UTC basketball players to get $2,000 stipends

UTC's Tre' McLean, right, tries to rebound over ETSU's Petey McClain (1) and Jalen Riley (5) during the Mocs' Senior Night SoCon basketball game against the ETSU Buccaneers on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015, at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga.
UTC's Tre' McLean, right, tries to rebound over ETSU's Petey McClain (1) and Jalen Riley (5) during the Mocs' Senior Night SoCon basketball game against the ETSU Buccaneers on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015, at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga.

To be able to compete on the recruiting trail, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball programs have to be able to keep up with the times.

They've taken a step to ensure that - for the time being, anyway. They're not only keeping up with but moving ahead of the other teams within their conference.

The UTC athletic department announced recently that the 13 men's and 15 women's basketball players on scholarship will each receive a $2,000 stipend starting during the 2014-15 school year to finish covering the cost of attendance. UTC is the first school in the Southern Conference to make such an announcement.

photo UTC guard Keiana Gilbert (20) shoots around Pittsburgh forward Monica Wignot (24) in the 2nd half of the Mocs' NCAA tournament basketball game against the Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday, March 21, 2015, at the Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville

A breakdown of what UTC is offering averages out to about $250 a month, which is about $63 a week, but players will receive a $1,000 check at the beginning of each term.

"If we were to break it down to three or four checks (a month), it would be hard for our financial-aid office," UTC vice chancellor and athletic director David Blackburn said. "If it was going to be a larger amount, we would probably dole it out so they didn't waste the money, but with the amount we're offering, it makes more sense to do it one time and apply it toward their full scholarship."

Jim Foster, the 38-year coaching veteran who presides over the UTC women's program, and new men's coach Matt McCall both felt as though this decision was inevitable.

"I think it's great," McCall said. "It's part of the reason that David Blackburn and his staff want this place to be special. They've really bought in on the student-athlete experience here.

"Being able to give a stipend to take care of expenses is great. We like to stay in constant communication with our athletes, and this will help them take care of their cell phone bills as well as help the athletes get home for the holidays and see their family. Plus they're college kids and want to have a social life, and any time you go to the movies you're going to pay at least $20 in expenses.

"I think it speaks volumes about how important the total student-athlete is here."

The $56,000 will come from funds distributed from the NCAA. Blackburn said there are other sources - such as the student athletic fund and the student athletic opportunity fund - that could also be used, but that UTC is planning to use those for "what that money is intended for," such as lab fees, athletes' use of computers that could be returned or if an athlete was being required to wear a sport coat to an event but could not afford to purchase one.

"I knew something like this would happen in some form. Whether or not this is the best way to go about it remains to be seen," Foster said. "It's some sort of start: We need to come to some sort of consensus to what we're talking about here in terms of cost of attendance, because it varies so widely from school to school. It's going to be interesting when people look at the layers of this, whether it's going to be that much different from school to school."

Foster, who had lengthy coaching stops at St. Joseph's, Vanderbilt and Ohio State, doesn't think the allure of more stipend money from another school would be enough to sway a player's mind about his or her college destination.

"Making this commitment is great for the students," Foster said, "but when I hear some of the numbers I've heard from other universities, I wonder if they're compiling information. When you look at the value of a scholarship - which I think people don't look at - and it costs $50,000 to go there and the cost of attendance is $2,000, are they going to pass that education up for a bigger stipend?

"It's a little different, but like anything else time will tell if it's good or not."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

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