A proposal that would allow players to transfer without penalty if a coach left a program is reportedly gaining momentum.
In a report from CBS Sports, an idea that was labored from within the Big 12, college football and basketball players might be nearing a world with an ability to move about colleges more freely.
To put it in its most blunt form: If a coach leaves — fired, hired elsewhere, etc. — the impacted player can leave without penalty, but can't follow his former coach to the new destination. Furthermore, if a program gets hit with NCAA sanctions, a player can leave under that situation without penalty, too.
It is worth noting that, while it is being reported that the idea is picking up steam, it is not yet at the point of even being voted on. It is the idea of a proposal and not (at least yet) the actual proposal that will be voted on.
This is an attempted call for some uniform transfer rules for NCAA sports. As it is now, only five sports — baseball, hockey, football and men's and women's basketball — force players to sit if they transfer. College football and basketball the obvious "money sports" of the group.
Fully expect crazy backlash, in both directions, with the report surfacing. One side will talk about "the death of college sports as we know it," as the other will blow trumpets in which they will pretend that everything "broken" in the flawed NCAA system would now be fixed.
As it is now, even with the report, we're still in the stages of conjecture and hyperbolic reaction.
