So far this spring, two Oklahoma State players who have yet to graduate and had previously transferred into the Cowboys program have put their names into the NCAA’s transfer portal once again. Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton told both that they likely would have to sit out next season at their new schools, since they’d already used their one-time transfer exemption. In recent years, the NCAA has been lenient about granting immediate eligibility waivers to players who transferred more than once. But last August, new, stricter rules were put in place to make those waivers much more difficult to obtain.
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The two players — Moussa Cisse and Woody Newton — listened to Boynton’s words of caution. They decided to transfer anyway.
“They think that they’ll figure it out,” Boynton told The Athletic. “They’ll get enough sympathy publicly by some sob story coming out in the press and somebody latching onto it on social media that they’ll be viewed as a victim somehow and that’ll all be taken care of. And, in some ways, I can see how they’d think that. We don’t have any precedents that the NCAA, especially recently, is going to stand up and try to hold anybody accountable to anything.”
Newton and Cisse — the latter of whom was the 2022 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and who did not respond to requests to comment for this story — are among a group of 20 high-major players seeking to transfer for a second time and who have spent three or fewer years in college, meaning those players are unlikely to be graduating this spring or summer. (Graduate transfers are still able to play right away.)
The belief in college basketball circles is that most of those players — which includes some big names like former Texas/Texas Tech wing Jaylon Tyson and former LSU/Georgetown guard Brandon Murray, who signed with Ole Miss — are entering the portal under the assumption that they will play right away.
“I think every coach in the country is sitting on edge and wants to see how the NCAA is going to handle this, because it’s very important,” said a high-major coach who was granted anonymity so he could speak freely on the topic and not jeopardize recruiting relationships. “And I don’t think a lot of coaches have a lot of faith in the NCAA enforcing what they say.”
This coach’s skepticism — and he’s not alone — is based off the NCAA’s past handing of waivers. When the NCAA ratified the one-time transfer exemption in April 2021, the point of the rule was to allow players transferring for the first time to be eligible right away at their new school. This made things easier on the NCAA, which had become so inundated with waiver requests that its response was basically to sign off on every one.
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The process back then was pretty simple: get your previous school to say you were run off, known as an NPO (no longer had a participation opportunity), whether that was true or not. The vast majority of coaches would privately sign off to avoid potential bad publicity. And boom, eligible.
The NCAA eliminated the NPO last summer. Now, a waiver request must meet one of three criteria: mental health, exigent circumstances outside the student’s control (such as “physical or sexual assault or discrimination based on a protected class”) or assertions involving diagnosed education-impacting disabilities.
“The intent from the membership was to narrow the avenues of relief,” says Brandy Hataway, the NCAA’s director of academic and membership affairs. “The idea being that now that all student-athletes have the one-time transfer opportunity, fewer scenarios should warrant a waiver for a second or third transfer, understanding the impact that can have on the student-athlete transferring, as well as the program and teammates from at the school they are departing.”
In addition to Boynton, The Athletic spoke to four other high-major coaches and two mid-major coaches on the matter, all given anonymity so they could speak freely. The coaches approve of the new rules, but there’s skepticism in the actual enforcement.
In particular, coaches are concerned that some transfers will try to illegitimately use mental health as a reason for applying for a waiver.
“The real problem is this makes a mockery of mental health,” one high-major coach said. “For people to use it as a way to keep their basketball eligibility is, in my opinion, disgraceful. I know coaches, agents are directing people as soon as they get on campus to meet with a mental health person to set that groundwork. That’s a sad commentary on who some of these people are as leaders and mentors. What are we doing?”
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The NCAA has tried to combat using mental health as a loophole by making sure the claims are legitimate. The NCAA has a panel of mental health professional who review documentation and discern whether it comes from a licensed health provider, which is required.
“There is, of course, always a level of subjectivity with this, which is what makes it difficult,” Hataway said. “We anticipate an uptick in these types of waivers, so the membership is considering ways to enhance their involvement in the review of waiver requests. When reviewing waivers citing mental health, we will consider whether the student-athlete has been working with a mental health professional, what support the new school is going to provide, including a care plan. Waivers are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, so there is not a specific checklist, but we are looking for a complete picture of what necessitated the student-athlete’s transfer.”
The coaches believe someone is going to figure out a way to game the system, and then …
“Everyone will use exactly how they got it,” a high-major coach said. “So if there is a mental illness, where you see a counselor, it’s documented and you get it, everyone’s gonna do that. They’re gonna say, go see a counselor, get it documented. Our profession is too smart for our own good. Once someone finds a way, we all find out what that way is and exploit it.”
