mrmom- what I think the coach was talking about "taking the right classes" pertains to how much of your son's degree will be accounted for.
As stated by the NCAA-
"A student/athlete who is entering his third year of collegiate enrollment (and this means YEAR IN SCHOOL not year of play)shall have completed sucessfully at least 40 percent of the course requirements in the student's specific degree program. A student entering his fourth year shall have completed sucessfully at least 60 percent of the course requirements in the student's specific degree program."
So- even if you graduate a JUCO with let's say 60 credits- that doesn't mean all of those will transfer into your SPECIFIC DEGREE. Let's say you took a P.E. class as an elective- that does not transfer into an engineering degree.Even if you have let's say- 6 credits in math classes (basic)for a usiness degree they don't start counting towards a degree until you are up to a Finite Math level. Understand? So- by being at a JUCO for 3 yrs as opposed to 2, you have to have more of the RIGHT credits to count towards your degree.
We were faced with this ourselves. Son's situation- Did not play freshman yr at a D1 (1st yr school/used no eligibility) played at JUCO (2nd yr school/freshman eligibility). Had an amazing JUCO season and was perfectly happy to stay another year at JUCO until this matter was brought to our attention. It would have been academic suicide(Business/ Euntrepenuer Major)for him to stay another year at JUCO.Is now playing at a D1.