Grad Transfers Could Be Limited in New NCAA Proposal

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

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NCAA council to vote on rule that could limit grad transfers in football and basketball - Nick Bromberg, Yahoo Sports - April 12, 2019

There’s a chance the NCAA could change the current graduate transfer rule for football and basketball, and limit graduate transfers across the two sports.

Graduate transfers currently have the ability to immediately transfer to a different school and enroll in a graduate program that isn’t offered at their previous school. If a graduate transfer has one year of eligibility remaining, he or she receives a scholarship that counts against the new school’s scholarship limit for that one season.

A new proposal set to be voted on next week at the NCAA Division I Council meetings would change the one-season application in some cases. It posits that a graduate transfer’s scholarship should count against his or her new team’s scholarship limit for two seasons unless the transferring player completes his or her graduate program within the first school year.

Asking graduate transfers to complete a graduate program in one season so they don’t penalize their teams is absolutely preposterous.

It will be interesting to see how next week’s NCAA vote goes.

[XUFan09]

I mean, that makes sense from an academic standpoint. However, I think a lot of schools already take care of students who are trying to finish up degrees after they are no longer eligible. For example, Edmond Sumner has taken classes at Xavier since leaving for the NBA.

Let's be real, though. This is likely being pushed behind the scenes by coaches that are tired of losing good players to grad transfer situations. Such a move would make the grad transfer market less viable for coaches, which would lead long-term to a grad transfer being a less viable opportunity for athletes.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

I incorrectly assumed that Nick Bromberg would write a follow-up to his April 12, 2019 article, but apparently, he didn’t bother.

N.C.A.A. Proposal to Curtail Graduate Transfers Is Voted Down – The New York Times - April 19, 2019

The proposal was put forth last year after 18 months of study by a task force seeking to stem the increase in graduate transfer students, who since 2011 have been able to transfer and play immediately if they have earned their undergraduate degree.

South Dakota State’s athletic director, Justin Sell, the task force’s chairman, said in an interview this month that the proposal was trying to “manage behavior” of athletes who were transferring solely for sports. Sell, who did not immediately return a call for comment on Friday, said then that the proposal had broad support and that he expected it to be approved.

But as news of the proposal became more widespread, opposition mounted. Some referred to the measure as draconian and a thinly veiled attempt by coaches — particularly in men’s basketball — to reassert control of their players.

Good news for the P7 basketball conferences; not-so-good news for the other conferences, who will continue to lose quality fourth-season players to teams in better conferences.

XUFan09 – would you (or another Xavier fan) post a short summary of the Grad Transfer who decided in recent years to use their fourth season of eligibility to play for Xavier? Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that Xavier has availed of Grad Transfers moreso than other Big East teams of late.

[XUFan09]

2012 - Andre Walker, a reliable role player/glue guy

There were a number of years where they had no one, though they pursued a few. The perception that Xavier has leaned on grad transfers a lot is based heavily on the last three years. It's also dependent on not getting a traditional transfer since Rashid Gaston, class of 2017, and Remy Abell, class of 2016. Grad transfers since then:

2017 - Malcolm Bernard, a solid role player who provided good energy
2018 - Kerem Kanter, impact offensive player that was bad defensively
2019 - Hankins, Welage, Castlin, because Xavier needed bodies after no traditional transfers being secured in previous years and the 2018 freshman class being a bust. Hankins was legit, though.

They have Bryce Moore this coming year and also Jason Carter, who will be a two-year deal. If they can secure a traditional transfer to help balance classes with the 2018 bust, that will reduce the likelihood of grad transfers in the future. Regardless, though, Travis Steele is going to be an aggressive recruiter.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Thanks XUFan09.

Travis Steele is going to be an aggressive recruiter.

He already is.

Xavier 2019 Basketball Commits – 247 Sports (Travis Steele's first class)

HS Class of 2019 • National Rank # 20 • Big East Rank: #2

So far, Coach Steele has out-recruited eight of the Big East head coaches (according to 247 Sports).

[Barley]

I liked what the grad transfer rule was passed for - a guy who has graduated and wanted to continue his education in graduate school somewhere that offered a program not offered at his first school. Now it’s a joke. Basically just free agency. Anyone seen a statistic how many (or how few) actually complete their graduate degree?

[gtmoBlue]

http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/res ... t-athletes

73% of postgraduates enter graduate programs; the others pursue a second undergraduate major/degree or general post-baccalaureate coursework. Overall, only 15% of postgraduates are graduate transfers. 32% of postgraduates in men’s basketball are graduate transfers.

Graduate transfers graduate at a lower rate (51%) than graduate students who remain at their undergraduate school (62%). Statistical modeling shows this difference holds even after controlling for sport, conference and aid availability. Only 23% of postgraduates pursuing a second undergraduate major/degree complete that work.

Postgraduate academic completion rates were lowest in football and men’s basketball.

Schools vary in whether they offer postgraduates some form of athletics aid to continue their studies after their eligibility has expired. Controlling for sport and institution type, we see that postgraduates who are offered post-eligibility athletics aid are significantly more likely to graduate than those who do not receive aid.