NCAA Adopts Transfer Portal Window

Those sports treat players as employees and things like a trade deadline are collectively bargained in return for other benefits. If college sports wants to acknowledge players are employees and allow them to collectively bargain than at that point you can argue what other sports offer as a reasonable example.

Until that point, students shouldn’t really have any restrictions beyond what an academic scholarship has.

Carolina,

I was being a bit facetious in my first remark, and let me briefly explain.

Student Athletes have my respect and admiration.  It’s challenging to balance the demands of academics and a varsity sport any time - and, especially so during the semester the sport is in competition (vs training).

The university makes a commitment to the student athlete - and, IMO, the student athlete must make a similar commitment to the universIty.   The system today - and NIL just seems to be accelerating it is - a free agent system - with NO commitment from the athlete to the university.

Effective roster management is one element - but, even more important is the experience of learning and growing during this formative period of life - before “adult” responsibility really kicks in.

So, what do I propose?  My “gut” says the following - and, I haven’t thought through this completely.  A student athlete gets one (1) transfer without having to sit.  My preference would be at the end of an academic year - though, I could see two (2) windows - at the end of a semester - or one at the of December and a second in May.  If you want to transfer - that’s when the “portal window opens”.  Any subsequent transfers would require “sitting” - not participating - in competition for one year.  Practice participation is fine - game action is not.  Graduate transfers - immediate eligibility.

Another point that I admire about the B1G is - four year scholarships - instead of one year renewables.  The SEC uses one year renewables to manage their roster - and, IMO, this is not fair to the student athlete.  An athlete who works hard in / out of the classroom might have incurred an injury, is dealing with issues (back home), or may be passed over by “the shiny new 5* prospect”, and their scholarship is not renewed.  This is garbage.  I abhor one year renewables in the greatest way.

These are very important issues - and, unfortunately - the NCAA and Emmert - have been asleep at the wheel for far too long.  The impact this has on collegiate sports is with us - and won’t go away.  There’s no going back to “how it used to be”.

The issue of holding camps in “other parts” of the country - the SEC’s objection - and NCAA’s capitulation to the SEC is an example.  Who is “really” hurt by this “only hold camps near your school”?  My view - the lower 3* or 2* high school athlete.  Why is this important?   Well - that 2*/ 3* prospect can benefit the most through a college degree.  And, instead of only being seen by local schools - would have more exposure to schools around the country - outside of his geographic footprint. 

How might that exposure happen?  Well, let’s say Michigan holds a camp in Florida, Georgia, or Louisiana.  A coach sees a solid player who is good - great effort - hard working - good student - etc - but, might not be what Michigan needs - such as a LT who is 6’ 2”.  What happens - the coach talks to a “friend” - perhaps former colleague- who’s a position coach with another team - maybe a MAC school.  The Michigan coach says - “I think you should look at this player - he could be a good fit for you.”  So, the end result - that prospect - who may not receive a Power 5 offer - picks up an offer from a MAC school or two.

The above example irritates me to no end.  And WHY - because Nick Saban and the SEC wanted to prevent any teams from recruiting “their sacred ground”.  Yeah - they might have lost out on one or two four of five star prospects to a “northern school” - but, the real loss is those athletes - the 2*/ 3* - who might have received an offer - with a better collegiate experience elsewhere - who never had an the opportunity for exposure to a broader group of coaches.  

The selfishness of those SEC coaches and weakness of the NCAA is on display every day.

Sorry for the length of this.. it’s something I believe in strongly.

Energyblue1,

re: athletes whining

how many athletes have been killed in the last 20 years due to coach/trainer negligence/abuse? 

rather than complain about athletes whining, I’m in favor of creating far greater accountability for coaches and admin who lead programs. My direct experience as a Big Ten athlete tells me that without accountability kids will be (have been and currently are) abused. just about every year some will die. Currently we have Scott Frost bragging about how many times his tough practices make linemen puke. In the Big Ten we’ve seen players die at Maryland, Minnesota, and Northwestern and that’s just off the top of my head. 

I can think of few better ways to hold coaches accountable and empower athletes to speak up than letting that athlete take his/her talents somewhere else. Immediately. With no repercussion to the player. 

2011 - so, is this an NCAA requirement for ALL Division 1 schools - a four / five tear scholarship commitment to the student athlete?

If so, I think it’s a great idea.  And, that being said - is there any noted commitment from the student athlete to the University?   I would hope that there’s a mutual agreement from both the student athlete and the University.

Thank you.

My default is not everything the NCAA does is bad.  The fact the could not see this mess coming is an indication that they are not well run or orginized.  I think the rule is well intentioned but it is so reactionary when everyone with a voice said this chaos would happen does not establish a lot of confidence.   Additionally they are a bit of a toothless entity.  Whenever a school wants to cheat they just do it and dare the NCAA to do something about it.  

I think if you had an orginization that ran the revenue sports you could have real compliance since all of the stake holders would have an interest in playing under the same rules (money is a hell of a motivator).  Not naive enough to think programs that want to cheat will just stop, but actual consequences for cheating would help level the playing field.  NCAA seems unable or unwilling to do so.   

Go Blue!  2 Days!

IDK, Henson is younger and is probably a better runner while still having that cannon arm.

I was hoping to bring back Henson. I know, I chose the losing side of that battle. This is why I'm not paid $7 million a year I guess. 

No edit. It seems I was too late to add my Henson comment because this community is too tightly knit. 

I, obviously, concur. Not a hot take even anymore. Just fact. The NCAA is lame, while the conferences are becoming scarily powerful. I don't have answers for what the NCAA should do at this stage (can't say anything particularly helpful, nor nice) but if i were advising one of the two major conferences, I would just outwardly rebel against anything they do that doesn't support my ideals and create my own product with my own oversight.