You sound like you're coming from the front line and your experience is very valuable. Are you? Can you share your background with us?

If what you say is true, it would seem at least ethical that the coach be very clear that the scholarship offer had performance risk and was contingent and adjusted annually based on the coach's annual comparsion against her teammates. How does a family budget for that?

What if the kid wanted to pursue an academic or music scholarship at an Ivy League school instead, but made her school decision based on the perception of a strong sports offer? That lack of disclosure could be damaging.