A Possible Sign Of The World Ending: The NCAA Does Something To Benefit Players

From an NCAA release:

Beginning in October, Division I student-athletes will have the ability to transfer to a different school and receive a scholarship without asking their current school for permission.

The Division I Council adopted a proposal this week that creates a new “notification-of-transfer” model. This new system allows a student to inform his or her current school of a desire to transfer, then requires that school to enter the student’s name into a national transfer database within two business days. Once the student-athlete’s name is in the database, other coaches are free to contact that individual.

Holy shit. I actually don’t believe this. The NCAA is doing something that completely helps the players and hurts coaches. If you’re familiar with the NCAA, this is typically the opposite decision. Now, coaches are going to be pissed. This is something that will absolutely hurt them, really at all levels, but especially in the low-majors. We already see conferences like the NEC lose top players year after year to the high-majors after breaking out after being under recruited.

My question here is why do we care if they transfer? I always say we can’t talk about athletes (especially football and basketball) in the same way we talk about regular students. They aren’t the same, no matter how we spin it. That’s why the transfer rules were always a bit baffling to me. How can a coach determine where a player can go? We don’t do that if a student decides he’s smart enough to get into a better program at a different school. Here’s the other thing. If the player transferring is THAT good that he can beat the current team, wouldn’t a good coach find a way to get him on the field/court?

Now, I know the fear is turning this into a full on free agency. Sure, that’s a valid complaint. The NCAA also added that any tampering with an athlete before they are put into the database will be a Level 2 violation.

All in all, this is a big and positive step by the NCAA to help equal out player’s rights. This rule begins on October 15.