Jeff suggests this on his blog.

If a kid's scholarship is not renewed, and he is in good academic standing, he should be able to transfer anywhere he wants and be eligible to play immediately. No reason that a kid who is being run-off should be further punished. On the other hand, if a player chooses to transfer for personal reasons (other than family illness) he should certainly be expected to sit out a year.

(05-26-2010 10:56 PM)mjs Wrote:  Jeff suggests this on his blog.

If a kid's scholarship is not renewed, and he is in good academic standing, he should be able to transfer anywhere he wants and be eligible to play immediately. No reason that a kid who is being run-off should be further punished. On the other hand, if a player chooses to transfer for personal reasons (other than family illness) he should certainly be expected to sit out a year.

Good idea mjs.

I vote for it.

The only problem might be that it could lead to abuses, since a coach cannot "run off" a player (not renew his scholarship) without a penalty, he might "run him off" (treat him so badly he leaves on his own).

(05-27-2010 06:53 AM)LRTrojan Wrote:  

(05-26-2010 10:56 PM)mjs Wrote:  Jeff suggests this on his blog.

If a kid's scholarship is not renewed, and he is in good academic standing, he should be able to transfer anywhere he wants and be eligible to play immediately. No reason that a kid who is being run-off should be further punished. On the other hand, if a player chooses to transfer for personal reasons (other than family illness) he should certainly be expected to sit out a year.

Good idea mjs.

I agree with the idea that if a kid's scholarship isn't renewed, he should be free to play immediately anywhere he can receive a scholarship. He shouldn't be held hostage for something for which he isn't responsible.
But let's be honest. There will be cheating by players and schools who want to steal a player from another school, and there are ways to make it look like a kid is being forced out, or he can purposely behave in a manner which will cause him to be forced out so he doesn't have to sit a year.

People cheat to win Little League games. I recently read where a Little League coach was trying to bribe umpires in order to win games. Yes. In a perfect world you plan would probably make sense. In the real world, I wouldn't trust any program, because if that thought they could steal a great player from another school and get away with it., many would do it.

Seems to me, the more this topic is discussed, the more we realize what a difficult problem it really is. Even the suggestion by MJS regarding family illness or family hardship wouldn't work. Such circumstanes can easily be exagerated or even totally faked. Let's face it, the so-called amateur status of college sports is a joke. Seems to me that if there is no signed contract, the athlete should be allowed to leave at any time with no penalty. Even then, can a 17 or 18 year old sign a binding contract?

I would add that when a coach leaves the player gets a free transfer provided he doesn't follow any of the staff.

(05-27-2010 08:39 AM)DollarBill Wrote:  Seems to me, the more this topic is discussed, the more we realize what a difficult problem it really is. Even the suggestion by MJS regarding family illness or family hardship wouldn't work. Such circumstanes can easily be exagerated or even totally faked. Let's face it, the so-called amateur status of college sports is a joke. Seems to me that if there is no signed contract, the athlete should be allowed to leave at any time with no penalty. Even then, can a 17 or 18 year old sign a binding contract?

Players do sign a contract. I guess 18 is the age of legal consent in these matters. If they are under 18, I believe their parent or guardian has to sign the contract.