NCAA Transfer Reform Talks Still Ongoing, Still Hopeful
Thursday’s transfer talks leave some uncertainty but we may know more next month.
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Forward progress on any conclusive transfer legislation may be a ways off, but many involved seem in favor.
We are still knee-deep in an unprecedented time not only in sports but a little bit of everywhere globally at the moment. With this pause in competition, some organizations and governing bodies have taken the time to pause, take a step back, and reflect. Among other pieces of reform currently underway by the NCAA, something of particular interest has been ongoing talks around a one-time waiver for players transferring for the first time in their career in five NCAA sponsored sports, football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, and hockey.
Those five sports mentioned above are the only sports sponsored by the NCAA that still require athletes to take a redshirt year at their new school or obtain a waiver if they decide to pick up and move on for a change of scenery. All others already allow players to suit up right away at their new destination, they call it a one-time exemption.
The infamous and mysteriously obtained transfer waiver, allows players to play immediately at their new school, but very few cases are ever publicly explained. Now, I see the privacy involved in this process and I’m not asking for every player’s tough situation to be placed somewhere for all to view, critique and bash, that’s not by any means a solution. But it makes criticism of the NCAA’s process and decision making way too easy for folks, as some players are awarded waivers and others aren’t far too often, it obviously begs the question, “why them and not me?”.
An example close to home for Mountain West fans was Boise State Emmanuel Akot, who transferred out of the Arizona Wildcat’s basketball program along with guard Alex Barcello. Both applied for a waiver in what seemed like an offseason where everyone was getting them approved, Barcello was granted one and suited up for BYU at the beginning of the season, no wait time or waiting until semester break. Akot was denied and then denied again following an appeal.
Players transferring has been a topic of debate for media members, coaches and the NCAA itself for the last couple of years now as the practice is reaching record numbers year in and year out, only to be broken the following season. Verbal Commits currently has the current total of players in the transfer portal at 852, with around 200 of those being graduate transfers. The controversy comes with how the NCAA handles the issuing of waivers to transfers for various reasons. If you want to get a little more heated at the NCAA, read this article detailing the plight of current Virginia Tech offensive lineman Brock Hoffman and his own well-publicized experience with the NCAA.
Hoffman’s situation is tough because by definition his family’s predicament appears to be what the hardship waiver was created for, right? Instead, he was denied immediate eligibility because of a rule added by the NCAA in 2012 that states the new school a player wishes to transfer to must be within a 100-mile radius of their home. This along with an additional ruling stating his ailing mother’s condition was on the rise, so his previous plea regarding her failing health wasn’t as credible in his appeal, terrible right?
There seem to be too many parties with conflicting interests working on this issue at the moment. The Transfer Waiver Working Group has recommended waiver guidelines be updated to fit the current climate and a possible ever-mounting workload. While the NCAA’s board of Directors has suggested opening transfer legislation up is fine, but disagreed with the proposed changes to the waiver process as of Thursday calling it “not appropriate at this time”.
But the vote will ultimately be decided by the Division 1 Council, which is a body of representatives designed to encompass all aspects of college athletics. For example, the Mountain West is represented by Fresno State professor Dr. Dawn Lewis, a professor and faculty athletics representative while other conferences are represented by athletic directors, commissioners, senior woman administrators, conference administrators, compliance administrators and even two student-athletes.
This is tough news as the hopes of many were to have a plan in place to implement these new changes in time for the 2020-2021 season. If the council were to vote in favor of the proposed changes, it would do so on May 20th at their next scheduled meeting or at the latest January of next year.
Some opposed to the implementation of a one-time transfer waiver are the coaches themselves, one of the more high profile names circulating around the issue is Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter, who as a member of the NABC Board of Directors and NCAA Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee voiced his opposition in a letter sent to the transfer working group.
As a governing leader in the industry, he speaks about a lack of support around the country from coaches on the subject, its burdensome impact on how coaching staffs recruit and build rosters and the introduction of a new era of free agency in college sports. As well as highlighting the shortcomings of the graduate transfer rule in recent years and it’s misuse by coaching staffs since it’s implementation.
“I strongly oppose the proposed one-time immediate eligibility transfer waiver rule, and instead support the current year-in-residence requirement in men’s basketball,” Painter wrote. “As someone who has experience at all levels of the NCAA structure, I do not support the proposal as a high-major Division I coach and would not if I was still employed in Division II or Division III.
“As a member of the NABC Board of Directors and NCAA Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee, I spend significant time seeking input from coaches on how to best serve our sport and its student-athletes. On this topic, I am yet to hear any coach at any level support the immediate eligibility proposal. In fact, the consensus is that the rule change, should it go into effect, would be even more detrimental to the Divisions II and III levels.
“Make no mistake – this proposal would bring free agency to men’s college basketball. Every classification of student-athletes – both current and prospective – would experience uncertainty. The annual roster turnover would make college choices more difficult for high school prospects, and current student-athletes contemplating transfer would have less certainty with which to make decisions. As a coach, the ability to effectively teach and lead a program would be more difficult. And perhaps most significantly, remaining student-athletes would be left in an untenable situation in the likely event of a mass-exodus of teammates in a single offseason.
“Finally, I would be remiss to not point out the failures of the graduate transfer rule as a cautionary tale. It is not helping our game or our student-athletes. The graduation rate has been around 33-percent, and the players who transfer up to high-major programs have been largely unsuccessful. What was intended to be an academic rule has been anything but. If we further liberalize the transfer environment with one-time immediately eligibility for all, I fear the lasting effects on our game will be far more severe.”
It’s perfectly understandable how the NCAA and apparently all coaches Matt Painter talks to, feel about the ongoing legislation surrounding transfers. I mean the longstanding idea of “amateurism” in this country is under fire, by the likes of not only a one-time transfer waiver as well as the ever-complicated issue of who gets to use a player’s name, image and likeness to turn a profit in this industry.
ESPN commentator Dick Vitale is among those who think a one-time transfer rule is not a good idea and thinks it would be “total chaos” as he told former NBA player Thurl Bailey on his “Thurl Talk” podcast.
“Well, I can tell you very simply why it’s not good for the game. Total chaos.” Vitale said. “Last year there was about 1,015 people that applied for transfer portal. This year, there’s more than that already. If you put that rule in, when you can certainly transfer anytime you want, go where you want, and be eligible immediately, that’s gonna double over 2,000.”
And while headway is being made on both subjects, the reign currently being held by the NCAA and those who support it, needs and appears to be loosening with the times. Although, many actually involved in these talks and decisions have really reinforced one thing, and that is to do it right.
