Nick Saban doesn't seem like a fan of idea to overhaul NCAA transfer rules
Don’t count Alabama coach Nick Saban as a proponent of a transfer idea being bandied about in college athletics.
The NCAA announced earlier this week that the DI transfer group would be soliciting input on a possible proposal that could make some transfer players immediately eligible and change the transfer process between players and their schools.
Instead of sitting out a year, as is customary with most undergraduate transfers currently, transfers could immediately be eligible provided they meet academic benchmarks. As part of the new potential rule, a player would also not need a school’s permission to transfer and could talk to other schools about transferring before making the official decision.
A player would also not need a school’s permission to transfer and could talk to other schools about transferring before making the official decision.
While he said he hadn’t taken a deep dive into the details of the idea being pitched, Saban said Thursday that it could lead to issues with roster construction at programs across the country.
“Do I think that other schools should be able to contact players on — I’ve never talked to a player on another team all the time I’ve been a coach,” Saban said. “I don’t think that any program should. I think it should be sort of a rule of civility that we all have professionally that we don’t tamper with other people’s players. They have rules for that in the NFL I think we should have rules for that in college football.”
“So I think there has to be some kind of balance in terms of players still having opportunities to do other things but there also has to be a balance in the obligation that both parties have to each other. So that — how can you sort of plan a roster or your recruiting or your team if everybody’s a free agent at the end of every season? And every player that doesn’t have things going the way he wants them to go all of the sudden says we’ll I’ll just go over here and play over here.”
You can watch Saban’s entire comments on the topic here.
The transfer idea outlined by the NCAA does have some balance to it. The release noted that if a player would reach out to another school about a potential transfer, his or her current school “could have the option of not renewing athletics aid.”
We’re all for a more transparent recruiting and transfer process. But we’re also not sure how communications between athletes and schools would be objectively monitored in this scenario. It’s hard to believe that school representatives and players — either directly or through proxy — aren’t having some sort of communication right now. How
It’s also important to stress the transfer overhaul is nothing more than an idea right now. There’s no guarantee it’ll make it to a vote and that vote won’t happen before April.
The NCAA said responses to the survey must be completed by Sept. 22. After that, feedback could be evaluated at an October meeting and then a proposal would be officially introduced. If it’s introduced, the vote would take place in the spring.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
