USC - Upstate

Upstate had a rough start in D1 ball, but they've actually done pretty well the last couple of years. They were a little under .500 last year, and even better the year before.  Really not bad for a young D1 program.  

For a small state, South Carolina has a disproportionately high number of D1 schools, Clemson, S.C., Coastal, Winthrop, Furman, Wofford, Presbyterian, College of Charleston, and Upstate.  When means that all schools have to look out of state for a lot of their talent.  My son used to go their for camps and Matt Fincher always struck me as a good guy.  A couple of the assistants have gone on to be head coaches elsewhere the last 2 or 3 years, so I don't know much about the other guys that are there now.

I have noticed something interesting about their roster.  The last couple of years it has hovered right around 27, rather than the maximum allowable 35.  Don't know exactly what that means, other than everybody on the roster is probably going to get playing time.

Maybe it is a challenge to recruit walk-ons.

Are they fully funded to provide all 11.7 of their allotted scholarships? Quite a few programs are not.

If not, that could help explain the relatively low number of players on their roster.

(Recruited players and their parents: Make certain that you know how many scholarships a program's budget allows. Don't assume that they can provide all 11.7 or 9, depending upon the division they're in.)

Correct.

And even if they have 11.7, they cannot spread it beyond 27 players.

Besides speaking directly to them, how can you tell if they are fully funded?  A site maybe?

Prep, pm sent

I don't recall running across such a list; but, that's certainly not to say that one doesn't exist. If someone else here knows of one, I hope they'll come forward with it.

However, if they do, keep in mind that athletic budgets fluctuate; and with that fluctuation can come changes in the number of funded baseball scholarships. 

Until such a list appears, I'd make sure that the number of funded scholarships was on my list of questions for coaches.

Upstate does NOT fund a full 11.7 scholarships.  Haven't been able to get a straight answer regarding exactly how many they do have.

Thanks.  I will have LH put that on the question list and post back when we find out.

27 is max allowed so that may mean that they probably fully fund? They (the school) may not have the funds to allow for others or to just barely fund what they can. They do not have as generous a giving program (alumni) as USC does.

I actually know some who have attended other athletic programs at upstate and really enjoyed going to school there.

MTH seems pretty certain that they do not fund a full 11.7.

A school could give .25 to 27 players, and I think that would only add up to 6.75. So there is a lot of leeway for a school that is not fully-funded to spread scholarships among the max of 27 players.

I was able to confirm that they definitely do NOT fund 11.7.  Have not been able to confirm an exact number.  I talked to a friend whose son was recruited there 4 years ago.  He said at that time they had 7 or 8.  If I get any better info I will pass it along.  

I think the program is headed in the right direction.  They have a nice, fairly new facility.  The school itself continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  The new (relatively) dorms have to help with recruiting.  Tuition is reasonable.  As part of the USC system, academics are similar to what you would get in Columbia, i.e. good, but not great.  A kid could do a lot worse.

UPDATE....son was playing in a tourny this weekend in GA,  game schedule gets moved around, talks with the USC Pitching Coach and decides to drive over and visit on Sunday

He verifies that they are not fully funded, they only have 8 scholarships to work with.