NCAA finally gets embarrassed enough to do the right thing

NCAA finally allows students to change schools and participate in athletic extracurricular activities without needing permission and approval from their current coaches and schools to transfer.

There's still a loophole that allows conferences to make their own restrictions on transferring, but at least it's a step in the right direction.

http://www.espn.com/college-sports/...es-reform-allows-athletes-transfer-permission

 

The bigger story: You can now play in four games and still redshirt. I understand that in most other sports, but that’s a third of the football season.

 

"When defensive tackle Antwuan Jackson decided to transfer from Auburn after the 2016 season, Jackson said that Auburn would block him from transferring to another SEC school, Ohio State, Clemson or Georgia."

So was Auburn unaware that Georgia is in the SEC?

 

How is that new "pinkshirt" rule going to work? Can you play in 4 games spread throughout the season, or do they have to be consecutive? Seems like they're setting up a minor-league call-up type situation.

 

Still believe there should be no redshirts. Kids that graduate before the start of their fifth season are just labeled as "post-graduates".

 

Sounds like Jackson was.

 

You forget that Georgia wasn’t fully accepted as an SEC member in worthy standing until, oh, about November 2017.

 

Definitely a step in the right direction. I even don't mind if a conference forbids a player from transferring to another team in the conference, but some of these restrictions on transfers are just plain spiteful.

We had a case here with a local athlete where the school forbid him from transferring to any conference school, any school in the state and the four universities closest to his hometown. Sad thing is the kid was graduating and wanted to attend graduate school in a field that his current school didn't have. Sounds like the coach was bitter and he basically blocked him from all of the schools he was considering.

He eventually was released to transfer, but had to go to a school that wasn't on his original list. Worked out fine for him, in the end, but they made him leap through hoops and still didn't let him go to the school he originally wanted.

 

To me, it's also the hypocrisy (yeah, the NCAA has a lot of it). The NCAA says they're supposed to be students and treated like all non-athletes. Well, every other student can transfer wherever they like and participate in any extracurricular activity they wish.

 

Exactly. It's become too easy to just roll our eyes when the term "student-athlete" comes up. If they're students, they must have autonomy as to what school they choose to attend.