Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh proposed a one-time transfer for all college athlete and now it’s actually been proposed.
Before the college football season, Michigan football coach proposed a one-time transfer for all players, regardless of the reason.
He was attacked during the time because of the situation surrounding James Hudson, a former Michigan football player who transferred to Cincinnati and wasn’t granted immediate eligibility.
Bearcats’ head coach Luke Fickell seemed to indicate that Harbaugh could have done more to allow Hudson to play. The two coaches disagreed and it became a tit for tat.
Another storyline at the time developed when Harbaugh introduced what he thought the rule should be and that’s the one-time transfer, where each player would be able to play right away, instead of sitting out a year.
Now, that could become a reality as the Big Ten Conference and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel have officially proposed going in that direction according to CBS Sports.
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“I think it’s the right thing to do,” Manuel told CBS. “I don’t know who’s going to freak out and who’s not going to freak out. That doesn’t come into my thinking about it.”
The change would be a radical one for football and basketball. For decades, players were forced to sit out a year for academic reasons but things have slowly started to change. Graduate transfers are able to play immediately and waivers have been given out much more frequently with Shea Patterson and Justin Fields as examples of that.
But in most other NCAA sports, athletes are given the option to transfer and the first time, they are able to play right away. Michigan says this proposal will give players more rights and here is more what from Manuel said to CBS:
“We have five sports that are not allowed to transfer in this day and age. That is something we need to fix. We need to give all young people flexibility to transfer once. If they transfer a second time, there is no waiver.”
Some people will certainly oppose the rule because they will call it free agency and in some ways, it might be. But the players should be able to have the same freedom coaches do and at this point, Pandora’s Box is already open so why not?