TOLEDO, Ohio — On Monday, the NCAA voted to give senior spring sport student athletes an extra year of eligibility to make up for the season lost to the coronavirus.
While there is the excitement that careers aren’t over just yet, there are a lot of details that need to be worked out. For Toledo baseball and first year head coach Rob Reinstetle, they are starting the process of figuring things out.
It’s been an odd first year for Reinstetle. His Toledo Rockets were 16 games in, just scratching the surface, and now it’s over. There was a lot of progress in just the short amount of games that they played. He was feeling really good about the team heading into MAC play.
"We had no idea this was coming. We were in Georgia ready to play week five. We were on the bus heading to practice when they said you need to pack up and head home. It was a very tough moment to address the team and tell them the season is over. It was rough especially for the seniors because they had no idea what the ramifications would end up being for the seniors." said head coach Rob Reinstetle.
The NCAA is giving seniors an extra year, but a lot of question marks remain with scholarships. Different conferences have different budgets.
"Every institution is on their own to decide, 'can you do it or can you not do it.'" said Reinstetle. "That is where everyone is at right now. There are probably schools in the SEC or power five that can say yeah we have 50 million from ESPN we will pay for it. Schools in the mid-major category are pinching pennies trying to figure out 'how do we make this work or how can we make this work?'"
Out of all this, there is a lesson to be learned that will last far beyond baseball season.
"The one thing I told them was next year and for the rest of your life, you should be doing this anyway. Play every game like it's your last because you never know when your last game is going to come. So, next year that will be our big preaching and one of moments of talk everyday is play like it's your last day because it could be." said Reinstetle.
As the finer details get worked out, stay with WTOL for the very latest.