

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don't really think about the scholarship, if you play well it will be there if not, someone else deserves it.

Sadly, this is not true across the board. Even the great players unfortunately have cause for concern if their coaches do not act with integrity. I'm aware of a player who returned to his JUCO for his sophomore year and learned that his scholarship had not been renewed. He signed with a College World Series contender two months later.

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Originally posted by TRhit:
Understand this---Division I, II or III can be bad experiences as well as NAIA and JUCO---I think some did not do their homework prior to making the decision

Thanks for that wise addition to the topic there TR, you figure that out all by yourself? It's funny to me that if anyone on the boards has a complaint or really any negative slant towards a program or a coach, you usually have the same answer. In the real world there are poor coaches and poor programs, and coaches who intentionally over recruit, and kids who get burned by it, through no fault of their own, homework not withstanding. I've seen alot of kids get burned by college coaches the last six years, talented kids with character who's families and HS coaches did their homework.