new NCAA transfer rule

[Raider Country]

Strange new NCAA transfer rule has everybody saying 'What??'
May 24, 2006
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer

Word is starting to leak about a bizarre new NCAA rule that will go down as one of the worst ideas in recent college sports history -- a rule that could make a free agent of the leading returning scorer in college basketball.

Here comes the rule, and as you read it, keep in mind that this is not a joke. This is not fiction. This is real, and this is the rule:

A student-athlete who earns an undergraduate degree in four years but still has one year of eligibility remaining -- a medical redshirt, for example -- can transfer into another college's graduate school and finish his or her career there ... immediately. No sitting out a year. It's graduate, transfer and play.

Like a lot of NCAA legislation -- the eight-and-five scholarship limit comes to mind -- this rule (called Proposal 2005-54) was written with good intentions. According to the NCAA's Legislative Review Committee, "A student-athlete who earned his or her undergraduate degree has achieved the primary goal of graduation and should be permitted to choose a graduate school that meets both his or her academic and athletics interests, regardless of his or her previous transfer history."

Sounds nice, doesn't it? Sounds fair. Sounds sweet.

It sucks.

Here's why:

What about the school that loses little Johnny Overachiever? This is the kind of rule that sounds good until you put a face on it, and that face belongs to Gary Neal of Towson. Neal, who averaged 26.1 points last season, is the top returning scorer in Division I. He's a 6-foot-4 shooting guard who hit 40 percent of his 3-pointers, 80 percent of his free throws, and pitched in 2.9 assists per game. He's also a transfer from La Salle who has graduated in four years but has one year of eligibility left.

Towson's the school that took a chance on Neal, who left La Salle amid allegations of rape (he was found not guilty in November). Towson's the school that helped Neal graduate. Towson's the school that should reap the benefits of Neal's fourth and final year of eligibility.

Not UConn, not Oklahoma, not any of the heavy hitters said to be lining up for Neal. And that list will grow longer as more coaches learn about this misguided rule.

CBS SportsLine.com on Wednesday asked six coaches from five different leagues if they knew about the new rule, which went into effect on April 27. Only two did. The other four couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"You're kidding," said one coach from the Big East. "That's got to be the dumbest rule I've ever heard."

"That's (expletive)," said another coach, this one from the Atlantic 10. "That can't be right."

SportsLine.com contacted the NCAA on Wednesday to verify that Proposal 2005-54 says what it appears to say. The responding NCAA spokesman, whose name will be omitted to protect him or her, was skeptical but began looking up Proposal 2005-54. After a minute of silence, here's what came out of the NCAA spokesman's mouth:

"Wow. Yeah. That's what it says. OK, well, that's news to me."

It's news to a lot of people, but not to Memphis coach John Calipari. He has known about this rule for a week -- which puts him ahead of the curve -- because Conference USA coaches were told last week during the league's spring meetings in Destin, Fla. The news was broken by Rice coach Willis Wilson, a ranking member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

"We were like, 'Huh?'" Calipari says. "We didn't understand, because the rule makes no sense."

Already, multiple sources told CBS SportsLine.com that athletics directors are mobilizing to get an emergency hearing on Proposal 2005-54. However many signatures such a petition would require to get the NCAA moving -- 50 athletics directors, 75, 100 -- won't be a problem to obtain, the sources said.

This dark cloud of a rule has a silver lining, though, and to understand it, let's give it another face. This face belongs to one of Calipari's players, Almamy Thiero, a 6-10, 255-pound center whose Memphis career has been undermined by health issues. Thiero has graduated in four years but has one year of eligibility left. He could stay at Memphis and play garbage minutes next season. Or he could go to a smaller school -- say Valparaiso -- and play a lot. And play immediately.

Thiero's a good example. Neal's a bad example. And in this case, the bad outweighs the good.

Let's put another face on this new rule. Taylor Coppenrath's face. In 2000-01, Coppenrath was an awkward freshman forward at Vermont. He redshirted. Four years later, he graduated. He also was a two-time conference player of the year, one of the best players in college basketball, and he had a year of eligibility left thanks to his redshirt season. Had this rule been in effect in 2004-05, Coppenrath could have transferred from Vermont to, say, Kansas and enrolled in graduate school there and played the 2004-05 season for the Jayhawks.

Good for Kansas, but what about Vermont? The school found Coppenrath. Nurtured him. Developed him. Graduated him. And then, in what should have been his ultimate payoff season, Vermont could lose him?

Bad rule. Bad. Eliminate it now, NCAA.

www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/9459096/2

[Fastbreak]

This is just another way the NCAA has found to screw the little guy.

