Wolfpack Coaches Wary of Proposed New Transfer Rule
NC State football coach Dave Doeren isn’t sure how he feels about the new transfer proposal endorsed by the ACC this week.
It’s just as well, he said.
Because regardless of his opinion on the matter, it appears only to be a matter of time before the the NCAA adopts the measure that would allow undergraduate athletes to transfer once during their five years of eligibility without having to sit out a season.
“I think it’s happening, so for me it really doesn matter if I like it or don’t like it,” Doeren said Thursday at a pre-spring practice media availability. “I’m more concerned what goes with it -- the APR (Academic Progress Rate) piece, the tampering that could happen from school-to-school, which can’t happen in my opinion and how we manage our roster, how many players we’d be losing. You can’t forecast that.”
The proposal was originally made by the Big Ten and would eliminate the need for waivers and case-by-case decisions in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball and hockey. Athletes that have already received their undergraduate degrees and those in all other sports are already allowed to transfer without restriction.
The ACC became the second Power Five conference to back the plan after a unanimous vote of its members as the league’s annual winter meetings in Florida earlier this month. It issued a statement last Monday stating that “as a matter of principle we support a one-time transfer opportunity for all student-athletes regardless of sport (and) look forward to continuing the discussion nationally,”
The proposal is expected to be considered as soon as this spring with the goal of having it approved in time to be implemented in time for the 2020-21 academic year.
According to a release issued by the NCAA on Tuesday, a Transfer Waiver Working Group will seek feedback on the potential rule change from Division I members through athlete representatives, conference officials, coaches associations and other college athletic professional organizations before its next meeting in April.
“The current system is unsustainable,” working group chairman Jon Steinbrecher, commissioner of the Mid-American Conference, said in the statement. “Working Group members believe it’s time to bring our transfer rules more in line with today’s college landscape. This concept provides a uniform approach that is understandable, predictable and objective. Most importantly, it benefits students.”
As much as it is intended for the benefit of those students, some coaches and athletic directors worry that if the one-year waiting period for transfers is abolished, it could lead to the nation’s strongest teams poaching talent away from lesser programs or Power 5 teams using Group of Six schools as their farm clubs.
Doeren also expressed concern about what he called "secondary and unintentional things that go along with what they're trying to do that need to be vetted and talked about."
"We need to make sure if we do it, we're not hurting the game and hurting the players who want to say at their schools' opportunity to win," Doeren said. "We get 25 scholarships. Say you sign 25 in December and 10 guys leave after the signing date. You can't sign 10 more players, so you're ending up in some scenarios where your depth chart is in a really bad place and you can't fix it."
Still, there appears to be growing support for the proposal.
Like Doeren, Wolfpack basketball coach Kevin Keatts said he’s ambivalent about the possible rule change — as long as it’s administered equally and fairly.
“I’ve always felt like it would be something that should, if they figure out how to do it,” said Keatts, who has relied heavily on transfers during his three seasons with the Wolfpack. “It can get a little chaotic. What does it mean? What does it look like? I don’t think we have a clear understanding of who can transfer or when you can transfer.
“We’ve been talking about it for years. Are you going to add a GPA to it? Are you just going to let them go one time and let them transfer? I’m one of those guys that if everybody’s doing the same thing, I’m OK with it. But what happens is, when you do the one-time thing, there’s always waivers for different situations. And the one time may turn into 2-3 different times. It’s a tough thing.”