It's never because they did great in class. The relationship is so clearly between compensation and athletic talent and productivity that we are really talking about professional sports.'' Even those involved with the system acknowledge that, in equivalency sports, managing the complexities of financial aid is akin to the job of an NFL general manager. There is little incentive for a school to give partial scholarships. The aid nearly always is spread among more than 12 players, but it's legal as long as the total value of the aid on the team doesn't exceed the value of 12 full rides. It puts a lot of stress on the kids,'' UCLA soccer coach Jillian Ellis said.
Bidding wars are part of our sport.
That shifts the recruiting advantage to public schools. If you have no money, money becomes the deciding factor,'' said Vicky Wagner, a 15-year coaching veteran of San Jose club soccer who had a player opt for Texas this year when her first choice, Santa Clara, couldn't come up with enough aid. But raises may be difficult to grant when there is a high school star out there who could put a team in the final four. That seems like a legit request for the good of the team if you can deal with giving back a little money and it's not going to put you into bankruptcy,'' said Santa Clara's Aly Wagner, Vicky's daughter, who as the nation's top-rated high school recruit in 1998 was among the minority of players who could command a full ride as a freshman. Nevertheless, such choices are a part of the job many soccer coaches would rather do without, and reclassifying soccer as a head-count sport would solve the problem.