Graduate transfers lead to robust Big Ten discussions

ROSEMONT, Ill. — Consider Purdue men's basketball coach Matt Painter among the Big Ten coaches who prefer a one-year eligibility delay for graduate transfers. But self-interest often collides with ideals in high-profile athletics, which was the case this spring.

The Boilermakers needed a point guard, and they signed recent Michigan graduate Spike Albrecht. In his career, Albrecht helped the Wolverines win 98 games, but played in only eight this year after hip surgery. He received a medical red-shirt, but the Wolverines did not make a scholarship available for him. So Albrecht hit the open market, and Painter had to weigh the benefits of signing him against his rule preferences.

'It's one of those situations where if you don't take him, you're just going to play against him,' Painter said.

The website VerbalCommits.com has tracked 615 Division I men's basketball transfers, and 226 are immediately eligible next season. Following a 2014-15 season with 849 transfers, Big Ten coaches discussed ways at their annual meetings this week to curb the departures.

Iowa Coach McCaffery has railed against immediate eligibility for graduates for several years. This week, he and fellow Big Ten coaches discussed guaranteeing graduate transfers two-year scholarships with second-year eligibility. Most master's programs take 18-to-24 months for completion.

'It was an academic rule in the beginning. It's essentially become an athletic rule,' McCaffery said. 'Let's make it an academic rule again. You want to graduate? You want to study at a program at another institution? By all means. You'll be here for two years, we'll pay for two years. We'll give you all the academic support you need for two years, and you get to play one because you have one year of eligibility left. To me I think that's win-win. Will that be well-received? I don't know, but I think it has all the right elements of the rule to make sense for the welfare of the student-athlete.'

Academic intent aside, the rule also harms low-to-mid-major basketball programs. Graduate transfers often bolt mid-major programs just when they become primary contributors.

'It's killing the low- and mid-major guys,' Painter said. 'But it hurts basketball. And this is coming from somebody who's taken those guys but when the rule presents itself, but what do you want us to do about it? Because they're going to go somewhere.'

'Nobody wants it to be free agency,' Indiana Coach Tom Crean said. 'I think there's a great fear that it's heading that way. ... You look at the numbers, the averages, the rebounds, stuff like that, the people that are transferring, it's mind boggling. I can't imagine losing kids like that."

Graduate transfers have become prominent in college football as well. Quarterback Jake Rudock left Iowa for Michigan last year. Five years ago, Super Bowl-winning quarterback Russell Wilson transferred from North Carolina State to Wisconsin. Both guided their programs to double-digit winning seasons. Jake Coker left Florida State in 2014 after graduating in three years. Coker guided Alabama to the College Football Playoff title last year. The situations — especially with Rudock — appeared to be win-win for all involved.

'There's a balance there in the interest of the student, the interest of the team, the interest of the institution,' Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said. 'I don't know where that sweet spot is, the answer is it probably sort of depends. But we're definitely moving toward more flexibility there. I don't know if there will ever be a uniform rule that covers all situations.

'We have to make some progress on that. Whether or not we get to that in January of 2017 at the autonomy convention or whether it goes through the normal governance process, it's hard to determine. But I could tell you, the First Amendment from everybody's perspective was fully invoked this week on that subject.'

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