Op-Ed: New NCAA transfer policy needs revision to alleviate adverse effects
In 2021, the NCAA changed its student athlete transfer policy, effectively permitting the athletes in sports, like football and basketball, to transfer one time to another school with immediate eligibility and no longer require them to sit out for one year. The penalty was sufficient to ensure students athletes who transferred were both serious about their decision and had some “skin in the game.” By removing any barriers to transferring, student athletes are free to move to another program for any reason, effectively using the transfer portal as a free agency market for their talent.
The COVID-19 pandemic was the backdrop for this policy change and likely contributed to its enactment. However, like any new policy, the unintended consequences are being exposed.
The most important question to ask is whether this policy serves the best interests of student athletes? It depends what criteria are used to make this evaluation.
There are legitimate reasons why a student athlete should transfer. These include the head coach being fired or moving to another program. Given the carousel of basketball coaching changes occurring in basketball programs, the transfer portal is rapidly filling with student athletes aspiring for a new start. There may also be a personal or philosophical disconnect between a coaching staff and the athlete, warranting a change in schools.
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Unfortunately, many transfers seem to be driven by more self-serving motives. For example, if a student athlete feels they are not getting sufficient playing time, they may wish to transfer to a program where they are promised a more prominent role on a team.
Not only do colleges provide education and life skills, but they are a forum for building character and lifelong values. At many points in our lives, all of us do not always get what we want. This is the reality of life in a complex society where no matter how skilled and capable we are, it is likely that someone else can exceed our capabilities. There is nothing wrong with this. It is something that each of us must face as we mature and become productive and contributing members of society.
When student athletes transfer for the wrong reasons, they are losing a valuable opportunity to grow. Obstacles avoided may also represent lost opportunities to build character. The student athlete may gain playing time, but they may have lost a chance to develop patience, inner strength and fortitude.
COVID-19 risks to college athletics have diminished, which were a key factor for why the transfer rules were modified. Perhaps, it is time to rethink how to give student athletes similar flexibility while not making it so easy that they pay no price for their decision.
One possibility is to place the barrier, not with the student athletes, but with the college programs. If a college team wishes to enroll a transfer and give them an athletic scholarship with immediate eligibility, then the program must forfeit a scholarship the following year. If the transferring student sits out the year, no scholarship would be forfeited. Such a policy would give both student athletes and college programs pause to assess if the transfer without sitting out a year is worth sacrificing a future year of a scholarship. It also positions both student athletes and college programs to work collaboratively for a common good.
It is always easy to relax policies, but more challenging to tighten them. In this case, for a college team to take on a student athlete transfer with immediate eligibility, there must be consequences. It would benefit everyone involved to come to a mutually agreeable decision.
As the current policy now stands, the bar for transferring is set so low that the majority of student athletes assume little risk in entering the transfer portal, while college teams bear the burden of managing their personnel. Now is the time to implement a new policy that is both student athlete and team friendly, restoring some stability to recruitment, retention and character development in college sports.
Sheldon H. Jacobson, Ph.D., is a founder professor of computer science and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He applies his expertise in data-driven risk-based decision-making to evaluate and inform public policy.