In the summer of 2011, the NCAA changed this rule. It passed legislation giving Division I universities the option to offer multiyear scholarships, guaranteeing an education as long as the athlete stays out of legal trouble, doesn’t violate school or NCAA rules, keeps playing the sport and maintains academic eligibility. The athlete is also free to leave, under the same transfer rules as always.

But nearly two years after that legislation, multiyear scholarships are rare, not publicized by universities and largely unknown by the athletes. According to data of 82 universities at the Division I-A level obtained by the Post-Gazette through open records requests, only 16 have offered more than 10 multiyear scholarships. Thirty-two of the universities have offered between one and 10, and thirty-four have not offered any.

You can read the whole thing, but it all boils down to this:

1. Coaches don’t like losing control.
2. The NCAA was covering its ass in its usual less than coherent way.  (“The great majority of athletic scholarships are still good for just one year, renewable on a coach’s decision, a procedure that flaunts the education-first narrative pitched by the NCAA and member schools, especially at a time when promising an education until graduation is possible.”)
3. Student-athletes don’t have a clue what they’re being offered.

Same old, same old, in other words…