April 27, 2007

Kendall Rogers
Rivals.com College Baseball Editor

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Just a day and a half after releasing the official baseball RPI to the public, the NCAA was back in the news Thursday afternoon.

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors officially voted in the text-messaging ban for recruiting. But the most important news stemming from the meeting concerned the Baseball Academic Enhancement Working Group's package of recommendations.

The new legislation, which would change college baseball as we currently know it, was approved by the Board of Directors.

In the package are three important prongs ? Transfer year in residence, financial aid and fall-term certification.

The transfer prong eliminates the one-time transfer exception. With the rule, baseball joins football and basketball as sports where a player has to sit out a year in the event of a transfer from a four-year school to another.

The only problem is that football and basketball are full scholarship sports ? baseball isn't.

While the working-group sees the move as encouraging coaches and student-athletes to make a thoughtful decision about their academic fit at an institution, many college baseball coaches are hesitant about the rules' ramifications.

"It's definitely going to take some time to sink in, but I think the rule just makes it where coaches have to think more about their personnel decisions," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin told Rivals.com. "At Vanderbilt a partial scholarship doesn't go too far, so you've got to be sure the kid will be a good fit for your program."

Corbin also believes it will keep coaches from taking chances or signing projects.

"This rule would make the recruiting process a four-year commitment," he said. "As a coach, we're going to be less likely to take a chance on a kid, because if it doesn't work out, he's likely with you for the long-haul."

Despite the concerns, Corbin agrees with the principle behind the transfer rule.

Two coaches on the other side of the fence are Arizona State's Pat Murphy and Oklahoma State's Frank Anderson.

Murphy and the Sun Devils have benefited from adding former North Carolina outfielder Matt Spencer, while former N.C. State infielder Matt Mangini is now one of the top offensive producers for the Cowboys.

"I just don't think it makes much sense to have this rule in place for a partial scholarship sport," Anderson said. "Not only is going to potentially harm a kid financially, it could also hurt them academically. If a kid doesn't feel comfortable at a place like OSU, his only resort (unless he wants to sit out a year) is to head to a JC."

In the end, Anderson doesn't see that scenario as helping the student-athlete meet their academic goals.

Murphy sees two sides to the debate.

"The administrative leaders at institutions have said that they want to better the APR. So, if your main goal is to better the APR, the new rule will certainly help that," he said. "These new rules might be good for the APR, but it might not be the best solution in the long run for college baseball as a whole."

UC Irvine coach Dave Serrano also weighed in on the issue.

"With college baseball at an all-time high in this country, it's unfortunate that these rules have to be put in place," he said. "I personally don't see a problem with the way our game is right now and I subscribe to the thought that if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

Besides eliminating the one-time transfer exception, the NCAA will also penalize teams that cut scholarships or encourage players to transfer.

According to the NCAA release from Thursday's meetings, encouraging a student athlete to transfer would cost the institution APR points. Additionally, the institution would not be able to replace that player until the following year.

Most importantly, teams will be limited to just 35 student-athletes, regardless of the source of financial aid.

The NCAA views the legislation as helping to eliminate the "run-off" strategy that some coaches reportedly employ during fall workouts.

The other prongs to the legislation include: