[Farm93]

I agree that the bond the alums and fans for programs around the USA have for the players erodes if even more players move around.
This is bad for Stanford competitiveness for reasons fans on this board understand.
However, nationally this is so much better for the student-athletes.   If the program, coach, athletic facilities, academic resources, campus culture, area weather or any number of other things are just not meeting expectations, then a person should be allowed to transfer just like other students on campus.   And with players able to transfer it will mean coaches will need to treat their players with greater respect.

Athletes go to a coach at a school, only to discover the coach is leaving shortly after they enroll.
Some athletes take a chance and go to other parts of the USA only to discover it is too far from home.
Athletes have even been stuck when dealing with family illnesses at home, campus discrimination, coach abuse and other things.

I know this is likely a negative for Stanford's competitiveness and probably bad for the appeal of college programs.  Yet its benefits for the thousands of student-athletes nationwide are noteworthy.  That's too big of a benefit for me to still want to maintain the status-quo for Stanford Athletics.

[Farm93]

I agree that the bond the alums and fans for programs around the USA have for the players erodes if even more players move around.
This is bad for Stanford competitiveness for reasons fans on this board understand.
However, nationally this is so much better for the student-athletes.   If the program, coach, athletic facilities, academic resources, campus culture, area weather or any number of other things are just not meeting expectations, then a person should be allowed to transfer just like other students on campus.   And with players able to transfer it will mean coaches will need to treat their players with greater respect.

Athletes go to a coach at a school, only to discover the coach is leaving shortly after they enroll.
Some athletes take a chance and go to other parts of the USA only to discover it is too far from home.
Athletes have even been stuck when dealing with family illnesses at home, campus discrimination, coach abuse and other things.

I know this is likely a negative for Stanford's competitiveness and probably bad for the appeal of college programs.  Yet its benefits for the thousands of student-athletes nationwide are noteworthy.  That's too big of a benefit for me to still want to maintain the status-quo for Stanford Athletics.