College Athletic Transfers being blocked by Schools, this must STOP by Lauren Beasley
Florida International forward Dominique Ferguson announced Tuesday that he was entering the NBA draft, saying he's unhappy about the firing of Isaiah Thomas and was unable to get permission from FIU to talk to other schools.
Now Ferguson was a top player coming out of high school, he had offers and interest from schools like Kentucky, UCLA, Louisville and more. If he were to transfer he would clearly have options.
Ferguson told The Associated Press that his request to be released from his scholarship was denied by Pete Garcia, the school's executive director of sports and entertainment. A subsequent appeal process that Ferguson said included a meeting with university President Mark Rosenberg also did not bring the release he sought.
I don’t agree with FIU or any school stopping a player from transferring. If a player wants to transfer that is his/her choice. Now I admit I don’t always agree with players transferring but in this case I don’t have a problem with it. This young man is obviously frustrated that the coach he loved and admired has been fired and he wants to go somewhere else. It’s a natural reaction and he also feels his career will diminish if he stays there.
Now unfortunately due to his request being denied he has made a worse decision to enter the NBA draft. Now while I don’t completely put the blame on FIU for this, they still have a lot to do with it, when in reality all they had to do was allow him to be release and go somewhere else.
There was a similar incident like this in football this past season. Tennessee freshman receiver DeAnthony Arnett of Saginaw, MI asked to be released from Tennessee so that he would be allowed to transfer to either Michigan State or Michigan. Now his reason for transferring had nothing to do with him being unhappy at Tennessee, it was due to his father being sick back in Saginaw and he wanted to be with his father. Now ultimately Arnett was granted his release and has transferred to Michigan State but he had to constantly go through so much just to get the approval when it should have been something simple.
My point is that it should be this big of an issue to transfer, especially for reasons like Arnett and Ferguson had. Now as I said before, all transferring is not good because sometimes it is for the wrong reason or because the player didn’t do his proper research before committing to a school but ultimately these players should be allowed to leave especially if it is for a good reason.
I believe the NCAA needs to make changes to the transfer rules or there should be a small group of lawyers available for college players who are being forced to stay somewhere they aren’t happy. Something needs to be done to protect the players and the schools but right I am not happy with the current status of these college athletic transfer rules.
Now Ferguson was a top player coming out of high school, he had offers and interest from schools like Kentucky, UCLA, Louisville and more. If he were to transfer he would clearly have options.
Ferguson told The Associated Press that his request to be released from his scholarship was denied by Pete Garcia, the school's executive director of sports and entertainment. A subsequent appeal process that Ferguson said included a meeting with university President Mark Rosenberg also did not bring the release he sought.
I don’t agree with FIU or any school stopping a player from transferring. If a player wants to transfer that is his/her choice. Now I admit I don’t always agree with players transferring but in this case I don’t have a problem with it. This young man is obviously frustrated that the coach he loved and admired has been fired and he wants to go somewhere else. It’s a natural reaction and he also feels his career will diminish if he stays there.
Now unfortunately due to his request being denied he has made a worse decision to enter the NBA draft. Now while I don’t completely put the blame on FIU for this, they still have a lot to do with it, when in reality all they had to do was allow him to be release and go somewhere else.
There was a similar incident like this in football this past season. Tennessee freshman receiver DeAnthony Arnett of Saginaw, MI asked to be released from Tennessee so that he would be allowed to transfer to either Michigan State or Michigan. Now his reason for transferring had nothing to do with him being unhappy at Tennessee, it was due to his father being sick back in Saginaw and he wanted to be with his father. Now ultimately Arnett was granted his release and has transferred to Michigan State but he had to constantly go through so much just to get the approval when it should have been something simple.
My point is that it should be this big of an issue to transfer, especially for reasons like Arnett and Ferguson had. Now as I said before, all transferring is not good because sometimes it is for the wrong reason or because the player didn’t do his proper research before committing to a school but ultimately these players should be allowed to leave especially if it is for a good reason.
I believe the NCAA needs to make changes to the transfer rules or there should be a small group of lawyers available for college players who are being forced to stay somewhere they aren’t happy. Something needs to be done to protect the players and the schools but right I am not happy with the current status of these college athletic transfer rules.