The NCAA has lost it. Fuck them

KINGSTON, R.I. (AP) -- Division I basketball and football players from schools closed by Hurricane Katrina will still have to sit out for a year if they transfer to one of the many colleges that have offered admission, NCAA president Myles Brand said Tuesday.

The NCAA said last month that it would bend some rules to help students and schools deal with the hurricane, including letting students compete without attending classes.

But during an appearance at the University of Rhode Island, Brand said the only rule the NCAA would not bend was the one that requires Division I basketball, football and hockey players to sit a one year if they transfer to another Division I school. In other sports, Division I athletes can transfer and play immediately at another Division I school if they receive a release from the original university.

Brand said the decision was made because the members of some teams, including at least one from Tulane, planned to transfer together to one school. That could lead to the new school taking the entire team as its own, Brand said.

"Let me call that athletic looting, to be provocative, and we won't stand for that," he said.

Some coaches at hurricane-affected schools in and around New Orleans had complained to the NCAA that coaches at other schools had tried to raid their teams and recruit their players, NCAA spokesman Wally Renfro said.

Renfro said the NCAA expects many hurricane-affected schools to continue to compete this year -- even if they don't have classes.

Other schools affected by the hurricane include LSU and New Orleans.

The NCAA has eased some other rules, including those prohibiting athletes from taking financial assistance from outside sources, and those that require students to be enrolled full-time at their college and university.

 

Why not just extend the rule to the "exception sports" with the same condidtions - e.g., that the school must agree.

How would that not solve the problem?

 

Agreed. Jackassery awards all around.

 

interesting choice of words. should have said "those refugees must sit out one year"

 

What are you pissed about vp? I think it's shitty to raid these schools rosters for players. Bad precedent. If it's just a question of letting these kids play, then either give them all another year of eligibility (or don't charge them for this year), or find a way for their teams to compete this year anyway.

I don't think you'd have the same attitude if it was last year and other teams were pilefring Felton, May and McCants from your roster. Well maybe McCants...

 

The school must release them. Problem solved. And yeah, if Chapel Hill had been destroyed like NO, then you're damn skippy I'd have said let them go if they need to.

 

I sincerely doubt that. And I know most of the tarheel fans would be wailing and bitching about it.

Recruiting is already cut throat enough. Letting schools profit off this type of misfortune is not palatable.

 

Jesus man, you are worse than fucking sadic. Turn off your lawyer hat for just a second. Either that or be a good enough one to realize that you should not ask the questions if you might not like the answer. And I doubt that anything but a very small percentage would complain if the situation was teh same.

Which part of "the school has to let them sign with the other one" don't you understand?

 

I'm a bigger UNC fan than VP, and I'd be the first to say free those students. The schools they signed on with don't exist anymore, so the NCAA is going to punish them a second time by making them redshirt?

 

Making it up to the school puts them in an untenable position. If they deny a kid's request, is he really going to want to come back and play for them? That's why such requests are rarely turned down, as it's pretty much a formality at that point. Normally I think the NCAA is about as idiotic as an organization can get, but I understand their thinking on this one. As long as the universities in question are continuing to have a team somewhere, the players on that team should be subject to the same transfer rules as everyone else. Obviously if they aren't fielding a team at all, the question changes dramatically since it involves denying someone's right to play.