PL Scholarship Talk Heats Up

The New York Times has chipped in with a story about the upcoming Patriot League decision on football scholarships. From the Times:

The Patriot League was born nearly 25 years ago with its stated mission to be “the exemplary intercollegiate athletics conference in the country for student-athletes” and has demanded “success both in academic achievement and athletic competition” from them. The awarding of scholarships in every other sport has not eroded that mission.

Also:

The vote is expected to be close, with Bucknell and Georgetown to side with Lafayette, and Colgate and perhaps Lehigh to vote with Fordham. Many alumni at Holy Cross, which offered football scholarships into the 1980s, may want to return to the glory days, but it is unclear whether the university has the financial wherewithal to do so.

The Express-Times down in Pennsylvania writes:

"As you know, the PL presidents have been deliberating about changing from need-based financial aid in football to merit-based aid for some time,") Roger Clow, Lafayette's director of college communications) said. "A decision is expected to come as early as next week, and Lafayette has been planning for all the possible outcomes of the deliberations. (Lafayette College President Daniel H.) Weiss has spoken in the past about his concerns with the proposed change and has said that he is not in favor of it. It would be premature to say anything beyond that before the presidents' decision is made."

The Third Rail, a Georgetown football blog, offers a look back at the formation of the Patriot League in a piece that is well worth reading:

"Suffice it to say that the Ivy League has become non-competitive outside of the league to the point of being unable to even fill their stadiums," wrote former Colgate beat writer Tom Lazzaro in 1985. "Rather than bring back spring football or institute various other reforms to raise this sad level of competition, the Ivy League presidents looked around for schools which shared, as Brown University president Howard Swearer announced 'our philosophy of sports, and our view of the role of athletics in higher education."

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A West Virginia paper has a story about Russell Wilson, the gifted two-sport quarterback at North Carolina State and the son of the late Dartmouth grad Harry Wilson III. From the story:

Of course, the North Carolina State quarterback does not have a one-track mind when it comes to sports.

“I remember that every single day my father would wake me up at 5:30 and we’d be in the field throwing a football or he’d be hitting me grounders to the shortstop.