Personal OpinionIn the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there was a mass exodus of students transferring from schools affected by the storm. Along with confusion about where schools would be located, when games would be played or where games would be played, the NCAA had to determine what rules they would bend under the unforeseen circumstances.
I had been wondering when the NCAA would release guidelines to determine if athletes who transferred from their original college would be eligible for competition at their new school.
The NCAA released some vague rules as an initial response to Katrina on Sept. 1, according to www2.ncaa.org, in which some rules were curved under the circumstances, but it appeared more rules would come.
I received my news on Sept. 13, but it was hardly what I expected.
NCAA president Myles Brand said there would be one rule that would not be curved which was “the one that requires Division I basketball, football and hockey players to sit out one year if they transfer to another Division I school,” according to the Associated Press. However, in other sports, athletes who play on the Division I level can play as soon as they transfer if they obtain a release from their previous school.
Brand cited schools trying to transfer multiple players from one team to another university as the reason behind the decision. Using Tulane as an example of this practice, he said this method could eventually evolve into “the new school taking the entire team as its own.”
“Let me call that athletic looting, to be provocative, and we won’t stand for that,” Brand said.
Is Brand saying basketball, football and hockey take precedent over other sports in Division I? Is he saying that a whole team can transfer their soccer squad to a new university with the initial university’s consent and be eligible under the new university’s name?
These athletes could not control the course of Mother Nature or the effects it placed on these students’ universities. Does Brand honestly think these athletes wanted to leave their respective schools or relocate with the schools they were attending to another area to participate in their respective sports?
Some of these athletes might want a fresh start after all they went through. I believe that if these athletes have just cause to transfer then it should be allowed. However, if members of the team this is a good way to join a higher profile team, and they cannot justify the transfer, then they should have to sit out a year when they transfer.
For example, if a player wants to transfer just for the opportunity to leave a school like Southern Methodist to play basketball at Duke, then that person should be allowed to transfer, but have to sit out a year because they are only trying to move up in the basketball world.
In a statement released Sept. 16, the NCAA stated there was a process in which a college can request to have the student-transfer rules disregarded but those are judged individually. However, extenuating circumstances are considered.
Even though most schools said they hope to continue their sports season, there are still those who quite possibly cannot.
“We believe that suspending this rule, even on a temporary basis, would take participation opportunities away,” the statement said. “It could create an open season for recruiters hopping to attract prized student-athletes to other schools.”
I must admit the NCAA has done some good things to help athletes, such as allowing schools hit by the hurricane and the conferences to help with the necessary needs of student athletes and their families, according to the NCAA Web site. The organization has also allowed students to accept aid from “outside sources,” for expenses relating to their education or those involving the hurricane.
Also, the students at schools damaged by the hurricane can still play for their schools “in practice and other competition activities without satisfying the minimum full-time enrollment requirements or while enrolled at another institution.” Other policies announced by the NCAA involve recruiting and personnel, financial aid and extra benefits, playing and practice seasons and eligibility.
With all that said, does that still make it right to deny the right to transfer for a justifiable cause?
On behalf of all those basketball and football athletes who had to leave their universities because of the hurricane, I believe it would be appropriate for Brand to look at these peoples’ situations. Some could possibly not have homes anymore, while others could have lost family members, and the president is going to deny them the one thing that could help take their minds off the pain and suffering they have to endure?
I never thought Katrina would affect athletics the way it did. I could never picture the Saints playing a game in Tiger Stadium, and it never dawned on me a president would take away an athlete’s right to play sports for a year for something that individual cannot control.