One coach compared the NCAA to the FBI agents in the 2002 film “Catch Me If You Can.”
“They need to hire people like Leonardo DiCaprio’s character,” the coach said, “people that actually know what’s going on.”
The coaches worry that, if waivers are granted this cycle, then it’s going to be true free agency every year.
“There’s not another league in professional or amateur sports that has no restrictions,” a high-major coach said.
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That would create chaos, particularly now that the main driver of player movement has become Name, Image and Likeness.
“NIL has really disrupted any sense of normalcy in our industry,” Boynton said. “Guys are literally going into the portal against their own better judgment because they believe that there’s a lot of money out there that they’re missing out on.
“There’s got to be something to discourage it. There’s no order anymore in our industry. I don’t even care necessarily that much about the money, because I think what happened there is there’s an element of lying in recruiting by nature; it gives you something else to lie about in recruiting. Like guys will lie about playing time or getting them to the NBA or number of shots or points they’re going to have, whatever. So now we can just lie and say we’re going to pay $500,000, which is totally irrational.”
The coaches all believe players should be able to make money, but some worry what jumping around can mean for their futures, especially if they’re not graduating. That’s another overlooked aspect of player movement: It’s become difficult for those players to graduate in a timely fashion. Credits do not always transfer from one school to the other. Some schools require a certain number of credit hours be completed at that school before a player graduates.
One coach cited as an example a senior he’d coached for one season. He said if that player had stayed at his previous school, he would have graduated. But by transferring and playing just one year at his final school, he was farther away from graduating than if he never left.
“Kids aren’t getting degrees now,” the coach said. “At the end of the day, these kids are screwed. They’re gonna make some money in college, but the worst thing is having money and then not having any money compared to never having money. That’s why 65 percent of the NBA is bankrupt after they retire within five years, because you spend like you have and you assume you’re always gonna have.”
In addition to the 20 high-major players transferring for a second time in three seasons, there are 27 four-year players in the portal from high-major programs who have transferred multiple times. Those players will need to graduate to be eligible, and by transferring already, it’s likely there are players in that pool who are not on pace to graduate in four years.
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Among the 20 underclassmen transferring a second time, seven of them are leaving a school after a coaching change. This is the one area where coaches are split. Some want to see the NCAA hold its ground no matter what. Some believe a coaching change should be added to the criteria list. But the NCAA has made sure to make clear that is not a reason for a waiver, specifically stating on its website that a coaching change will not be considered.
“I would say that could matter and should matter,” a mid-major coach said. “Because let’s face it, most of the time I think the kids are going for the coach.”
The other point of contention is the NCAA’s timeline. One mid-major coach says he’s been asking fellow coaches all season what they thought would happen this cycle, and most were under the impression it would be business as usual. One coach told The Athletic that he hasn’t even read the NCAA’s new interpretations because he has “so little faith that’s what’s going to happen.”
The hope is that the new guidelines will force both sides to be more diligent. Coaches say both players and coaches need to be smarter during the player’s first transfer. The one-time exemption is the players’ one hall pass. They need to use it wisely and pick the right destination. Coaches need to be careful with which transfers they bring in. The run-off made it easy to cycle through players and take some risks.
The one thing the coaches interviewed universally agree on is that the second-time transfers entering the portal all believe they will be eligible, and that coaches who want those players are telling them they’ll be able to get a waiver.
“If one of those second-time transfers wants to come to your school, you’re going to go ahead and try to fight for it because other schools are going to tell him he’s gonna get it,” a high-major coach said. “So you have no choice but to go ahead and try to get it, and then you act like you want it and you’re pissed if you don’t get it. But on the front end, ask any coach if they want one of their guys to get a second-time waiver; no coach wants that. None. Now they might say yes if the kid’s not good enough to help, but that’s their responsibility for screwing the kid and bringing in the wrong talent.”
Boynton speaks for all of the coaches when asked if it’s time for the NCAA to step up and hold firm on its stance this time.
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“If they don’t now,” Boynton said, “they may as well just close the doors in Indy.”
The worry, however, is that the NCAA will give in because it’s fearful of litigation. But maybe this is the time the NCAA follows through. The combination of introducing NIL and the one-time transfer exemption was a tipping point that led to a chaotic ecosystem that, while not intended, seemed inevitable. And while there’s no reversing course, this is the moment where the NCAA can provide a semblance of stability.
The Athletic’s Dana O’Neil contributed to this story
(Top photo of Oklahoma State’s Moussa Cisse: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
