Dean Foti held his hands 12 inches apart. Figuratively, this was where the Syracuse men’s soccer team stood apart from its competition.

‘If this is where we were last year,’ said Foti, the head coach’s hands still 12 inches apart, ‘the scholarship money puts us about here.’ He moved his lower hand six inches closer.

‘We’re closing in the gap.’

In recent seasons, the Orange had been playing with 2.5 fewer scholarships than the NCAA maximum for a Division I men’s soccer program. In 2006, the SU athletic department decided to fund the full 9.9 scholarships allowed by NCAA guidelines in an effort to improve the team’s on-field success.

Syracuse Athletics slowly began integrating the additional scholarship money, based on equivalency, into the program, starting in 2006. The money will continue to trickle in until the 2010 season, when the transition will be complete. By allocating full scholarship funding for the program, Foti and the Orange should be able to recruit more top-caliber players to the program.

Men’s soccer is known as an equivalency sport, which means a set number of scholarships can be split among multiple recruits. This means that one scholarship may be given to two recruits, with each receiving half of a scholarship. Therefore, Syracuse men’s soccer can divide its 9.9 scholarships among more than nine recruits.

Conversely, in the alternative headcount sports like men’s basketball, a school has a set amount of full scholarships that can be awarded to one athlete each.

Rob Edson, SU senior associate athletic director and chief financial officer, said that once the additional scholarship money was granted to the team, certain players’ equivalencies went up, requiring the department to pay more money to honor its scholarship commitments. This process slowed the full integration of the increased funding.

Edson said that the Orange barely missing the NCAA tournament last season demonstrated how the program can improve with more scholarship money. (SU has not reached the NCAA tournament since 1984)

‘Permitting programs to offer the maximum-allowable number of scholarships allows the programs to operate with the same number of scholarships that other schools who enjoy a history of regular success have had for years,’ Edson said in an e-mail.

Foti, in his 19th season at the helm of the Orange, beamed with excitement as he talked about the additional funding after practice last week. He can’t wait to be at the same level as the team’s main competitors. His team went 8-6-3 in 2008 and failed to earn a postseason berth after a one-goal overtime loss to then-No. 21 Louisville. That year, a portion of the new scholarship money was starting to take effect.

This season Syracuse has started slow (1-4 record) but has lost each game by only one goal. Some of the recruiting possibilities the scholarship money can create are already taking shape in freshman like midfielder Mark Brode, who cracked the starting lineup in his first season.

Foti said the increased funding promises better players, who should help the program win more games now and going forward.

Syracuse University’s high tuition costs made it harder for prospective players to choose SU over state schools with lower tuition, Foti said. That can change now.

The coach guaranteed more depth on his roster moving forward. Injuries will hinder the team less with more people on the roster. The Friday-Sunday series the team often plays during the regular season will be less strenuous with more players coming off the bench.

‘For many years we were operating with one arm tied behind our back,’ Foti said. ‘There was an impact from the money last season, and there will be on it this season, and by next year, we should have it all into the program and working.’

Edson agreed with Foti. The benefits of the scholarship money are just starting to show. Depth and quality athletes are increasing.

SU captain Hansen Woodruff said that from a player’s perspective, with more high-quality players on the roster, practices will be more competitive and everyone will have to work hard to earn a starting position. Drills and scrimmages become more intense when the team has more talent.

‘When you’re fully-funded, obviously you are going to bring in better recruits than if you don’t have that kind of money,’ Woodruff said. ‘A lot of the better players are looking to come here, but for free and having more resources and stuff like that makes you a better place to play.’

When players are competing more during practice, it makes it a bit easier during the games when the real competition arises, Woodruff said. Big East play begins Friday against Seton Hall at 7 p.m. The Orange will have its first shot to show what the scholarship money can do for its program.

‘We, in the [SU athletics] department, hope that the scholarships put the team in a better position on the field,’ Edson said in a telephone interview. ‘But to be in a better position on the field they had to be on a better position off the field, first. Now it’s up to staff and students to get program back where it belongs and that’s in the NCAA tournament.’

mkgalant@syr.edu

Published on September 14, 2009 at 12:00 pm