Barta: Wishes Jake Rudock would’ve stayed, now wishes him the best

ROSEMONT, Ill., - The graduate transfer question might've been an interesting ancillary topic for Iowa fans during most football seasons, but this year, it washed up directly on the Hawkeyes' shore.

Senior quarterback Jake Rudock was informed in January that he lost his starting job to junior C.J. Beathard. Rudock left the team shortly thereafter and announced that he would play his final season of eligibility at Michigan. The two-year starter for the Hawkeyes graduated from Iowa last weekend and will move to Ann Arbor in days and have a shot at starting for the Wolverines.

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said Tuesday that all of his discussions with Rudock on the matter were positive. Iowa gave Rudock a release to transfer anywhere. The Big Ten waived a conference rule that will allow him to be eligible and compete for the Wolverines next fall.

'Jake's a great kid and he did what the rules allow,” Barta said. 'I wish Jake would've stayed at Iowa. He's a tremendous quarterback. It was announced that he was beaten out and he made a decision and it was within the rules. Again, I wish he would've stayed, but he choose not to.”

The graduate transfer rule is viewed as a reward for athletes who complete all of their coursework, graduate and decide to play their final year of eligibility at another school. During Tuesday's Big Ten spring athletic directors meetings, no conference AD wanted to take that away from student-athletes, but there are questions about the academic legitimacy of these moves.

Few if any graduate transfers actually graduate from the school they transfer to, Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith said, and therein lies the problem.

'The original intent isn't working,” Smith said. 'The original intent was, as a graduate transfer, you would go to a school because the school you were at didn't have the major for your master's (degree), so you go somewhere else. We know that's not happening, so that's flawed.

'The other part that concerns me is the graduate transfers aren't graduating from those graduate schools. If I'm the dean of a graduate school, I'm concerned about my graduation rates. If I'm taking people who aren't going to finish and I know they're not going to finish, that's a challenge ... At the end of the day, they have one more year of athletics eligibility, let them go expire that and don't put it on the backs of academics. It's not.”

Ohio State's quarterback depth chart is of the platinum variety with Cardale Jones, J.T. Barrett and senior Braxton Miller. Smith said Tuesday he expects Miller to return to Ohio State. 'I don't have any reason to believe that he's not,” Smith said.

Miller did, however, graduate in December. so if he wanted to become a graduate transfer, he's done the work.

Would Smith be OK with a player transferring inside of the Big Ten? Keep in mind, he had already referred to Michigan as 'the team up north” during this interview.

'Depends on who it is and where,” Smith said with a laugh. 'I don't see how we could restrict someone, especially if your philosophy is student welfare, which is mine. I think we're beyond those types of restrictions.”

As with nearly every topic that comes up at these things, this clearly leads to a bigger discussion. For now, graduate transfers are within the rules and restricting athletes from moving where they want to move is becoming increasingly uncool on the school's part, for lack of a better term.

'It's a right for a student to transfer, but we have to talk about the responsibilities on their end if they choose to come to the University of Iowa. What are those?” Barta said. 'Right now, it's fully within the rules to transfer out as a graduate. Unless that changes, we'll be supportive.

'We were supportive of Jake leaving even though we would've loved if he would've stayed.”

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