Hoping for clarity, NCAA adjusts transfer waiver guidelines. (Russo @ AP)

[huskymedic]

Hoping for clarity, NCAA adjusts transfer waiver guidelines

The NCAA has adjusted some of the guidelines used to determine when waivers should be granted to athletes who transfer.

apnews.com

>>Following fresh concerns about the handling of athletes switching schools, the NCAA approved several adjustments Wednesday to the guidelines used to determine when waivers can be granted to transfers seeking immediate eligibility to play.

The adjustments approved by the Division I council will require schools requesting a waiver for an incoming transfer to provide more documentation to support the argument — and more detailed verification of athletes’ claims about why they are leaving the original school.<>

>>Attorney Tom Mars, who has worked on waivers for Patterson, Fields and other college athletes, said “massive, widespread confusion” about why waivers are granted has caused the uptick in requests. He said he gets two or three calls and email a day from parents and head coaches seeking assistance.

“More often than not, the parents and coaches asking for my help have already convinced themselves that the student-athlete they want me to represent should get a waiver just because some other player they read about was given one,” Mars told AP in an email. “On top of that, some head coaches have been putting undue pressure on their compliance staff to pursue waiver requests that don’t stand a chance of being granted.”

The waiver process affects football and basketball players more often because those sports do not allow students to transfer without having to sit out a season at their new school. In most of the so-called Olympic sports, athletes are allowed to use a one-time exception to the so-called year-in-residence rule and play right away.<<