NCAA issues eligibility ruling

For the college athletes who are heading into a season of uncertainty brought on by COVID-19, the NCAA’s decision to not charge them a year of eligibility — no matter how much they play — brings peace of mind.

The decision does not come without complications. Paying for all those extra scholarships will be tricky for schools tightening budgets and some athletes might find their coaches aren’t so eager to welcome them back.

Seniors will be permitted to return next year and not count against a sport’s roster or scholarship limits. Underclassmen will get access to a waiver they can use to extend their careers, but beyond the 2021-22 academic year, those athletes will count against scholarship limits.

In other news:

• Lamar University and Rice have agreed to cancel their football game, which was originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26, in Houston. The contest was Lamar’s lone remaining game scheduled for the fall after the Southland Conference elected to postpone all fall conference competitions for football, volleyball, soccer and cross country until the spring.

• Conference USA postponed all fall championships until spring except football.

• Iowa will drop four sports programs as part of the athletic department’s response to a projected loss of $100 million in revenue because of the pandemic. School president Bruce Harreld and athletic director Gary Barta said men’s gymnastics, men’s tennis and men’s and women’s swimming and diving will be discontinued after the 2020-21 academic year.

• Robert Fenton Brock, a member of the 1949 and 1950 Texas Baseball National Championship teams and a 2011 Texas Athletics Hall of Honor inductee, passed away on August 16 at the age of 92.

Brock played center field on three Southwest Conference championship teams and two College World Series teams from 1948-50.