Illinois AD Josh Whitman Warns NCAA's Spring Eligibility Plan “Not As Straightforward As It May Seem”

Despite the NCAA committee's recommendation, Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman cautions fans the details are more complex than giving all spring sport athletes an additional year of eligibility.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Just because the NCAA Division I Council Coordination Committee announced they have recommended the NCAA granting spring athletes relief for a season of eligibility doesn’t mean the details and course of action is a simple one.

In the first and foremost way, this announcement today has not been voted on by any of the school presidents and the NCAA has not approved any measure yet. 

In a Friday afternoon media conference conducted minutes before the NCAA committee's announcement, University of Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman said his athletics department would fully support any athlete wanting to apply for a waiver or push for an eligibility amendment following the NCAA’s decision canceling winter and spring championships due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. Illinois was forced to cancel the 2020 seasons for all of its spring sports including baseball, softball, golf, tennis and track and field due to concerns over the COVID-19 novel coronavirus epidemic.

Division I Council Coordination Committee agrees eligibility relief is appropriate for spring sports: pic.twitter.com/u7hwYOyTDV

— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) March 13, 2020

"Council leadership agreed that eligibility relief is appropriate for all Division I student-athletes who participated in spring sports," the NCAA’s Friday afternoon statement reads. "Details of eligibility relief will be finalized at a later time. Additional issues with the NCAA rules must be addressed, and appropriate governance bodies will work through those in the coming days and weeks."

However, Whitman, who was a former starting tight end on the Illini football team, remains a licensed attorney and practiced law in Washington, D.C., before embarking on a career in athletics administration, cautioned the public about these such moves being done at the NCAA office in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“We’ve just started to think through some of those situations,” Whitman said. “It’s not as straightforward as it may seem. I fully expect there would be a lot of amendments, waivers stemming from these events. I certainly think the opportunity to come back in a lot ways are a no brainer for student-athletes that want to take advantage of that opportunity.”

Whitman stated Friday he knows from personal experience as a player and now an athletics administrator, the details of any course of action taken either by the NCAA or through a waiver process will be critical to making the process viable for the situations at a lot of programs and with the athlete’s themselves.

“You’re going to have to take a look at scholarship limits. You’re going to have to look at roster sizes (as) most of those spots have been given to somebody else for next year.” Whitman said. “You may have to grow the scholarship support for a year while we work through a transition. Not to mention, the situation we won’t likely be able to work through as much is an incoming baseball player who thought the stud center fielder was going to move on and that (starting or playing time spot) would be for them to compete. All of a sudden that stud center fielder comes back and that changes the internal dynamic. That one is something we can’t deal with legislatively but I do expect that we will have a seat at the table as some of those conversations begin to grow in the coming weeks.”

Earlier Friday morning, the Big Ten Conference announced a league-wide halt on all organized team activities until April 6. Whitman released a statement Thursday confirming all these cancelations and/or temporary freezes in its winter and spring sports. The Illinois football program also placed an indefinite halt on spring practices and all its recruiting practices. Following the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA men’s basketball tournament Thursday afternoon, the Illini men’s basketball program was also informed that off-campus recruiting activities and travel had been prohibited “until further notice” due to the COVID-19 epidemic.