TCU coach Gary Patterson blasts NCAA over new transfer rules

The NCAA recently passed a rule that is designed to make it easier for players to transfer schools, and TCU football coach Gary Patterson is among those who are strongly opposed to it.

The new rule makes it so players no longer have to get approval from their school if they want to transfer. Instead, they just need to inform the school so they can be entered into a database, which will inform other schools that they are looking to transfer and give them permission to contact those players. Patterson believes that is going to create a bidding war that will hurt non-Power Five schools.

“Here’s what’s going to happen – players from other teams are going to start recruiting people and you can’t stop them from going wherever they’re going to go,” he said, via Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Then it’s like what we’ve been trying to stop for a long time – it’s going to become the highest bidder. The people who are going to get hurt most by this is the non-Power Five schools.”

As Davison notes, the NCAA’s decision to change transfer rules like stemmed from situations like the one wide receiver Corey Sutton dealt with at Kansas State last year. Even though Sutton’s list of 35 potential transfer destinations did not include any other Big 12 schools or opponents on Kansas State’s schedule, the Wildcats still chose to not let him out of his scholarship. Patterson said that situation was a “worst-case scenario.”

“Schools right now, they’ve got a list of who all grad transfers are,” he said. “Now, they’ll look at film and see who all the best players are[not just grad transfers] and then somebody is going to reach out and find them. Everybody will say nobody will do that. … OK …”

Patterson said the NCAA should, at the very least, put a restriction on the transfer rule where students have to decide by Jan. 1 if they’re going to transfer, giving schools enough time to recruit a replacement. He also expressed concern over allowing freshmen who may be struggling for playing time to just “quit.”

“What we’re teaching our kids to do is quit,” Patterson said. “I’m not starting. I’m not getting my playing time. Every freshman I’ve ever known wants to transfer because it’s harder than anything else he did in high school.”

In most cases, we have seen players looking to transfer to less prominent programs because they’re unable to find playing time. Patterson seems to be implying that schools like Alabama and Ohio State will be bidding against each other for non-Power Five transfers, but if those players aren’t seeing the field enough at their non-Power Five schools they probably wouldn’t be good enough to play at a Power Five school. His stance makes some sense, but it seems a bit exaggerated.

Photo: Bobak Ha’Eri/Wikimedia via CC-By-SA-3.0