Eamonn Brennan from ESPN Calls for Change

Brennan's article is focused more on oversiging (which he calls runoff) in college basketball, but he might as well be talking about football.

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"You know what would be, like, a total buzzkill? Signing a scholarship to play collegiate basketball at a major institution, making good on your end of the commitment, and then finding out after a year -- or two or three -- that, hey, thanks for coming, but we kind of need that scholarship for someone vastly more talented now. Would you mind transferring? This is where we the school will kindly remind you that your scholarship is a one-year, merit-based, renewable document, and we are under no obligation to extend it for another year should we choose not to. Any questions? "

"It's incredibly unfair. (And harsh too, bro.) And as much as coaches try to keep these runoffs from being public -- seeming willing to discard your players is a great way to lose recruits and come off as cutthroat at the same time -- it's not like this is a secret. It's in the NCAA's rules.

Those rules have to be changed. At the risk of merely criticizing and not offering constructive solutions -- my mom always told me that wasn't nice -- let's spitball fixes. Here's a start: The NCAA needs come up with a new rule, one that makes scholarships a four-year commitment by the institution voidable only if the player decides to leave or if the player fails to live up to the school's academic and behavioral code. Failing that, the NCAA needs to amend the process by mandating year-over-year scholarship renewal provided the conditions of the scholarship have been met."

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/11744/on-runoff-scholarships-and-college-hoops

This is a hot button topic, moving to a 4 year scholarship agreement, but we maintain that not only is it possible, but that many, many universities already operate that way--they just don't have the legal document that forces them to do so.  They do it voluntarily.  We made the point earlier and stand by it, coaches are often times the highest paid employee at their University.  Surely they are capable of determine which recruits are worthy of a 4 year scholarship and surely they are capable of sticking with those kids and developing them over a 4-5 year period.  For the kind of money these guys make we should expect nothing less.  Now this might mean that some coaches will have to get used to placing as much importance on classroom and character as they do on 40 times and athletic measurables, but if the NCAA puts legislation in place that FORCES everyone to do it we shouldn't have any problems.