By Dennis Phillips, D.P.E.
“But the grass ain’t always greener on the other side. It’s green where you water it.“ (Bieber, 2012).
One of the trends in intercollegiate athletics is the increasing amount of transfers. Transfers come in many forms: from two-year to four-year colleges; four-year to two-year and back to four-year colleges; four-year to four-year colleges at all divisions; and finally, the relatively recent transfers following graduation from undergraduate institutions with remaining eligibility — e.g. the graduate transfer. High profile players like college basketball players Malik Newman (MS State to Kansas), Tarik Black (Memphis to Kansas), Kansas and Nebraska guard/forward Andrew White to Syracuse, and numerous football players including the high-profile case of Alabama graduate transfer football player Maurice Smith to Georgia.
Transfer rules and regulations in the NCAA is not a new phenomenon. Falla (1981) stated that the NCAA was always considered to be an organization of scholars and educators and that intercollegiate athletics was considered to be “co-curricular” and governed by a series of academic eligibility rules set forth in its’ constitution and by-laws from 1906-1938. From 1939-1962, such academic eligibility areas as admission criteria, amateurism, recruiting, progress toward degree, minimum hours enrolled, length of years to compete, and in 1946, a one-year residency rule for transfers (Falla, 1981).
According to Bell, Clough, and Petr (2016), NCAA Research statistics indicate there were 528 undergraduate transfers (on the ESPN transfer list) in 2015-16. Most (44%) transferred to another D-I school, however a third went to D-II and one percent went to D-III. Almost a quarter (23%) transferred to a Non-NCAA college. Approximately 75% of the transfers moved “down” in competition level as measured by division, conference, or program prestige. For those men’s basketball players who transferred within Div. I, 42% transferred “down” a level of competition; 35% went to a “lateral” competition level; and 22% transferred “up” a level — of those, 54% were graduate students.
Is the number of Graduate Transfers in all sports increasing substantially? The NCAA adopted the transfer rule for student-athletes who graduated from an undergraduate institution with remaining eligibility, and were accepted in a graduate academic program at another institution, to become immediately eligible in the year 2011 (NCAA Manual, 2011). Since then, according to the NCAA Research department (Bell, Clough, and Petr (2016), the number of graduate transfers has increased considerably in both men’s and women’s basketball and track and field, as well as football. All other men’s and women’s sports have experienced increases, but on a more modest incline. After the onset of the rule in 2011, during the timeframe of 2011-2015, Men’s Football transfers have risen from 17 to 108. Men’s Basketball 15 to 68, and Men’s Track and Field from 23 to 40.
Transfers — Pros and Cons
Why do student-athletes transfer? There are many possible reasons for players to transfer, as well as Coaches desiring to receive transfers on their teams. Players desire to earn more playing time; play at a more successful program; a chance to leave a program that is “not a good fit” following the change in coaching staff; home sickness; disagreement with the coaching staff or teammates; to receive a “second chance” or “fresh start” at a new location when disciplinary matters have taken place; personal or family issues and situations; or desire to pursue a career or academic major that is not present at their current institution. From the coaches’ viewpoint, transfers can fill immediate holes left through graduation or of current team members leaving; can provide a “shot in the arm” for the team with an injection of new talent; can help provide a “quick fix” to help a coach who is struggling to win. Kansas Coach Bill Self stated:
There’s a lot of things with transferring that’s positive, such as if a youngster wants to play and it’s not set up for him to play at that place. Sometimes a change of scenery is good. (Also) if you have a different academic program you want to pursue, if there’s health issues with a family member close to home. There’s a lot of things like that. (Bedore, 2016, p. 3)
The “negatives” to transferring schools and programs are many as well. Some of them include: losing academic credit and delaying graduation; having to adapt to a new school, new team culture, new coaching staff, and new teammates; becoming disruptive to team dynamics and being viewed as an “outsider”; declining team APR and possible prevention of eligibility to participate in post-season competition; and possibly losing a year of eligibility. According to highly successful Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self:
We’ve benefitted with that (graduate rule) . . . obviously, but 100 percent of all coaches would say that’s a very, very bad rule because it puts you in a position where, depending on your situation where you could actually look to recruit kids off somebody else’s campus, and that per se is not legal, but through third parties obviously there can be contact made and things like that. (Bedore, 2016, p. 4)
Peter Deppe, has filed suit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association seeking removal of transfer restrictions. The basis of the suit is a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. (Deppe v. NCAA, March 8, 2016). Deppe was a punter who was recruited by several Division I FBS institutions, but agreed to attend Northern Illinois University. According to the Plaintiff, when playing time appeared to not be forth coming, he decided to transfer to the University of Iowa where he was assured to have an excellent opportunity to play immediately. However, due to transfer rules stipulating a season in residency before play, he was forced to sit out and Iowa recruited another player that was immediately eligible. Deppe is also questioning the scholarship number limits in football. The case seeks to certify a class of similarly situated individuals who transferred from November 2, 2011 to the time of the complaint. Time will tell when and if the case will come to trial, but if it does the outcome could have major implications.
References
Bedore, G. (October 16, 2016). KU coach Bill Self says player movement is a ‘problem in college athletics’. Retrieved from http://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kabsas/article108678877
Bell, L.; Clough, D., & Petr, T. (September 18, 2016). Myth Busting II — Using NCAA Research to Separate Myth from Reality. Presentation to the NCAA Div. I Faculty Athletic Representatives Annual Conference, Grapevine, TX. Retrieved from http://oneafar.org/2016_Annual_Meeting/Meeting_Support/Annual_Meeting_2016.html
Bieber, J., Sean, B., Atweh, N., Darkchild, & Lindal, A. (2012). Lyrics from the song As Long as You Love Me in the Album Believe. Retrieved from http://genius.com/Justin-bieber-as-long-as-you-love-me-lyrics.
Dennie, C. (March 25, 2016). Deppe v. NCAA: Antitrust lawsuit seeking removal of cap on football scholarships and removal of transfer restrictions. Retrieved from http://www.bgsfirm.com/college-sports-law-blog/deppe-v-ncaa-antitrust-lawsuit-seeking-removal-of-cap-on-football-scholarships-and-removal-of-transfer-restrictions
Falla, J. (1981). NCAA: The Voice of College Sports. Mission, Kansas: NCAA Publishing.
Dr. Phillips has been a college professor and administrator for 40 years, the past 24 at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Sport Law, Policy & Governance of Sport, Sport Psychology, Organizational Leadership, Facility Management, Sport Marketing, Policy and Governance in Sport, Sport Finance and Economics, Sport Ethics, and Coaching, in the Sport Coaching Education, and Sport Management program at USM. He is also the current Faculty Athletic Representative for Southern Miss to Conference USA and the NCAA.
