SBJ College: Skepticism Surrounds NCAA Transfer Proposal

My favorite writer, Rick Bragg, was a guest on Paul Finebaum’s show yesterday, talking all things SEC and Southern. “All Over But the Shoutin” is the absolute best. 

Here's what's cooking on campus.

TIME WILL TELL ON TRANSFER PROPOSAL

• The proposal to make it easier for college athletes to transfer is supposed to portray the NCAA as a progressive entity looking to benefit the athletes. But two high-level Power 5 administrators told me today that the proposal is shrouded in skepticism because the NCAA’s statements seldom are what they seem.
  
  
• Here’s the disconnect: The transfer proposal says athletes can leave one school for another one time without penalty -- but only if they meet certain criteria. One of those requirements is that the athlete must obtain a release from the previous school. So, if the school decides not to release the athlete, there is no transfer without penalty. And there’s a long history of schools standing in the way of athletes transferring.
  
  
• The NCAA’s Oct. 29 statement on name/image/likeness rights similarly was sprinkled with restrictions. The NCAA first patted itself on the back for advancing NIL rights to benefit the athletes. Then it proceeded to list eight restrictions designed to help maintain “the collegiate model.”

• College leaders always say that they need to do a better job “telling their story” or “getting their message across.” That’s because the NCAA tries to serve two masters. It wants to appear to be the progressive governing body that public opinion has demanded, while also preserving an antiquated model that has lost touch with the realities of college sports. It’s clear now that the NCAA can’t do both.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING...

• The new transfer proposal generated a range of reactions, somewhere between Armageddon and apocalypse. Here’s a sampling:
  
  
• Stadium’s Jeff Goodman: “Dayton’s Anthony Grant had better be ready. Same for San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher, even Seton Hall’s Kevin Willard, and basically every non-blue blood coach with high-major players. ... The rich will get richer, and it’ll be more difficult for Grant, Dutcher and Willard -- who are all currently coaching top-15 teams -- to remain competitive with the blue bloods.”
  
  
• CBSSports.com’s Dennis Dodd: “Coaches would potentially have that power to ‘block’ eligibility, despite the transfer portal being instituted to ensure transfer destinations were not blocked. (MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher) suggested public shaming may now keep those coaches from flexing on transferring athletes.”
  
  
• American Football Coaches Association chief Todd Berry in SI:  “Everybody seemed to be on the other side of this coin last summer, but something has happened recently. I don’t know what the impetus is in these thoughts changing.”

DARK DAY FOR ARIZONA STATE

• Arizona State acknowledged today that it could have moved more swiftly to resolve claims that a booster allegedly harassed three women married to members of the athletic department. The booster, Bart Wear, has since been prohibited from associating with Sun Devil athletics, but an ASU statement to Yahoo Sports said it  "could have been resolved in a quicker timeframe." Here are three details that stood out from the Yahoo story.
  
  
  • Former ASU Senior Associate AD David Cohen alleges he lost his job in December in retaliation for insisting AD Ray Anderson and other ASU officials "investigate the allegations brought forward by the three women, including his wife."
    
    
  • Anderson went on a golf trip with Wear "using Mr. Wear’s private plane service” about six weeks after learning of the allegations on March 25, 2019.
  
  
  • After the initial allegations in the spring and throughout the investigation, Wear "appeared to continue enjoying the perks and access of being a booster." ASU has since informed him he is "no longer welcome at university events."

SPEED READS

• At the University of Florida's annual giving day event, the Gators received an anonymous $5 million gift that will be earmarked for the new 140,000-square Football Training Center, set to break ground later this year.

• Clemson softball, in the program’s debut season, has “hit the ground running, in large part thanks to the sale of more than 1,000 season tickets,” according to The Greenville News. Capacity of the new ballpark, which cost $14 million to construct, is 1,616, and “five of the team’s first six home games have attracted sell-out crowds.” Clemson AD Dan Radakovich: “Our state is a hotbed for softball.” 

• John Beilein "immediately becomes the most coveted" college hoops coach on the market following his exit from the Cavaliers, per Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel. Potential landing spots include Indiana and Wake Forest. Thamel: "But Indiana doesn’t have an AD, and if you’re going to do some high-wire maneuvering like that, you need an athletic director to do it. … If John Currie could get him to Wake Forest, what a coup that would be."

• Headline from Michigan State’s student paper this afternoon: “The New College Student Craze: Sports Gambling.” While sports gambling in Michigan is still in the process of becoming officially legal, more than 75% of college students have gambled “in some form during the past year.”

• Baylor already has a nice setup for football with McLane Stadium on the Brazos River. Now a source tells KWTX in Waco that a planned hoops arena for the school may also get a downtown riverfront location.

• The Intercollegiate obtained several email complaints sent to the Kansas athletic department following the controversial Snoop Dogg performance in October, including this one from a 14-year-old in Lawrence: “I came to this Late Night KU extravaganza with my family expecting to have a great time. Trust me, we did the first half. Until stripper poles appeared on the stage.”

THROWBACK THURSDAY

• On this week in 2007, the Univ. of Illinois announced the Chief Illiniwek mascot would perform for the last time at a sporting event. The NCAA ruled in 2005 that the mascot was hostile and abusive.

SPORTS BUSINESS MENTORS – CHAMPION THE NEXT GEN

SBJ and our title partner CAA are strongly encouraging the industry to step up their mentoring efforts and champion the next generation of executives. If you are attending, or considering attending, World Congress and would like to bring an associate to learn, network and experience the event with you, we will offer a reduced rate on their registration. For more information or to register, contact Lorianne Lamonica at llamonica@sportsbusinessjournal.com or 704-973-1523.
*Offer applies only to those not already registered for the conference.

Enjoying this newsletter? We've got more! Check out SBJ Media with John Ourand on Mondays and Wednesdays for insights into all the latest news around the world of sports media. Also check out SBJ Football from Ben Fischer on Friday afternoons.

Something on the College beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (msmith@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).