NCAA becomes a little less draconian with new transfer and redshirt rules
By Logan Ulrich
The NCAA has one less thing in common with a repressive dictatorship after it changed its strict transfer policy on Wednesday.
Student athletes will no longer be forced to request permission from their schools in order to transfer. Instead of being at the mercy of coaches and their paranoid, controlling tendencies, potential transfers now just have to notify schools of their intent to leave and the schools will have two business days to enter their name into a national transfer database. Coaches are free to contact anyone in the database.
It’s a huge win for student athletes, who also picked up another surprise victory when the NCAA changed its redshirt policy to allow athletes to play up to four games without losing a year of eligibility.
“The membership showed today that it supports this significant change in transfer rules,” South Dakota State athletic director and chair of the Division I Transfer Working Group Justin Sell said in a statement. “I’m proud of the effort the Transfer Working Group put forth to make this happen for student athletes, coaches and schools.”
Student athletes were originally required to seek permission from their school to transfer as a way of cutting down on tampering. Instead, the rule became a cudgel for many coaches to punish student athletes who dared to leave.
The examples are as plentiful as they are infuriating. Pittsburgh’s Kevin Stallings tried to prevent Cameron Johnson from leaving even though Johnson had graduated as a sophomore. Kansas State’s Bill Snyder approved none of the 35 potential schools a player requested to transfer, none of which were in the Big 12 or future opponents. Then when asked, Snyder claimed the player failed two drug tests. Teams like Alabama and Auburn have become infamous for denying requests.
Conferences can still enforce more restrictive transfer rules if they choose, but earlier this month the SEC voted to allow grad transfers within the conference to play immediately without sitting out. Other conferences might soon follow suit and relax the constraints. A previous employer controlling where an employee works next would be seen as a huge violation in any arena outside of college sports. Now student athletes are slowly catching up to the freedoms everyone else in the NCAA already has.
Redshirt rule change
In addition to changing the transfer rule, the NCAA also voted to allow student athletes to still take a redshirt season as long as they haven’t played more than four games.
This represents a huge shift. Previously, student athletes had five years to spend four years of eligibility. If a player wanted to redshirt, they couldn’t play any games during that redshirt season. This rule was used most often for incoming freshman who needed to develop before seeing the field and by transfers who preserved a year of eligibility while being forced to sit out.
Under this new rule, a freshman could play up to four games in their first season and still be a redshirt with four full seasons of eligibility still available. It’s also not limited to the first four games of the season or any other consecutive stretch.
Rule states: "can participate in up to four games in a season” - doesn’t matter if consecutive or when
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) June 13, 2018
This rule received wide support from coaches, and it might be because it helps alleviate concerns from the transfer rule change. Coaches hate transfers with a passion fueled by pure, unadulterated self-preservation. But with the potential of four games’ worth of playing time to motivate freshman, coaches now have a potential way to battle transfers looking for playing time. It also helps improve player development, as redshirts aren’t limited to gleaning from the scout team.
Whatever the reason, the end result is that on October 15 when the rule takes effect, student athletes will have the most freedom and rights that they’ve had in a long time. And that is a win.