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NCAA Working Group could introduce new legislation

By VF Castro

Nov 25, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; A Texas Tech Red Raiders helmet sits on the field at AT&T Stadium before the game between the Red Raiders and the Baylor Bears. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 25, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; A Texas Tech Red Raiders helmet sits on the field at AT&T Stadium before the game between the Red Raiders and the Baylor Bears. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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With NCAA member institutions such as Texas Tech benefiting from transfers, a new group could introduce impactful new legislation.

NCAA transfer rules have had impacts on Texas Tech in significant ways, but thankfully, all sports have avoided the wrath Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder has recently undergone.

The biggest issue with the NCAA on its transfer rules, have always been how many loopholes and caveats there are. Standard protocol typically gives coaches discretion (which can get ugly), but with graduate transfers, the process is fairly smooth.

Recently, the NCAA adopted the “Baker Mayfield Rule,” which gives an additional year of eligibility for players who were walk-on transfers. Texas Tech ruled in favor of this, despite years of being dragged through rumors and scrutiny, because it was the right thing to do.

All sports leagues want to avoid getting mixed up in antitrust issues, but legal experts I’ve spoken to seem agree that on the collegiate level, by coaches refusing to allow transfers, it might be teetering the lines of preventing market competition for talent.

This is why student-athletes have been experimenting with unionizing, in hopes of establishing players’ rights. While most would advocate that the NCAA’s biggest battle is paying players, if it relaxed some of its encumbering rules on recruiting, benefits, and transfers, it could avoid some nightmares–at least for now.

This brings us to the NCAA’s proposed legislation.

The Division I Council Transfer Working Group met in Indianapolis from June 25-26 to discuss several issues, including:

  • Permission to contact, including the tie with a college athlete’s athletics scholarship.
  • Postgraduate eligibility.
  • Ethical recruiting.
  • Uniformity of rules/academic impact of transfer

The athletics director at South Dakota State University, Justin Sell, thinks legislation in some of these areas could be enacted as early as this Fall, and cited that the premise of the legislation is to ensure athletes’ success in a broad range of issues.

The first rule idea is to reform permission to contact during transfers. In its current state, players must request permission to contact other teams for a transfer, and its up to the team the player is under scholarship with, to grant, or deny the permission. If the school grants the transfer, the student-athlete is eligible for financial aid. If not, the player has to pay his, or her way, and for many, that’s off the table.

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Working Group members believe that regardless of whether an institution grants permission to contact, financial aid implications shouldn’t be tied to that part of the process. And when student-athletes express interest in transferring, the notification process needs to be “enhanced.”

Two of the most important measures the Group is exploring, are that the NCAA needs to educate student-athletes on how transfers work–before they arrive on campus, and that conferences need to ensure they aren’t undercutting the NCAA’s transfer policies.

In short, the NCAA wants to make sure the “church” doesn’t become bigger than “the state.”

The Group will still need to seek input on these measures, however, if passed, they could begin to shed light in areas that have been ignored for years.

There is one piece of legislation that is questionable, however.

The particular section suggests that in order for the transfer institution to have higher accountability for academic progress, is to require that school to provide financial aid to graduate students, which would also, “count against a team’s scholarship limit for two years, regardless of whether the graduate student stays for two years or leaves when their eligibility is complete,” according to the news brief.

For example, if (now former) Iowa graduate transfer running back Derrick Mitchell transferred to Texas Tech under these proposed rules, Tech would be down scholarships for both years, regardless of whether Mitchell was on the roster, or not, and regardless of why he was off the team.

With limited scholarships to begin with, that rule makes no sense.

Legislation that does make sense, includes schools committing to provide financial aid to graduate students, even after their eligibility expires. This concept underscores the urgency to shift focus of student-athletes back to academics. If a grad transfer only has a year left, or gets injured, schools should be committed academically, however, many would argue that grad transfer commitments should not go against scholarship availabilities.

Finally, the Group wants to explore ways to curb coaches’ unethical recruiting methods, and increase consequences for coaches who violate the rules.

The Group would like to introduce the legislation and present it for a vote as early as April 2018, however, it could take until November of 2018 should any additional proposals require vetting.

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