With DoD Vetting Idea to Fund Scholarships for College Athletes, How do Current NCAA Rules Contemplate Student-Athletes in Active Military Service?
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With DoD Vetting Idea to Fund Athletic Scholarships for College Athletes, How do Current NCAA Rules Contemplate Student-Athletes in Active Military Service?
Executive Summary
A defense contractor who is a former Division I student-athlete proposed an initiative in which the Department of Defense would fund athletic scholarships for college athletes each year in exchange for their mandatory military service.
The proposal is referred to as the Scholar-Athlete Intelligence and Leadership Program (SAIL-P) and would apply to all collegiate sports except basketball and football
The idea has circulated to Congressional Offices including to Senate Armed Services Committee members such as Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) --the former Auburn University football coach.
At least one high profile Athletic Director and one academician see value in exploring idea.
Division I FBS schools spend north of $600M annually in athletic scholarships and the Military is facing headwinds in recruiting to its ranks.
AV highlights a few current Division I legislative exceptions in the areas of eligibility and amateurism built for student-athletes who have active military service commitments.
A small population of NCAA student-athletes also participate in their campuses’ ROTC program.
International student-athletes, depending on their country of origin, are compelled to fulfill mandatory military service obligation before beginning their college athletics career.
According to a recent Sportico article, the U.S. military is actively discussing an initiative, proposed by a defense contractor, to fund athletic scholarships for tens of thousands of college athletes each year in exchange for their mandatory service.
As Sportico reported, the proposal, which would not include football and basketball players, has reached military and civilian leaders throughout the Department of Defense and key members of Congress. It has been pitched as a solution to inefficient recruiting within the armed forces— which spend billions on recruits who fail basic training— and financial unease in college sports, where athletic departments face increasing cuts to non-revenue teams like tennis and wrestling. The idea is the brainchild of Dave Maloney, CEO of Orchestra Macrosystems, a Houston-based software and analytics company that is an Air Force contractor. In a September memo that has since circulated around the Pentagon and Capitol Hill, Maloney, a former Auburn track athlete, framed his plan as a “21st century pathway to service.”
The Scholar-Athlete Intelligence and Leadership Program (SAIL-P), as it is titled in Orchestra’s brief, suggests that DoD offer to replace school-funded athletic scholarships for every sport other than football and basketball at the collegiate level— NCAA, NAIA and junior college. Those athletes would have no obligations while in school, but would be committed to a yet-to-be-determined amount of service after they’re done. Orchestra’s role would be to provide the market intelligence and data analysis to help power the program.
“The Department of Defense just went to Congress with its initial budget for next year. It’s the largest budget ever, and yet we’re seeing a decrease in our technological capabilities, and we’re seeing a decrease in any interest in service,” Maloney said in an interview. “What does that tell you? Talented people don’t want to work at decaying institutions. You’ve got to gut-punch it.”
Last month the Pentagon requested a record $773 billion budget for 2023. That includes about $1.32 billion in “recruiting and advertising” costs across the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force, and billions more for the basic training of those recruits. By comparison, the 100-plus public FBS schools reported spending $653 million in scholarship costs outside of football and basketball in 2020-21, according to Sportico’s college financial database.
While discussion of the idea has advanced into the Defense Department and other parts of the government, it hasn’t yet made similar inroads within college sports. An NCAA spokeswoman said the governing body was unaware of the proposed initiative before being contacted for this story, declining to comment further.
Jack Swarbrick, athletic director at Notre Dame, was initially “shocked” when a reporter described the proposal, but suggested he would be open-minded if it gained steam.
“We happen to have one of the more vibrant ROTC programs in the country, so we’re already involved in the military,” Swarbrick told Sportico. “I have about 101 questions, but would I listen? Sure.”
As for his college sports idea, Maloney said he has briefed at least 25 Congressional offices, including most of the members on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sportico reached out to each of the lawmakers he identified, but only a spokesperson for Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), the former football coach at Auburn, confirmed discussing the plan with Orchestra.
Under the current NCAA scholarship regulations, most sports are partial-scholarship “equivalency” sports that, mathematically and without other merit or need based aid, makes it likely that a college athlete on scholarship is still paying out of pocket. For example, a Division I women’s swimming and diving team may have 30 to 35 swimmers on the roster but the team is limited to spread 9.9 scholarships across the entire squad. With this "service for scholarships" idea, all swimmers could theoretically be on a full athletics scholarship if they sign on for military service component.
