Colleges offering scholarships for League of Legends has officially becoming a thing, with the University of Pikeville in Kentucky revealing the formation of a brand-new eSports program. The school is currently putting together the program, which should debut sometime this fall.
This news makes the University of Pikeville the second college to offer League of Legends scholarships, following in the footsteps of Robert Morris College in Chicago. (Yeah, Chicago!)
The program will participate in the Collegiate Star League, which organizes for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, League of Legends, and Dota 2. The University of Pikeville plans to have one League of Legends team in CSL Division 1 and three teams in CSL Division 3, including an all-freshmen lineup.
School graduate Eric VanHoose has been assigned as the head coach.
As with any scholarship, students will be asked to do more than play League of Legends.
"It will be a regime a lot like athletics," said new media director Bruce Parsons to WYMT. "They'll have to have a certain GPA. We'll look at them like student athletes. There will be practice time and video time when they have to study other teams for upcoming competitions."
Though the University of Pikeville is currently focused on League of Legends, it's not hard to imagine the school expanding in the very near future. Robert Morris College started with only League of Legends, but has already expanded into other competitive multiplayer games, including Hearthstone and DOTA 2.
You can reach the author of this post at patrick.klepek@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @patrickklepek.