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Updated: June 12, 2025 @ 5:47 am
The South Carolina baseball team will be able to offer full scholarships to everyone on its roster next year.
Kip Bouknight, the Gamecocks’ only Golden Spikes Award winner, played three of his four seasons at USC on a partial scholarship, as was the norm at the time.
Landon Powell (black pullover) is glad Division I players will be able to get full scholarships to play baseball but is wondering if the effect will trickle down to Division II, where he has coached North Greenville into a powerhouse.
From Rock Hill, S.C., David Cloninger covers Gamecock sports. He will not rest until he owns every great film and song ever recorded. Want the inside scoop on Gamecock athletics? Subscribe to Gamecocks Now.
The South Carolina baseball team will be able to offer full scholarships to everyone on its roster next year.
COLUMBIA — Kip Bouknight remembers his thinking.
“I turned down a full scholarship offer to play shortstop at North Carolina,” Bouknight said. “My parents said, ‘Kip, we want you to go where you want to go. Go where you want to be and where you like the coaches.’
“For me to turn down a full scholarship to go to North Carolina and come to South Carolina and actually have to pay, that was a sacrifice for my family.”
The Gamecocks certainly got the bargain. Bouknight (1998-01) remains the program’s leader with 45 career wins, won the 2000 Golden Spikes Award and is one of two players to have their jersey numbers on the wall at Founders Park.
He was a hometown guy, playing at Brookland-Cayce High just across the river from where Founders stands (his college days were spent at Sarge Frye Field, another mile-and-a-half from Founders), and he really didn’t want to leave home despite his affection for the Tar Heels’ chief recruiter at the time, Chad Holbrook.
But UNC was offering a free education to play baseball, and at USC, Bouknight would have to settle for a piece of a scholarship. The game was governed for decades by 11.7 scholarships to split among an entire roster, and Bouknight was given 25 percent of one to play for each of his first three seasons.
Last week’s House settlement changed the model. While the specifics have yet to be codified, future baseball rosters are expected to be capped at 34 players, with all able to be on a full scholarship.
“I had already thought about going into (then-coach Ray Tanner’s) office and asking him for a full scholarship, but he beat me to it. He put me on full scholarship my senior year,” Bouknight said. “It’s wonderful now that these kids and their families won’t have to make those decisions. I think it’s certainly long overdue.”
Kip Bouknight, the Gamecocks’ only Golden Spikes Award winner, played three of his four seasons at USC on a partial scholarship, as was the norm at the time.
Derick Urquhart (1995-98) had a similar experience. From Florence but with a family background in eastern North Carolina, he was all set to go to either UNC or NC State. State was coached at the time by Tanner, with his top assistant, Jim Toman.
But USC, then under coach June Raines, needed outfielders and Urquhart was a standout one just an hour from Columbia. “I was brought in on the minimum. The term was ‘books’ back then, but it was a little bit more than that,” Urquhart said. “I received a fair offer from NC State and had that all squared away, but USC basically came in and matched what State was going to do.”
It all worked out. Tanner (and Toman) were hired at USC for Urquhart’s final two years. And as a senior, Uruquhart was also rewarded with more scholarship money.
“Where was this in the mid-90s? This would have been great,” Urquhart chuckled. “That kind of money and the revenue definitely wasn’t around. Would have been something kind of neat back in the day.”
There are some specifics to work through. Power-4 teams are expected to fully fund the 34 scholarships for baseball but conferences can still add caps if they so desire (the SEC is not expected to). Still, it’s up to the school and its finances to see if it can afford 34 scholarships or increase the 11.7 to a number it can live with.
USC is expected to fully fund 34 scholarships. Paul Mainieri and his staff have been actively rebuilding the team from last year’s miserable season, and the roster at present stands at 37 players.
Yet it doesn’t have to be finalized until Dec. 1, the transfer portal remains open until July 1 and the Major League Baseball draft begins on July 13. Plenty of time to work on the particulars.
Mid-major schools, again depending on their finances, will increase from 11.7 to a probable 18-20 to spread among their rosters. Landon Powell, another USC Hall-of-Famer who went from full scholarship to 50 percent to 75 percent and back to full during his career (2001-04), is happy for the future players but also curious what it will mean for him.
He just wrapped his 11th season as coach at North Greenville, where he’s transformed the Trailblazers into a powerhouse, including the 2022 national championship. But his program doesn’t stand to benefit from the House settlement.
“I’m not hearing of any changes at the Division II level currently. I believe we’ll stay exactly the same,” Powell said. “All the changes are at the Division I level.”
Landon Powell (black pullover) is glad Division I players will be able to get full scholarships to play baseball but is wondering if the effect will trickle down to Division II, where he has coached North Greenville into a powerhouse.
The most scholarships a DII school can expect to get is nine, Powell said. NGU gets a little under seven. That’s an increase from his first year (3.5) but still makes his team woefully underfunded, especially for the success it’s had.
There’s a slight advantage. Under the 11.7 scholarship rule in Division I, a player had to get at least 25 percent of a scholarship. Powell has no scholarship minimum so a player can receive anywhere from 1-100 percent.
“I think it’s going to hurt small schools and Division II schools, is what it sounds like,” he said.
Again, the settlement has parameters but won’t take effect until July 1. Maybe then numbers will become crystal clear and the non-Division I programs can start asking the NCAA what’s in store for them, since they’re all under the NCAA’s umbrella.
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter at @DCPandC
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From Rock Hill, S.C., David Cloninger covers Gamecock sports. He will not rest until he owns every great film and song ever recorded. Want the inside scoop on Gamecock athletics? Subscribe to Gamecocks Now.
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