[Raider Country]

That's not necessarily true. A player from an upper level school that isn't getting the playing time they want could also transfer to a lower level and start graduate school. UD center James Cripe had to transfer to a D2 school next year to play his 4th year. Cripe is no all-american, but there are many mid-majors that would have taken him for 1 season. YSU desperately needs big men. With 2 remaining scholarships for next year, we could have used him too.

[Class of '83]

I don't mind letting them transfer to another university from graduate school, especially considering not every university offers every graduate program. I still think they should have to sit out a season. That way kids will think twice before jumping to another university soley based on basketball. If a kid is transferring based on a schools graduate program sitting out a year will actually help them get further along towards their degree.

[Fastbreak]

buckeyeball said:

That's not necessarily true. A player from an upper level school that isn't getting the playing time they want could also transfer to a lower level and start graduate school. UD center James Cripe had to transfer to a D2 school next year to play his 4th year. Cripe is no all-american, but there are many mid-majors that would have taken him for 1 season. YSU desperately needs big men. With 2 remaining scholarships for next year, we could have used him too.

I'd rather hold onto the scholarship for a year than give it to James Cripe.

[Retired Coach]

I don't think this is a new rule. It has been buried in the NCAA rule book for years and has been forgotten by many coaches and NCAA members. The rule has now been unburied and I would guess the loophole will be fixed in the near future. The rule was put in place with good intentions. It makes sense when you refer to a pure student-athlete, an athlete that actually is going to school to obtain a degree and is pursuing a higher level of education at the graduate level. Many schools do not provide graduate programs for selected majors and requires the student-athlete to transfer so they can continue to pursue their graduate level studies. However, in reality, since the rule is out in the open, the rule will be abused by many of the D-1 bloodsucking coaches; therefore, it needs to be fixed.

[Raider Country]

Updated: July 7, 2006, 7:43 PM ET
Kruger to play for father at UNLV -- without penalty
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com


Kevin Kruger became the first college basketball player to use a new rule that allows players to transfer without sitting out a year as long as they graduated and have one year of eligibility remaining.

Kruger, the top returning scorer for Arizona State, graduated this week after the first summer session. Once he had his degree, he informed Sun Devils coach Herb Sendek that he was off to play for his father, Lon Kruger, at UNLV next season. Kruger redshirted his first season at ASU.

Kruger is using widely scrutinized Rule 2005-54, which states: "To permit a student-athlete who is enrolled in a specific graduate degree program of an institution other than the institution from which he or she previously received a baccalaureate degree to participate in intercollegiate athletics regardless of any previous transfer."

The rule's intent is to allow students who have graduated in four years (and have one year of eligibility remaining) to transfer to attend graduate school.

Clearly, Kruger's intention is to play for his father for one season, a unique situation. But ASU isn't expected to challenge Kruger, despite losing his 15 points and 40 percent 3-point shooting.

Kruger said in a statement: "The NCAA's new legislation has allowed me to play for my father, something I have always wanted to do. I want the ASU community to understand I appreciate all that Coach Sendek has done for me in the past few months and what he will do for Arizona State. This was an extremely tough decision because of him and the players. After considering my options, I want to play for my father for my final year. Finishing my degree in four years and the recent passing of the NCAA's new legislation has allowed me to do this, and after thinking over the options this is what I want to do."

The Sun Devils still return six of their top seven players.

"Kevin spoke to me about his desire to play for his father, and with the passing of a new proposal that option became available to him quickly," Sendek said in a statement. "We'll continue to develop the players we have, make adjustments and keep working hard towards our goals."

But Sendek acted fast to replace Kruger and ultimately hurt Pacific-10 rival USC. ASU is going to add freshman Derek Glasser, a guard from Artesia, Calif. Glasser emerged as the Trojans' lone ballhandler after the tragic death of freshman point guard Ryan Francis in the spring. That event happened before Gabe Pruitt was ruled academically ineligibile for the first semester. USC wanted Glasser to walk on rather than give him Francis' scholarship. When ASU offered Glasser a scholarship, he accepted.

Now, the Trojans will look to freshman small forward Kevin Galloway to be the ballhandler until Pruitt, who isn't a natural point guard, is eligible in mid-December.

Meanwhile, Kruger's arrival at UNLV should help the Runnin' Rebels become a major player in the Mountain West next season. He will fill the reliable 3-point shooting void. And with the departure of senior forward and leading scorer Louis Amundson, Kruger could end up being the Runnin' Rebels' top scorer.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.

sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2512779

[Willie]

I sure wouldn't mind if we made a late addition to our roster for next year using this rule. We have lost so many key members of our basketball team over the last 7-8 years via transfer that we are due to reap the benefits once in a while.