College Basketball's Transfer Problem
By Ryan Mayer
We have a new fight on our hands in the college basketball world.
The big debate has been about possible changes to the one-and-done eligibility rule and whether or not the rule itself is good or bad for college basketball. Well, a new debate has emerged over the last few years, but it’s become more mainstream now as the NCAA has done away with the waivers it was previously granting to college basketball players when transferring schools.
One main point to get out of the way early, I understand both sides of this issue and I’ve done a complete 180 on how I felt about transfers in college basketball.
Now, the reason for this ruling seems to be the continuously growing transfer list every year for college basketball in which players look to move to another program for whatever reason. There are a multitude of reasons for switching teams and it made for a confusing and seemingly arbitrary granting of waivers for some players to be able to play immediately while others had to wait the requisite year in order to do so.
This is called an academic year in residence by the NCAA and the purpose of it seems to be that the student-athlete be given the time necessary to be able to adjust academically to the new school. Direct from the NCAA Transfer Guidebook for 2013-14:
“The NCAA wants your college experience to be exciting, rewarding and successful. The most important result is that you have the opportunity to receive a quality education and take your place among the student-athletes who have attended college, played sports, received their degrees and gone on to make important contributions to society.”
“If you transfer from a two-year school and do not meet the transfer requirements, or you transfer from a four-year school, whether you are an international or domestic student-athlete, this basic transfer rule applies to you: You must spend one academic year in residence at your new school before you are eligible to compete.”
This would be fine, if that were the actual motivation behind everything the NCAA does. But as we’ve seen with recent lawsuits, the NCAA is concerned about protecting its ability to make money off these athletes while still holding to the archaic model of “amateurism” that even the Olympics (one of the slowest moving governing bodies in sports) has moved away from by allowing its athletes to accept sponsorships. If the NCAA were serious about academics, then instances like UNC, or Syracuse wouldn’t still be happening where players were allowed to take and often “guided” to take paper classes that would allow them to stay eligible.
So why do we consider athletes transferring a problem?
Let’s take a look at the numbers. For the 2014 offseason the NCAA even put together a research paper on the number of Division I athletes that transferred. All numbers are from that pdf and can be found here. 604 players transferred schools in 2014. Of those, only 237 went to another Division I school. That’s 39% of the players that transferred. Of those, 58 were graduate students who had already finished their degree and would be eligible to play elsewhere immediately because of the graduate exception in the NCAA transfer rules. So that leaves 179 players who were undergrads that transferred and stayed within Division I. Only 28 of those at the time of the report were granted waivers.
Now, consider that the transfer rate for a normal college student is about 33% (1 in 3). For men’s basketball Division I players if we assume that each of the 351 schools in Division I men’s basketball uses its full allotment of 13 scholarships that means all told there are 4,563 scholarship athletes in Division I. If 604 athletes are on the Division I transfer list that works out to 13.2% of players transferring. And again, according to the NCAA’s own findings, less than half of that group of transfers went to another DI school.
So what’s the problem there?
I will admit that I have little faith that the NCAA actually cares about the players being in good academic standing at their new school and that is why they’re being forced to wait a year to play.
What we really have here is a concern over the players being able to market their own talents to better schools. We’re worried about the “little guys” who would have their best transfers snapped up by larger schools and better programs. But isn’t that how every other aspect of society works? The goal for anyone pursuing a career in any industry is to move up and keep advancing their status within that industry. You want that next promotion. If you work at a smaller internet start-up and Google comes calling because of the exemplary work you’ve been doing, you move to Google.
Coaches do the same thing by the way. These mid-major coaches that we become enamored with come tournament time? They are often mentioned immediately in connection with a larger conference school. Some jump at the chance to move up, others don’t. Why not allow the players to do the same?
We can’t just assume that every player would immediately look for bigger and better opportunities. Some would want to move closer to home as college students around the country do every day. Other would try to find a program that fits better with their talents. Still others would want to transfer because the coach that they built a relationship with in recruiting was now leaving to go elsewhere. These are all perfectly acceptable reasons.
We don’t admonish normal everyday students for transferring. We allow them to make their own choices and chase the degree and career path that best suits them. Why are athletes different?
If your argument is purely about these players falling behind academically, I respect your sentiments but I remind you to look at the organization you’re talking about and ask you seriously if you believe the NCAA truly has the best interest of the athletes at heart.
In summary, college basketball doesn’t have a transfer problem. College basketball involves college kids, who are notoriously fickle, ever-changing, growing people that want to make their own path. We shouldn’t penalize them for that opportunity.
Ryan Mayer is an Associate Producer for CBS Local Sports. Ryan lives in NY but comes from Philly and life as a Philly sports fan has made him cynical. Anywhere sports are being discussed, that's where you'll find him.