Transfers for college athletes are back in the news this week thanks to a report from CBS Sports that the NCAA is considering a proposal from the Big 12 that would allow transfers to be immediately eligible if they decide to leave a school when their coach is fired or gets a new job, the caveat being they cannot follow their coach to the new school and be eligible immediately.
This would be a good thing!
It also would only be the start.
If you have read this space before, then you know my feelings on transfers in college basketball: The transfer “epidemic” is a crock and studies prove it and that the idea that these players are both amateur student-athletes and unable to transfer freely is unbearably hypocritical. Transfers should not be required to sit out. Period.
And I’m not sure how much there is to add beyond that.
This is a step in the right direction, and it sounds like the NCAA has been hearing as we’ve spent years and years banging our heads against a wall, trying to get them to understand that the way the system is set up is simply unfair.
But this doesn’t solve the problem.
It would just make the problem slightly less problematic.
Anyway, last week I spoke with Jamion Christian, the head coach at Mount St. Mary’s who had five players transfer out of his program -- three to high-major schools -- this past offseason. You can hear his take on transfers below: