Here's how Vandy does it
by Sonofadomer (2016-03-14 09:25:43)

In reply to: ND has not committed to baseball like UVA & Vandy.  posted by hibernianangst


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Posted: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 11:00 am

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Posted on Feb 19, 2014

by Allison Mast





College baseball is a game of numbers. The strength of a team is determined by its win-loss record, batting averages, ERAs, hits, runs and strikeouts, to name a few. The positions have numbers, the players have numbers and the coaches have numbers, making the “BB” on the back of a batboy’s jersey a welcome sight. But long before the batboys and players lineup for the National Anthem on Opening Day, a college baseball coach must focus on one number: 11.7.

Starting in 1991, the NCAA allotted Division I schools 11.7 baseball scholarships per year, forcing teams to spread the money across their entire rosters, which usually max out at 35. After the carving and dividing are finished, players are often left with as little as 15 percent of a full scholarship. Usually, this can dissuade a high school player from passing up a professional contract for three to four years on a college campus, but Vanderbilt’s additional resources allows head coach Tim Corbin to maximize his recruiting.




Athletic scholarships can only be divided among 27 players, but academic scholarships and financial aid help round out the roster. With these three resources, Corbin can usually ensure that no player pays full tuition, but there are still members of the team who do not qualify for financial aid and therefore pay the bulk of college expenses.

“I would say on our roster right now, it’s probably split between somewhere between 20 and 22, and then I would say the remaining kids are on financial need or are paying the root of the money themselves. It is an investment regardless of baseball scholarship or financial assistance; these kids are paying money to come to school here. The full scholarship notion that you have with certain athletes doesn’t stand true with our kids because that just doesn’t happen,” Corbin said.

In most cases, teams entice talented players with the promise of a partial athletic scholarship and give the remaining spots to walk-ons. For the most part, the resources available at Vanderbilt allow Corbin to fill all 35 spots with recruits.

Corbin explained, “We’ve had some walk-ons in the past, but those are few and far between. In my past experiences, you know at Clemson, which is a state school, was at least half the cost, and you would get walk-ons, and they would turn into pretty good players. But that’s not the case here.”

In the past, the combination of Vanderbilt’s generous financial aid and the Commodores’ success on the field has led to name-calling and mudslinging. Critics have called Vanderbilt’s recruiting unfair, but Corbin insists that schools like Florida, Tennessee and LSU have their own advantages. Larger state schools have instate grants to lessen an already relatively cheap tuition, while Vanderbilt must use its resources to whittle away at an enormous bill.

“We’re twice, maybe three times the [cost of] schools that we’re playing against, and even though we do have those resources, I would propose that our kids are paying more money to come to school than the kids that are there,” Corbin said.

In order to divide scholarships perfectly and maximize the assistance provided by financial aid, Corbin and his assistant coaches recruit players from east, west, north and south – players from different backgrounds who recognize the unique opportunity that Vanderbilt provides. The financial aid in particular allows the basketball staff to recruit highly-ranked players from low-income families. Corbin prides himself on the diversity of his team, which provides a great learning environment for young men who would never have a chance to meet in any other situation.

“I do like the fact that we have white, black, Latin and Jewish, Italian kids on our team, and I bring that point up many times because I think that is a byproduct of a diverse university and one that allows us, from a baseball standpoint, to match the same type of culture.”

It’s not always easy for such different players to get along, but they spend a lot of time working on team cohesion. In the end, the clubhouse contains a variety of personalities who consistently work together to set the national standard. When the season starts, 11.7 expands to 34 but all 34 have one goal: a trip to the College World Series. With another top 25 recruiting class, the Commodores are in contention for a trip to Omaha.

“I think kids become accepting of different backgrounds. They become accepting of different economic backgrounds — poor, middle class, rich. It just shows that those types of kids can blend together if they’re given the opportunity to and if leadership cultivates the opportunity to allow them to do it. We certainly do that. I love it.”