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The NCAA will not be moving forward on the one-time transfer waiver exemption in time for the upcoming season, Brett McMurphy with Stadium reported today.
One-time transfer waivers are dead until at least 2021-22 academic year, sources told @Stadium, as NCAA Division I Council approved a resolution to develop legislation regarding transfer eligibility for January 2021 that would not be effective until 2021-22 academic year
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 20, 2020
As the transfer rules (generally) currently sit, any player who transfers before graduating from college must sit for one year at their new institution. Exemptions are granted by the NCAA for hardships and other reasons, but they are applied inconsistently (go figure) by the college sports governing body.
To potentially simplify the rules, the NCAA was looking into allowing one-time waivers for players, that way they wouldn’t have to wait until to become a graduate transfer. That is the news portion of the article, here comes the editorial.
Regardless of where you stand on the “transfer epidemic” heard so much about in national media circles, this exemption is a way for the NCAA to actually do what it talks so much about doing: promoting and protecting the students.
The sit-out-one-year rule only applies to Division I athletes playing football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, and men’s ice hockey. If you are recruited to play for any other sport, than you can decide to change schools whenever you like.
Pushing past the lack of equity, the transfer problem is, as it stands right now, punishing players for success. University of San Francisco Head Coach Todd Golden is getting all of the accolades as the next big thing. He is young, smart, and will probably coach himself out of USF into a bigger opportunity, and he will be celebrated for it.
Let’s say rising sophomore Josh Kunen has a monstrous year, wins WCC Player of the Year, but the season ends where it does because USF doesn’t make the tournament. Kunen cannot transfer to a program with a better opportunity of postseason glory without spending one year riding the pine. All of these college basketball players have a limited timetable on maximizing their earning potential for their skills, and in Kunen’s case right here, the NCAA stripped him of one of his years of money.
Of course, it isn’t so black and white, and considering the NCAA has to figure out how to try and get its college seasons going in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is no surprise this specific can was kicked down the road. Hopefully, the NCAA brings the vote to the table in January, so we can at least get some clarity on the transfer issue.