When a university president sits down for an interview with a newspaper, that person is likely to be well prepared with concrete talking points ready to address and expand on. Sometimes new ideas happen to develop during the course of an interview. Sometimes those ideas are terrible.
University of Washington president Michael K. Young cooked up an idea regarding transfers of student-athletes that is not likely to gain much traction, and that is a good thing. While discussing students transferring from one school to another, Young suggested one way to potentially solve problems that can arise is to use a franchise tag model. The Seattle Times allows Young to explain the thought;
To paraphrase, Young’s idea is for a football program to be able to designate one or two players on a roster as franchise players, prohibiting them from transferring to another school unless they are willing to sit out a season as NCAA rules enforce today. The rest of the roster may be allowed to transfer to any other school without penalty.
The only reason a franchise tag idea may make even an ounce of sense is if players started getting paid. Maybe the franchise players receive a higher cut. Hey, I’m just making stuff up as well. We’ll have to figure that out.
Give credit to Young for trying to brainstorm some new ideas regarding adjusting rules in college sports. There is never anything wrong with trying to change things for the better. Some rules work better than others. One concern that should be addressed in the NCAA is the power schools have over limiting where a student-athlete can or cannot go once they decide to transfer to a new school. Any other student would be allowed to transfer to whatever school he or she wishes, but that is not always the case for a football or basketball player. It is an issue that has come up plenty of times each offseason.
Helmet sticker to SB Nation.
