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PULLMAN, Wash. – NCAA President Charlie Baker said he feels “sorry” for James Madison University’s undefeated football players, but said it wouldn’t be fair to give them an exemption from an NCAA rule that prevents them from playing for to be eligible to play postseason games this season.
“Yes, I feel bad for those kids, but I also feel bad for the kids that are playing for a qualified team that wouldn’t make it” if JMU got a waiver, Baker said in an interview with USA TODAY Sports on Friday .
Baker said those other eligible schools could potentially suffer harm if the Dukes (10-0) were granted a waiver to play in the postseason. He named Liberty (10-0) and Tulane (9-1) as the ones that could be knocked out of a top bowl if that happens.
“It’s a zero-sum game,” Baker said Friday at Washington State University, where he was visiting. “If you keep putting more and more into it, it’s not like there’s another place for more and more. Someone else will come out who is qualified and not on parole.”
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Why are the Dukes ineligible to play in a bowl game?
They are in the midst of a two-year transition to college football’s lucrative Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) after moving up from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), where there are fewer resources and player scholarships. The NCAA requires that such “reclassification” teams be ineligible to play in the FBS postseason during that two-year period.
The Dukes are in their second year of transition and applied for a waiver from the NCAA, but it was denied. If their waiver request had been approved, they could have entered the College Football Playoff rankings and had their sights set on an elite bowl game.
The NCAA president gives another example
Baker compared the Dukes’ case to that of Merrimack College in Massachusetts, where Baker previously served as the state’s governor. In March, Merrimack won a conference tournament title in men’s basketball but was ineligible to play in the NCAA Tournament because it was in the final year of a four-year transition from Division II to Division I. Instead, Fairleigh Dickinson represented the Northeastern Conference despite the 67-66 loss to Merrimack.
In the case of James Madison, Baker said that if the Dukes received a waiver, it wouldn’t be fair to those who could lose a bowl spot after “playing all season knowing they were playing to get in a bowl.” In contrast, James Madison knew that they would not be eligible to play, no matter how well the season went.
Baker pointed out that the Dukes could still end up in a bowl game through the back door if there weren’t enough teams with the minimum record of 6-6 to qualify. In that case, they would be allowed to fill a vacant spot as needed, likely in a minor league game, as opposed to the type of top-tier bowl game they could currently hope for in the CFP standings if given to them a waiver would be granted.
What is the point of the rule?
Baker acknowledged that the rule should be reviewed. Essentially, it was intended to prevent teams in college sports from rushing up the ranks to the detriment of their teams and support staff.
But the advent of players being able to move freely between schools and other major recent changes in college sports “probably means we should be looking to the future at this point,” Baker said. “But I have no problem with the regulation in its current form.”
Such requirements and restrictions for team reclassification “are based on factors beyond athletic performance,” the Division I Board of Directors’ Administrative Committee said in a recent statement. “They are intended to ensure that schools properly assess their long-term sustainability in the subdivision. Promoting sports at this level requires increased scholarships, expanded athletic compliance efforts, and additional academic and mental health support for student-athletes, and the transition period is ongoing.” The goal is to give members time to adjust to these increased demands, to position the athletes at these schools for long-term success.”
James Madison next plays at Appalachian State on Saturday, followed by its regular-season finale a week later at Coastal Carolina.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]