By Kendall Rogers
Yahoo Sports
Just over a year after college baseball implemented a uniform start date and condensed schedule, change once again struck the sport Thursday afternoon.
The NCAA Board of Directors voted not to reduce the baseball season from 56 to 52 games. They did, however, approve a measure that adds a week to the start of the regular season, making it 14 weeks instead of the current 13.
The new schedule will go into effect in spring 2010.
Opponents of the measure proposed the NCAA add the extra week at the back of the schedule. The NCAA, however, said that wasn’t possible.
“We wanted to add the week on the front end of the schedule because that’s what our programs are familiar with from the earlier days,” NCAA Division I Vice President David Berst said. “If we had moved the week to the back end of the season, that would’ve made too much of an impact on our championships schedules.”
Though coaches such as Texas A&M’s Rob Childress and LSU’s Paul Mainieri were in favor of adding a week to either end, Michigan’s Rich Maloney was staunchly opposed to the change and wanted the week added to the end of the season. Maloney points to potential financial hardships as a reason for his opposition.
“It will enhance the financial burden that we already to go through, because now we have to add another week to the schedule, likely on the road,” Maloney said. “Adding the week to the start of the season just shoots down the original intent of the uniform start date for our sport.”
What are your initial thoughts? For the move or against the move? Clearly it lightens the load on midweek games, and overall pitching depth, which we could use this season, but it does force the Bucks to spend even more time on the road as Michigan's Rick Maloney points out. Not many people are against the universal start date persay, just the fact it compresses the schedule. Do you think, if they were to add a week, it should be done at the end of the year?
2 comments:
That stinks they did not add it to the end of the year,but i did not think it was going to happen anyway. The NCAA could care less about northern baseball and the tough schedule the teams have to play to start the season. Maybe one day it will be more fair for Big Ten schools,but not any time soon.
1)"force the Bucks to spend even more time on the road....". Force??
2)Should we, as a premier football program, or the NCAA "care less" about lower echelon, less talented (i.e. non BCS) programs? The Bucks and the NCAA should but don't from a fairness perspective. Yes, I know we play MAC teams and its a big payday for those teams ... but I'm talking about fairness from a competitive perspective. We / the NCAA don't (nor should we) do anything for these football programs to help them in a substantive way. Why should the PAC 10 / SEC / ACC baseball programs accomodate inferior programs? Yes, I know Mich beat Vandy , Bucks beat Clemson a few years back, etc. But less face it; overall norhtern baseball is not up to the level of those conferences. Should we force 'parity' like the NFL?? No thanks. Lets focus on our part of the baseball world (e.g. beating Fetters, Ilinois, recruit some pitching for next year) and leave the 'big boys' alone
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