[Mick]

"And importantly, if coaches know they can get immediately eligible transfers as easily as lose them, coaches may actually start prioritizing academics for their athletes on the same level as they do their sports."


Seems to me a rule change allowing transfers if the athlete has a 2.8 GPA would incent coaches to deprioritize academics so the guys on their team cant transfer. The tutors will need to find a way to make sure athletes have grades high enough so that they remain eligible to play, but not so high that they are eligible to  transfer. The only players the coachs will want to have high grades are the guys on other teams. Although one beneficial result is that coaches might encourage their players to take harder majors to keep them below the transfer GPA.

I might be a little cynical in this area :)

This proposal could really result in some odd incentives, but I think the NCAA needs to be  more player friendly.

Might be interesting to require that the player must also maintain the higher GPA at the new school or he loses a year, but that will have unintended consequences and complexity also.

I think this hurts Stanford, because we wont benefit much, and it will allow our big name opponents to more easily raid the non powerhouse schools.

I think you're right in that it puts the onus for academic success on athletes.  I don't know how many great athletes will be available for the big schools, but I know that they'll try, with or without the transfer rules.  I know that Steve Nash faced a full court recruiting press from other schools, who indirectly tried to recruit him the last three years of his career at SCU.

Your most interesting point is about coaches and whether they would actually discourage academic success for their best players.  There's your counterproductive influence right there.

[Mick]

"And importantly, if coaches know they can get immediately eligible transfers as easily as lose them, coaches may actually start prioritizing academics for their athletes on the same level as they do their sports."


Seems to me a rule change allowing transfers if the athlete has a 2.8 GPA would incent coaches to deprioritize academics so the guys on their team cant transfer. The tutors will need to find a way to make sure athletes have grades high enough so that they remain eligible to play, but not so high that they are eligible to  transfer. The only players the coachs will want to have high grades are the guys on other teams. Although one beneficial result is that coaches might encourage their players to take harder majors to keep them below the transfer GPA.

I might be a little cynical in this area :)

This proposal could really result in some odd incentives, but I think the NCAA needs to be  more player friendly.

Might be interesting to require that the player must also maintain the higher GPA at the new school or he loses a year, but that will have unintended consequences and complexity also.

I think this hurts Stanford, because we wont benefit much, and it will allow our big name opponents to more easily raid the non powerhouse schools.

I think you're right in that it puts the onus for academic success on athletes.  I don't know how many great athletes will be available for the big schools, but I know that they'll try, with or without the transfer rules.  I know that Steve Nash faced a full court recruiting press from other schools, who indirectly tried to recruit him the last three years of his career at SCU.

Your most interesting point is about coaches and whether they would actually discourage academic success for their best players.  There's your counterproductive influence right there.