In college, athletes’ hands tied

When Robert Marve decided to leave the University of Miami to play quarterback for another college, his coach said go, good luck.

But . . .

Hurricanes coach Randy Shannon said Marve could not play for another ACC school, any SEC college or any program in Florida.

Shannon attempted to prevent Marve from playing at 27 schools in 13 states. His edict was so onerous and the public relations so bad that Shannon quickly reconsidered.

Instead, Marve was free to go anywhere except Florida, Tennessee and LSU.

Marve and his family accepted those terms.

They should not have.

The Marve incident is the latest example of the lack of control college athletes have over their careers.

College sports are sold as a fairy-tale world where almost everything is perfect. Yet, mistakes always occur.

Every year, coaches sign players who are not a good fit for their programs.

Players choose schools without fully understanding what they are getting into.

Scholarships are renewed annually, and if a coach wants to get rid of a player, he can.

He can gently encourage a player to transfer.

A coach can eliminate playing time and ignore a student-athlete in practice until he gets the message and leaves.

Or, if a coach really wants to be hard-hearted, he can simply not renew the scholarship. That is not the best way to do business, but it is a way that business can be done.

If a player sours on a program and wants to transfer, the player has to get permission.

The coach, and often the conference, places restrictions on where and when an athlete can play.

NCAA rules state that football, basketball or ice hockey players must sit out a year after transferring.

Some conferences go further and require athletes to sit two seasons if they transfer within the league.

Other conferences prohibit athletic scholarship aid to intra-league transfers for one, two or even all the remaining years of a player's college career.

All these restrictions are unnecessary and unreasonable. All athletes should be able to move as freely as other students. This will not cause the system to implode.

Assistants and head coaches can move from one school to another with no restrictions. They can begin coaching immediately, with no waiting period.

A coach might have to pay a buyout, if school administrators have the intestinal fortitude to enforce the clause. Otherwise, coaches can move across the country or within the conference. And coaches do not work for free.

How is it fair to place restrictions on young men and women who play the games?

It isn't.

College sports become a cold, hard business when student-athletes try to make decisions that are in their best interests.

After they enroll, athletes have little say in their career decisions.

The NCAA is adamant that athletes never should receive benefits unavailable to the general student body.

Fair enough.

But it is not fair to make transferring harder simply because a student happens to play sports.

That needs to change.
Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or .