NCAA Should Adopt Proposal Of New Transfer Rule

While many of the rules inside the NCAA's book are working and in place for the right reasons, others need updating.

The NCAA has the chance to make right one of the wrongs in college athletics with the proposal of legislation to update the antiquated transfer rules for student-athletes. 

The current rule requires student-athletes who wish to transfer from one D-I school to another to sit out one season before being eligible to compete at their new school. It's time for the governing body to make right this rule and allow players who transfer to do so without penalty. 

Critics of the change site players jumping from school to school without any limitations as a dangerous precedent to set for intercollegiate athletics. I agree that players should not be able to hop from place to place without some sort of safeguards to ensure the system is not abused. 

How then does the NCAA go about making this change while protecting colleges and universities from suffering because of transfers?

According to the new proposal, there are four categories a transferring student-athlete must satisfy to be eligible to compete at his or her new school immediately. 

1) The transferring student-athlete must receive a release from their current school. 

2) The transferring student-athlete must be academically eligible to from their previous institution. 

3) The transferring student-athlete must maintain that academic eligibility at their new institution before the start of their athletic season. 

4) The transferring student-athlete may not be under any academic or university suspensions at the time of transfer to be allowed eligibility. 

5) The transferring student-athlete will be allowed to transfer once in his or her four years of eligibility without penalty. A second transfer other than as a graduate transfer would mean sitting out one season, as is the current rule. 

Some critics might dispute these requirements, but each seems to be a fair exchange for the student-athletes to be immediately eligible to participate. 

Indeed, some athletes enroll only to participate in sports as a means to a potential professional career, which is not in line with the mission of colleges and universities to prepare their students and athletes academically. Having a requirement that athletes wishing to transfer to be academically eligible should not concern anyone. 

Adoption of this new rule would have an immediate impact on Vanderbilt men's basketball as Issac McBride has verbally committed to the Commodores as a transfer from Kansas and would have to wait for a determination on his eligibility under the old rule. 

The NCAA will take up the issue in the coming days, and it's time they make the right move here for their student-athletes. 

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