What always interested me was the ".9".
How, exactly, do you distribute the ".9"? You get 90% off everything then? If one program offers you the full and the other the .9, is that a deal breaker?
Well it was to satisfy Title IX...some women just don't like tens in any form. Or the .9 could be free hookers and pizza two or three times a semester.
The 9.9 interested me too, so over the years learned this;
- Wrestling, like most NCAA men's sports (other than football and basketball), is an EQUIVALENCY sport, vs HEADCOUNT sports.
- Very few wrestling student-athletes get a full ride, with most scholarships in the tenths of a scholarship, or quarters of a scholarship.
- Not all programs are fully funded (PSU is).
- Don't know the year (but think it was 1992), the same year football started it's descent from 95 to 85 scholarships, ALMOST ALL NCAA MEN'S SPORTS took a 10% hit in scholarships, for example;
Baseball was 13, reduced 10% to 11.7
Men's Cross country/T&F was 14, reduced 10% to 12.6
Men's Fencing was 5, reduced 10% to 4.5
Men's Golf was 5, reduced 10% to 4.5
Men's Gymnastics was 7, reduced 10% to 6.3
Men's Soccer was 11, reduced 10% to 9.9
Men's Tennis was 5, reduced 10% to 4.5
Men's Wrestling was 11, reduced 10% to 9.9
That's how we ended up with a odd number like 9.9...it was really a big-picture move by the NCAA, that cut across many, many sports.