The NCAA will reportedly allow athletes to transfer once without restrictions.
According to Sports Illustrated, the NCAA is set to approve a rule that will allow athletes to transfer once without having to sit out. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Fall and winter athletes would have to notify their programs of transfer decisions by May 1st, and have to be leaving in solid academic standing.
Athletes will be granted a penalty-free, 1-time transfer starting in 2021, per proposal sent to DI Council & obtained by @SINow. It’s expected to pass in January.
FB/BSK players must notify school of transfer by May 1 each year.
From @ByPatForde & me – https://t.co/cDj6ADiTCY
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 13, 2020
An athlete’s previous school would have no ability to object to the transfer & the NCAA would not impose a cap on transfers in a given year, documents say.
As of now, NCAA does not plan to expand the 25-man initial counter limit in FB, the proposal sayshttps://t.co/cDj6ADiTCY
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 13, 2020
I have mixed feelings on allowing players to transfer without restrictions the first time they do it. On one hand, the waiver system used by the NCAA is a joke.
Tate Martell was deemed immediately eligible at Miami for no good reason in my opinion, and other players at smaller programs are definitely not afforded that luxury.
There is no consistency at all, and it seems like the big programs get to feast over the small ones.
View this post on Instagram
On the other hand, if coaches can leave without penalty, then it’s hard to argue the unpaid athletes shouldn’t be able to do the same.
My biggest concern is that transferring without restrictions will turn everything into free agency. What’s to stop a group of guys just all getting together and selecting one school?
That could get incredibly chaotic very quickly.
We’ll see how this all shakes out once it’s implemented, but it’s probably a net positive as long as college sports don’t now have sanctioned free agency.