Unique transfer situation

Wow, CM, I am saddened to hear of your son's experience at the school. I'm glad he's looking into options to forge ahead, and not letting this dampen his spirit for the game itself.

I can't answer any of your questions, but just wanted to lend my sympathy to the situation.

Thankyou. I has been pretty rough. It's very hard to see his hopes and dreams destroyed and you have no control really. Thanks for your support

If I have this right your son played his true freshman year at a D3 and is looking to transfer back to a D1 for his true sophmore year?

ONe option is to attend a JC for his sophmore year. This will give other schools a chance to look at him and for him to evaluate the school options he may have.

Since your son has already been in 2 baseball programs and you mention a possible medical red-shirt, there are several factors involved in your situation and the answers to your questions could vary depending upon the specifics of your situation (academic eligibility, qualifer vs non-qualifier, how many practices did he attend at the D1, has he already used the one-time transfer exception, and there may be other variables as well).

I would suggest calling the NCAA and speaking with someone in the Membership and Academic Affairs department regarding your son's transfer options. If you call 317-917-6008 on a weekday after noon (eastern time) and follow the prompts it should be easy to reach someone that can help answer your questions (there is a prompt for are you a parent, questions about transfers, etc.)

They are fairly helpful and should be able to explain your options after they have all the pertinent information. While your son's situation is unfortunate, the reasons you mentioned for him leaving the D1 will probably not affect his transfer options.

Also, be aware that there may also be conference transfer rules (if you are transferring to a school in the same conference as the D1 or the D3 he previously attended) that may be more restrictive than the NCAA's transfer rules.

You might also want to review this link to the NCAA 09-10 transfer publication before you call so that you can become familiar with their terminology.

09-10 Transfer Publication


Best of luck.

Thanks for the phone # I will definately call and speak to them.

Yes he is a true sophomore. He was at the D1 for the fall ball and that was it. He was there on a baseball scholarship. He was a qualifier out of high school.

3fingeredglove is also helpful in directing you to specific transfer rules, you may try sending him/her a private message or hopefully he will see this thread and give some input.

quote:

Originally posted by ConfusedMom:
1. Can he petition the NCAA for special circumstances to transfer back to a D1?

Generally, the NCAA will (I think) consider a waiver for just about any situation. However, I believe that only an institution can apply for the waiver, and a player can't request a waiver on his own. So he would need to identify a D1, and get a waiver process underway. Presumbably he would need to transfer to the D1 before knowing whether the waiver was granted. (A player has to transfer to a D1 in the fall in order to play the following spring. Mid-year transfers must sit for an academic year.)

quote:

2. If he stays in residence at the D3 for a year can he transfer to a D1 without sitting?

No. The general rule is that a player must sit for a year when transferring from a 4 year school to a D1. In rare cases, a player may meet the requirements for a one-time exception, but your player has already transferred once, and so the one-time requirement isn't satified. Without a waiver, he'll have to sit.

quote:

3. He needs surgery on his knee (this Wednesday), turns out it happened in the fall at the D1 but we didn't know how serious it was, they gave him physical therapy for it while he was there, can he get a medical waiver at the D3 or transfer to a D1 now and use the medical redshirt as his year to sit?

The commonly used term "medical redshirt" causes so much confusion. That's remarkable considering that there ain't no such animal!
Please think in terms of eligibility:
1) A D1 player is ineligible to compete once 5 calendar years elapse from his first enrollment at any college.
2) A player is allowed to compete in a maximum of 4 seasons.

Your son has consumed one season of competition, and is entitled to 3 more--if 5 calendar years haven't elapsed. If he doesn't play in Spring 2011, he won't use a season of competition, and would still be eligible in 2012-2014. That's true regardless of the reason he didn't play in games. It could be injury related, the coach's choice, or the sit out rule. If he doesn't play, he won't use up a season of competition.

