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Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany Lays Out Plan for Freshman Ineligibility in Letter

By Caleb Calhoun

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Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany gave his plan for freshmen ineligibility to play in a letter to the media highlighted by the National Football Foundation.

In a 12-page letter released to the media, Big Ten Commissioner and National Football Foundation Board Member Jim Delany made his case for and laid out his plan to enact a policy that keeps freshmen ineligible in college sports, according to the NFF website.

The letter, which can be seen here, was highlighted by the NFF and the College Football Hall of Fame.

Delany titled the letter “Education First, Academics Second: The Time for a National Discussion is Upon Us.”

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The argument went along the lines of this: make education the most important part of college athletics again. Here is the first paragraph in Delany’s letter.

"If we could send a reasonable yet unmistakable signal that intercollegiate athletics prioritizes education over athletics, why would we not do so? If we could clearly distinguish the collegiate model from the professional model by illuminating two clear paths—an educational path and a professional path—particularly for athletes who have high expectations of playing their sports professionally, should we not do so? If we needed to take action to ensure that the young people to whom we provide educational opportunities through sport have the opportunity to have meaningful experiences as both students and athletes, are we not obligated by our core purpose to do so?"

To be fair to him, Delany’s plan would allow athletes to still have four years of eligibility and allow freshmen to be able to practice with their teams.

He also addressed raising scholarship limits for FBS and Division I men’s basketball while adding scholarships in women’s sports as well.

However, this would be hard to enact. Yes, in the past athletes were not allowed to play as freshmen on varsity teams. But this is a different age.

To enact this policy would be trying to restore something that no longer exists. Delany has a school in his own conference made up of players fighting for rights to unionize, and it is only a matter of time before athletes are allowed to get paid.

Also, it is a thing of the past for the term student-athlete to mean anything in college football or basketball. That term on its own is flat-out laughable. These players are in college to generate revenue for the school and the pocketbooks of NCAA officials.

To try to restore a false sense of education in those two sports will only push the conference to second-tier in sports. Athletes should not have to prioritize class if they don’t want to. We all know why they’re there, and what they do allows other students to study and learn.

The athletes bring in the money for the academics, and telling a kid he has to sit out a year of football after high school when he’s desperately trying to get paid and position himself for the NFL is flat-out wrong. Adding on that fourth year only delays his chance to get to the next level.

The three-year rule out of college is fine with me in football. What is not okay is setting athletes even further back.

Let’s accept reality and acknowledge that these guys are there to play football and basketball. The other athletes don’t matter in most cases anyway.

Creating this fantasy where they will ever be there for primarily academics is laughable.

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