Winthrop University in South Carolina offers cornhole scholarships

There is cornhole being played on campus at South Carolina’s Winthrop University, and not just on the quad — the school recently offered over $80,000 in scholarship money to a pair of high school players from Colorado.

The school, based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, is located next door to the American Cornhole League. 

Gavin Hamann and Jaxson Remmick were high school doubles cornhole stars at Thunder Ridge High School in Highland Ranch, Col., and placed second in  Level 1 doubles at the ACL’s Open #9 held in San Diego in February. They have won two ACL national high school championships along with two other teammates.

The ACL sees scholarship and young players more broadly as proof of the sport’s vitality and future.

“This is the next phase of growth. The youth movement,” ACL Chief Strategy Officer Trey Ryder told the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Hamann and Mr. Remmick “have all the shots,” he added. “They can hit anything.”

Winthrop is the first NCAA Division I school to offer cornhole scholarships.

“We were shocked that we even got this opportunity to take something we were doing for fun, like a sport to play in college,” Mr. Hamann told KCNC-TV.

Winthrop’s cornhole coach thinks their talent will make a big difference for the program: “They didn’t just beat 10 pros. They beat the world champion from last year and singles’ title winner,” coach Dusty Thompson told KDVR-TV.

The pair are having about 60% of their cost of attendance subsidized by Winthrop. Cornhole is not recognized as a sport by the NCAA, meaning Winthrop cannot offer a full ride — but the pair can pocket winnings they get from ACL events.

Name, image and likeness money could also help make up the difference. 

“I believe that we’ll get college paid for all four years because NIL, we can make so much money off that … sophomore through senior year, we’ll make so much money off NIL,” Mr. Remmick told The National Desk.

In addition to cornhole, Winthrop also has a disc golf team, forays into e-sports, and plans to add BMX biking and drone racing as part of a broader strategy to build enrollment up again in the post-COVID era.

“This is part of a larger strategy around enrollment management that a lot of institutions are trying to grapple with,” Winthrop University Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing Joseph Miller told the Chronicle of Higher Education.