If the injury happens after you already get accepted, can you get rescinded? And if it happens after you apply (with the coach supporting your app), but before acceptances come out, can the coach “revoke” their support?
It is up to the coach, and I’m sure it will depend on the severity of the injury. Whether the coach can revoke the support is up to the school and how they run admissions.
A college would not rescind your acceptance to the college after an injury (I haven’t read the policies of every school out there, but that would be pretty shocking). If you have not signed an NLI, however, a coach could rescind your offer of an athletic scholarship. If you have signed an NLI but not been admitted, the coach could probably withdraw his support for admissions, but that would be relevant only if you needed his support to get admitted. If you have signed an NLI, however, any athletic scholarship it offers is generally binding for a year. I’m sure there are exceptions–morals clauses, academic clearance, etc., but injury would not be one of them. With a D1 or D2 school, if you have signed an NLI, I would think the most likely outcome would be a redshirt year if the injury is enough to keep the athlete off of the field or out of training long enough to affect the competition season.
There would be a very small window for signing an NLI and getting hurt before admission. It would seem to only apply to those who signed in Nov. and got hurt before ED or rolling admissions. It doesn’t seem like a lot sign in Nov and don’t apply as soon as they can.
Most coaches are pretty honorable and will stand by any offer, even before the NLI is signed, especially if the reason the athlete can’t play is from injury. Less understanding for disciplinary problems and of course for academic problems there might not be much the coach can do.
How this will turn out depends on the type of injury, what is needed to recover, if you were offered a scholarship or not, and the level of program/sport. If it is a career ending injury you need to notify the coach. If you already have an acceptance letter in hand, admission cannot be revoked due to injury, whether you have received coach support or not. If you signed an NLI, and are injured, the school must honor the athletic award at least for the first year. If you need coach support to gain admittance and you don’t have it yet, your situation is unknown and depends on what your physical condition will be like at the time you expect to start school. If you were good enough to be recruited, I would suggest being open with the coach, and tell them the complete situation, you don’t want to start off your relationship with a coach by lying.
In many sports it is not a question of if you will get injured, but when. If you are seriously injured, need surgery, extended recovery, e.g. torn ACL and you are a soccer player, you will be unable to pass a physical, and the coach will find out anyway. However if it is minor or doesn’t impact your sport significantly, and you will be fully recovered by the time you start school, don’t overreact and consider keeping it to yourself e.g. distance runner with a broken wrist or an overuse injury that requires only rest/time to heal.
Hope this helps you decide what to do, but if you were my S, I would tell you to stop speculating, contact the coach, and find out what the situation really is so you can focus on your recovery.