Following LSU’s series win over Mississippi State on Sunday, Bulldogs head coach Ron Polk took a few moments to blow off some steam about an issue that has been on his mind for the last 36 years of coaching baseball.
The NCAA allows collegiate baseball programs to award 11.7 scholarships a season, which is last in collegiate athletics among major sports.
Polk said there are six schools in the Southeastern Conference that have an unfair advantage when it comes to recruiting baseball players. Polk said academic scholarships for in-state students, such as TOPS in Louisiana, help programs use academic scholarships for players instead of athletics scholarships.
Polk cited LSU, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina as schools who are able to use these in-state scholarships.
The state of Mississippi — which has three major collegiate baseball teams in No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 21 Southern Mississippi and Mississippi State — does not have the same kind of state scholarships only awarded to in-state students, which Polk said is unfair as long as baseball programs are limited in scholarships.
“I blast the NCAA and Southeastern Conference everywhere I go,” Polk said. “There are six schools with an unfair advantage. It’s a baseball issue so they don’t care. They only care because we bring in the money for them.”
Polk said collegiate baseball is the second largest revenue producer for the NCAA championships, and he does not understand why it is last in scholarships allowed.
Polk said he has no problem with schools in states with in-state scholarships similar to TOPS being able to have the scholarships. He just thinks there is something needed to be done to help the schools in states without them.
When Polk coached at Georgia in the 2000 and 2001 seasons, a school with an in-state scholarship, Polk said he felt as if he were stealing in being able to use those scholarships.
“The playing field is not level,” Polk said. “Call Mike Slive in the SEC office and ask him what he’s doing. It was on the agenda in the meeting they had three weeks ago. They never got to it. I told the SEC office that’s fine. At least it lets me know where we stand.
“Call Myles Brand, my good buddy at the NCAA, who I blast every week. I send him a letter once a month letting him know where I’m speaking and let him know I am blasting him and the association.”
When asked if Mississippi State school administrators have ever tried to quiet him on his remarks about the NCAA, Polk replied, “Why? They know I’m right.”
Polk continued: “I’ve had seven presidents, and they know I’m right. Myles Brand knows I’m right. The NCAA knows I’m right, but they have left-wing, politically correct nerds running the operation now. Left-wingers, that’s all they care about is being politically correct.”
Polk, who has won 1,212 games as a collegiate coach and been to the College World Series seven times, said the NCAA has declared war on college baseball.
“They are the enemy of college baseball,” Polk said. “Put that in your story. Send it to them. They’re the enemy of college baseball.
“The NCAA hates baseball, and I am the only one who speaks up because everyone else is afraid they’re going to lose their jobs. They can fire me any time they want.”