It’s been clear since the moment the 2017 college football season ended that one of the primary topics of the offseason would be changes to existing NCAA transfer rules.
The NCAA might ease transfer restrictions for players whose head coaches leave. That’s a long overdue change.
Coaches can change teams without NCAA rules in the way. So why should players have to jump through so many hoops?
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In mid-January, a potential “every student-athlete can transfer once without having to sit out a year at his/her new institution” proposal began to float around in the ether. On Tuesday, CBS’ Dennis Dodd reported that an amended version of that proposal was taking shape.
In a proposal presented by Baylor professor Jeremy Counseller and Iowa State professor Tim Day (pdf), athletes would be able to transfer without sitting out as long as they met one of a few guidelines:
1. the student-athlete earned a baccalaureate degree at the original institution;
2. the student-athlete’s head coach at the original institution resigned or was fired during or after the most recent season of competition, except that the student-athlete is not immediately eligible at another institution at which the head coach is employed;
3. sanctions have been imposed on the original institution that limit post-season competition in the student-athlete’s sport;
4. the student-athlete did not receive athletically-related financial aid at the original institution; or
5. an exception in bylaw 14.5.5.2 or 14.5.6 is satisfied.
One could make the case that this is still too restrictive. In an environment in which coaching salaries continue to increase — we now live in a world with $2.5 million coordinators — you could suggest that limitless transfer is the least we can give student-athletes. But this is a healthy compromise of sorts.
The four major pieces of this proposal include a version of the current graduate transfer rules allowance (No. 1) and the Baker Mayfield rule (No. 4). It would theoretically allow players to transfer without limitation when NCAA sanctions include a postseason ban (No. 3) — so a Shea Patterson would be eligible immediately.
Most interesting is guideline No. 2: Transfers would be eligible immediately if their head coach leaves (except to said head coach’s new employer).
To say the least, this could open up transfer floodgates each winter. One would assume this could lead to a ruling that players signing during December’s Early Signing Period could be released from their letters of intent if a head coach leaves immediately afterward.
This proposal is similar to something we discussed in 2017’s College Football Commissioner platform.
* Better health care options, longer-term insurance, and a path toward minimizing post-career medical expenses.
* The right to graduate scholarships for those who seek them.
* Guaranteed undergraduate scholarships for finishing education later on in life, perhaps after professional careers are over.
* Guaranteed undergraduate scholarships, in case one’s career ends early because of injury.
* Constant updating of mandatory safety guidelines and research funding, to ensure the greatest possible health, especially in terms of brain trauma.
* If financially realistic for an individual school, a bonus for graduating, which would serve to avoid post-graduation financial hardship and increase graduation rates.
* The right to transfer. Schools should no longer be able to bar a player from penalty-free transfers to specified rivals. A student’s former sports coach shouldn’t get to decide that student’s future.
* The right to an Olympic-style model of amateurism, allowing players to profit off themselves without necessarily costing schools.
It is, in other words, a step in the right direction.
It is difficult keeping tabs on all transfers as is, and this would make things even trickier.
But that’s a small price to pay for giving student-athletes a tangible added benefit. If this were to be adopted, it would be one step down, quite a few more to go.