Sportico added that military academies already offer scholarships to athletes who have made these commitments, typically eight years total with at least five on active duty. Beyond that, donor endowments fund thousands of current NCAA scholarships.
In a recent op-ed piece related to this concept, David Ridpath, Ohio University Associate Professor of Sports Business noted “…the ideas presented in the Sportico article merit further study. I am somewhat biased as a 12-year U.S. Army veteran who competed in the early 1980s as part of the military sports program in wrestling. While far from elite, I did get many perks of competing internationally for the Army. The military experience and high-level competition were transformational experiences.”
“While my story is somewhat in reverse of the proposal detailed in Sportico, it does show how it can work. The military already has programs for future doctors, lawyers and other professional specialties where the degree is paid for initially, but the individual must then serve in that specialty for the military to 'pay that time back.' This could work in the same way and provide college athletes a professional pathway to use their degree for the military, similar to ROTC programs. Not to mention it can be a huge cost saver for college athletic programs.”
As details emerge about this bold idea tying athletic scholarship funding to military service, AV highlights current NCAA rules that consider student-athlete’s involvement in active military service and how such service can qualify a student-athlete for one of several legislative exceptions impacting areas like amateurism, seasons of competition, five-year eligibility clock, and transferring, among others.
Here is a sampling of Division I legislative exceptions carved out for individuals who have fulfilled active military service, as specified:
As part of the service-exceptions to the five-year clock, NCAA rules state that time spent in the armed services, on official religious missions or with recognized foreign aid services of the U.S. government is excepted from the application of the five-year rule. Among such services that qualify a student-athlete for an extension of the five-year rule are: (a) Military Sea Transport Service; (b) Peace Corps; or (c) Service as a conscientious objector ordered by the Selective Service Commission (or the equivalent authority in a foreign nation) in lieu of active military duty. Interestingly, if a student-athlete is enrolled full-time as a regular student in collegiate institutions while on active duty in U.S. military does count toward the five calendars years in which a student-athlete’s four seasons of competition must be completed. There is NCAA case history in which, for example, a student-athlete was granted a 6-month extension to his five year eligibility clock since the individual had to undergo six months of psychiatric treatment following separation from military duty and prior to returning to an NCAA institution to compete in their sport.
When it comes to avoiding use of seasons of competition while competing in your sport prior to enrollment, individuals competing in organized competition during time spent in the armed services, recognized foreign aid service, or official religious mission will not have this type of organized competition count as one of the student-athlete’s seasons of competition— another legislative exception for military service under NCAA amateurism rules. At one juncture, student-athletes that had participated in any organized competition during their active military service, which could be as informal as a military recreational league or a fun run, the student-athlete could have lost a season of eligibility for each year in which he or she participates in such organized competition. This application unfairly penalized a student-athlete who has spent time serving his or her country or religious organization. A student-athlete who engages in these types of service, whether voluntary or required, should not be penalized by losing a season of eligibility for participation in any organized competition during their time of service.
Additionally, if a student-athlete enrolls as a full-time student in a regular term of a collegiate institution at the first opportunity following completion of the service commitment, the period between completion of the service commitment and the first opportunity to enroll is exempt from the application of the delayed enrollment legislation that could lead to individuals being charged seasons of competition for delaying enrollment too long after graduating from high school.
Under four-year college transfer exceptions in Division I, a student that returns from at least 12 months of active service in the armed forces of the United States does not have to serve an academic year in residence at the next Division I school they enroll in. At one juncture, this exception required at least 18 months of military service but was legislatively reduced to 12 months noting individuals that served 12 to 17 months seemed excessive and the 18 month benchmark seemed “arbitrary” according to legislative rationale. A student-athlete who performs duties involving in military or mission service should not be held to a different eligibility standard than his or her counterparts who may have enlisted or registered for a slightly longer service commitment. This exception has its limits— the amount of time that an individual is enrolled as a regular student in a collegiate institution while concurrently on active military duty may not be counted as a part of the 12-month active-duty period that qualifies a student for an exception to the transfer-residence requirement.
An interesting footnote to these legislated exceptions is that international student-athletes, depending on the country, are a sub-population already navigating mandatory military service tied to obligations to their home country— albeit unrelated to their college athletics scholarship at an NCAA institution.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
