How the NCAA Transfers waiver rules could affect Arizona Athletics

A monumental rule change for transferring student athletes was proposed last week, and here’s how it could alter college sports and Arizona Athletics.

The Transfer Waiver Working Group has proposed a new transfer rule that could impact college sports and Arizona Athletics as a whole! Already receiving backing from the Power Five conferences, the NCAA Division I Council is likely to make the change, which could go into effect as early as next year!

So what is the new proposed transfer rule? Well for any athlete in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and ice hockey, could transfer anytime during their eligibility and play immediately rather than having to sit out a year.

Arizona Wildcats

But how significantly might the rule change hit bigger schools like Arizona and the Pac-12 conference? Inevitably very, very hard.

Currently, the graduate transfer rule already lets a player play immediately under certain circumstances. This rule certainly applied to the Arizona Wildcat basketball teams’ Jemarl Baker who was immediately eligible, and Max Hazard from UC Irvine, didn’t have to sit a year as he was a graduate senior.

However, Wildcats Senior forward Chase Jeter did miss the 2017-18 season after transferring from Duke during his enrollment, and Stone Gettings sat out last year as well.

Surely more players will come to AND leave Arizona & the PAC-12, perhaps in search of more playing time or seeking a bigger role.

Who knows what goes in the heads of college students, but some will be unable to escape the excitement of playing for the biggest teams, coaches and conferences. Others just wanting to be closer to home. The only thing that’s certain is, there will still be a high frequency of student athletes transferring, perhaps looking for the greener grass.

However, this appears to be a different double-edged sword for college athletics across the board.

While this change gives student athletes much more freedom and control of their careers, many fear the big time schools & coaches will now be able to recruit players away from smaller ones more easily, creating a free agency type of atmosphere.

“They’ll be our little G-League. Every kid wants to play in the Power 5,” said an anonymous coach from a Power 5 conference.

“It’s not a good rule for the health of college basketball” added Houston Cougars basketball coach Kelvin Sampson in an interview with Jeff Goodman.

This has been a consensus for most college coaches, who aren’t in favor of their rosters being more in flux, especially with the one-and-done rule still in place!

On the other hand, college athletes are unanimously approving, giving them more freedom over their careers, which is understandable.

As an eternal optimist here at Zona Zealots, I’m hopeful that Arizona Athletics will benefit more from this rule than be hurt from it. Tucson is still a beautiful college town with many quality academic & sports programs and facilities. And don’t forget….. the greatest fans!! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!