There's a couple of ways that an injury could be significant.
1) If he plays in games at the begining of a season, and then suffers a season-ending injury, he may be awarded a hardship waiver, and be deemed to have not used a season of competition even though he played in a few games.
2) If he misses a season of competition because of hardship (season-ending injury, severe financial problems, death in family, etc.) and subsequently misses another season, also for hardship, then he may be awarded a 6th calendar year.

Your son's injury in fall 2009 wan't season ending. Plausibly his upcoming surgery could cause him to miss the spring 2011 season. If that is supported by a doctor's contemporaneous documentation, it could be useful if a second season is missed due to hardship.

So the possibilites are: A) he transfers to a D1 with a waiver, is medically good to go, and plays in spring 2011. B) he transfers and can't get a waiver, or is still recovering, or the coach doesn't play him, etc. In that case, he'll still have 3 seasons starting in 2012.

If he plans to transfer to a D1, and also fears that the recovery from surgery may be protracted, he can serve the year in residency while recovering. That argues for transferring now.

Thank you so much for such a detailed answer. We will have the discussion tonite. There is a D1 that has expressed interest already so maybe he will decide to transfer now. Again thank you so much for your help.

ConfusedMom, I am so sorry what happened to your son. Same thing happened with our son in JC. But son lived in apartment (no dorms) and his only solution was to move out. There were heated arguments and noise complaints too. Son did not have to inform coach but my guess is he knows what happened. No one should have to endure second hand smoke regardless of source.

Just a word to the new college parents out there, according to son and his teammate, about 80% of their roster are dopers. It is very important to try to get your son rooming with non dopers. The only way I know that may help without drug testing them is go by their GPA in HS. If very high, most likely don't smoke dope. Our son is an exception but the GPA is a good indicator. I would even go so far as to recommend a single room or apartment for the first year, then son will know who he is compatible with.

quote:

Originally posted by 3FingeredGlove:

Generally, the NCAA will (I think) consider a waiver for just about any situation.

3 fingered glove (or anyone with transfer experience) - just curious, have you seen situations where waivers were issued for scenarios involving team conflict or other special circumstances like the situation described by the original poster? What would be the chances of receiving a waiver in their situation and therefore not being required to sit a year at a new D1?

I admittedly do not know all the transfer rules and don't have experience with issues similar to the one outlined by the the OP but my gut feel was telling me that waivers or exceptions would most likely not be granted in such situations because in theory, each person that wants to transfer has extenuating circumstances. It seems like if there were a broad list of exceptions that were not outlined in the rules, then each time a school no longer wanted a player or a player no longer wanted a school (for a possible multitude of reasons) a waiver or exception would be a viable option.

I am just curious if you or anyone else out there know how frequently waivers are granted by the NCAA when the reasons for the transfer are not specifically outlined in the rules.

You might want to contact the compliance office at the D1 that is interested in him. They can probably give you the best information relative to that particular school.

I just had a question, if he did very well and was happy, with an impending surgery (he won't have to prove himself all over again), why the needed change?

Is it worth going back to dig up the past?

BTW, if he was hurt and you can prove it, at his last school you may be able to go back to recover expenses for an operation.

Thanks TPM I was considering recouping the expenses. Your comment about if he is happy why change? is a very good point that we have been wrestling with. His current D3 team won their conference, and the coaches have been absolutely wonderful. They were extremely happy to have him on the team and welcomed him with open arms in January. Truly the only issue we as parents are dealing with is the academic part. The D1 he came from was a very well regarded academic school and the D3 he transferred to is a state school that is not that difficult academically (he might argue the point because he is doing very well academically at the new school because it is not as challenging as before.)

TPM does bring up a great point.

The situation at the previous school suks and I wish your son the best with school decision and a complete recovery from the injury. If you do decide to chase the school change possibility I hope that you have all of this in writing, timelined, and authenticated verification of the events from the previous school. Not that you would ever make it up, but, college athletics can be an ugly business where your son could end up being an unknowingly sacrificial lamb if a background check was ever initiated in regard to the school incident. When all is said and done, make sure your backside is protected, or, chalk this up as a life experience and stay away from the past.