Opinion: NCAA’s new transfer policy may be messy, frustrating for coaches, but above all, it will be fair

The grand irony of the NCAA’s long-awaited decision to change its transfer rules is that the wrong argument ultimately swung the debate. 

Somewhere along the way, it started to register with more and more fans of college sports, administrators and the athletes themselves that it was unfair for coaches to be able to change jobs freely, while athletes who want to change schools have to sit out a year before becoming eligible to play again. You can draw a direct line from that narrative taking hold to Wednesday’s decision by the NCAA Div. 1 council to give college athletes one free pass to transfer during their careers and play right away at the next school. 

But to truly understand why the NCAA’s previous rule was unfair, discriminatory and needed to be done away with long ago, look no further than this fact: Most college athletes already had the freedom to transfer without penalty before Wednesday.

It was only in five sports — football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and men’s hockey — that transfers were required to sit out a year. Why those sports? Because they’re the ones that generate revenue for schools. Nobody bothered to care what happened with the rest. 

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