Temple junior won same case facing Iowa's Drew Ott

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Temple forward Daniel Dingle played sparingly for the Owls his freshman year in 2012-13. As a sophomore, he moved into the starting lineup.

Dingle, a red-shirt junior, averaged 6.7 points and 20.3 minutes through 10 games that season until he tore the meniscus in his right knee in a late-December practice. He had surgery and was lost for the year.

On the surface, Dingle was out of luck. He played in 10 of Temple's 31 games, which was above the NCAA's 30-percent threshold for gaining a medical waiver.

'Second year, I got my opportunity,' Dingle said. 'I started and started playing well. Then a little injury, tearing my meniscus. I'm like frustrated. 'Man, I only had a half a year at college. I need this year back.'

'I actually thought if I couldn't get a year back, maybe going somewhere else and sitting out a year or maybe redshirting that year.'

Temple coaches and officials took Dingle's case to the American Athletic Conference. Dingle waited the entire basketball season to find out their ruling. Dingle recalls the three-month process as difficult, something Iowa football player Drew Ott continues to experience in his quest for a medical waiver. Ott, who was a senior last fall, played in six of Iowa's 13 regular-season football games, which exceeded the limit for a medical waiver. But he missed significant time in three games because of a gruesome left elbow dislocation and later a torn ACL in his right knee. The Big Ten approved Ott's request for a medical waiver, but the NCAA has yet to rule on the case.

More: Big Ten sends Ott case to NCAA

'It was frustrating,' Dingle recalled. 'I had people help me get that year back and whatnot; the NCAA wasn't trying to give it to me.'

The AAC approved Dingle's request for a medical waiver and in late March 2014, the NCAA granted Dingle a medical red-shirt. His case was precedent-setting. Without a case like Dingle's, Ott would have no hope.

'I'm grateful for that happening,' said Dingle, who has started 13 of Temple's games and averaged 4.5 points this year. 'Everything happens for a reason. The NCAA continues to do a great job of granting guys that year back, whether it's for their legs or some type of injury or a mental injury, I don't know.

'I'm happy I'm one of the pioneers that started it, I guess.'

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