Some football transfers not penalized By Mark Alesia mark.alesia@indystar.com The NCAA will reconsider a rule, passed quietly in April and then criticized by football coaches, allowing players to transfer without penalty for graduate school. Since the rule was enacted, quarterback Richard Kovalcheck, who graduated from Arizona with athletic eligibility remaining, transferred to Vanderbilt. He will be eligible this season. Another example: Tyler Krieg, a starting offensive lineman for Duke, transferred to California. The rule was passed 13-4 by the school presidents who compose the Division I Board of Directors. It was deemed to be an athlete welfare issue, meaning players should be able to choose a graduate school without the NCAA standing in the way. Coaches worry, however, about having to "re-recruit" some players who will essentially become free agents. The NCAA received override requests from 43 schools by Monday's deadline, 13 more than required for reconsideration. The Division I Board of Directors will vote on the rule again at its meeting Aug. 3 in Indianapolis. If it upholds the rule, it will be subject to an override vote of all Division I schools at the NCAA Convention in January.
I think we discussed this awhile ago. I'm of the opinion that it's a rule that is not going to come into play very much. First of all the key factor is that you have to have graduated and have eligibilty left. That's immediately takes out a lot of guys. Second of all I can't see very many guys transfering if they are going to be starters at their current school. The kid from Az was beaten out and was not going to start, so a lot of QB's who find themselves behind the 8 ball on the depth chart transfer. Wolke of ND just did it. I don't know about the kid from Duke, but again he graduated and if he wants to go to grad school at CAL he shouldn't be forced to go to make a choice. Bottom line is that it's not going to lead to a whole bunch of players shifting schools, because very few graduate in 3 years like the AZ kid and at best 1/2 the kids graduate in 4 years. It's going to end up being a few kids and most of them won't be critical players for their existing teams. I think there is a kid who lead Div1AA in basketball scoring who's graduating and has a year left and is moving to UConn or someplace like that. It hurts his 1AA team, but again its an exception not likely to be come common place.
The rule apparently assumes that at least some athletes graduate and have a desire to take graduate work in an area that their original school may not have a program or not be particularly strong in. I'm afraid, once again, the tail is going to wag the dog.