In case you were wondering, Randy Edsall is still a dick. His insight about proposed changes to the NCAA’s transfer rules is everything you might expect:
“They always said when you sign the national letter you are signing with that school, you’re not signing with the coach,” Edsall said. “We all understand that’s really not the case. What will happen if [too much transfer free agency] goes into effect, the Power Five schools and some other schools will create a college department.
“They’ll just watch film of all the other colleges. See if there are guys they like and then they’ll go back through a high school coach or somebody and say, hey, we’d like to have him. Word would get back and that kid would want to transfer.”
…
“It upsets me a little bit to hear people say coaches can leave anytime they want, too,” Edsall said. “Yeah they can, but they have contractual obligations. They have to pay a buyout or somebody does. The kid signs a contract with the NCAA, they’re getting their scholarship for free. If there’s no penalty to sit out a year, what good is the national letter of intent?
“The problem with the NCAA is they get scared anytime anybody says ‘Sue.’ That’s the problem. Everybody in this society does. Then sign [athletes] to a four-year contract. If they break it, then they have to sit out a year.”
“… they’re getting their scholarship for free.” Wut? That quote isn’t far off from Edsall sitting in a recliner, drinking a beer, watching Fox News and bitching about all those lazy bastards on welfare. This is the mindset of a guy who will spend his golden years yelling at kids to get off his lawn.
The reason he’s upset about it? Hell, he’s probably worried about kids who play for him for a couple of seasons realizing what they’ve gotten themselves into.
Get The Picture 
Does he really think this was a proud coaching or recruiting moment? So Gran Torino Randy here just wouldn’t want kids to have the opportunity to follow him and play immediately after he moves on to his next stop now would he? Best part is when they say all this crap conveniently just AFTER signing day. We can probably name plenty of friends and family members that transferred colleges when they were unhappy…shouldn’t be any different for a student-athlete.
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The gaming that can go on with these kids can result in a transfer not being any happier in a new place. How does he investigate if he is being used as a pawn when he didn’t go into any depth in choosing the first school?
If the coach transfers and the recruit finds that it was kept under the covers until he is recruited, then he should be expected to transfer, but where else would he want to go if that coach was complicit with the withholding of info? He wouldn’t want to follow a coach, along with a school, who had deceived him. Also, if that were the case, could he sue?
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A Coach isn’t transferring, he’s changing employment locations..
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Anyone who thinks a wide open transfer situation wouldn’t be chaos, isn’t thinking clearly, IMHO…
I would be fine for kids NOT on scholarship transferring at will….let them pay for College…and a transfer privilege.
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Without a doubt, thinking isn’t involved in their position. They can already escape the bondage of a scholarship anytime they wish. Based on the Senator’s words, he wins the biggest dick contest when it comes to what Edsall said in his comments. No, that scholarship isn’t free, you actually have to attend some classes and participate in the football activities. Such a horrible life, America is certainly a horrible deal for Millennials. Who knew until the crusaders arrived to enlighten us?
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Dabo said the same thing.
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The difference here is these kids know their single dream destination is the NFL.
Many of us had no clue what company or even industry we would work for while in school. If there is a better path to get there than at the school X who loses a coach, but that coach has a starting spot at new school Y then great. Yes no guarantee it will work out, but they should have a chance to improve their craft- having to sit out 1 year is just plain stupidity and greedy control.
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Why should the NCAA (and universities) agree to accept a change that could produce great systemic risk to their ENTIRE athletic department in order to satiate football players chasing a dream that only 1.7% of them will realize ?
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I agree with Edsall Players shouldn’t have unfettered access to transfer schools willy-nilly. We are creating more problems than solving.
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I don’t see what the problem is with the current model – the year sitting out helps them get closer to graduating, allowing them to transfer to their 3rd school of choice as a grad transfer when stop 2 doesn’t turn out like they hoped (cough, Shaq Wiggins, cough)
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Until the LOI says a guaranteed 4 or 5-year scholarship, cry me a river, you people who think liberalization of the transfer rules will lead to chaos.
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The University of Michigan plane was seen a couple times in Oxford, MS on recruiting visits. You want that to be the norm for everybody, not just cheaters ? Would you have enjoyed seeing Nick Saban dining with Sony Michel at the Last Resort in early December 2015 ?
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I have said all along the penalty for tampering should be high … like NCAA “show cause” high.
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I just look at it as the scholarship was for LAST year, but for next year if they transfer they aren’t getting anything from you. It’s questionable what the school gave them anyway since it doesn’t cost to have one more student sit in a class. It’s not that Edsall is anything and it’s not even about college football; why most people in society only see things their way and judge the beejezus out of others is the thing that gets me.
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I agree with Edsall. Make the LOI a 5-year contract for 4 years of eligibility and then keep those kids locked down until graduation. After graduation, they should be free agents. But coaches can stop crying about how they will poach each others’ players with nothing but NCAA regulations to stop them.
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This is one issue I think the NCAA has about right. It would devolve into
a mess real fast if any player for any reason could up and leave at any time. It always see,ms strange when people talk about how unfair it is for the one player that wants to leave, without giving any consideration to the 84 scholarship players that remain.
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Damn, I need to reassess my life as I sit in my recliner drinking a Sweetwater watching Fox News.
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All u wise men that speak for paying players and free transfer are gonna regret. Ur gonna turn NCAA into nfl & it’s gonna be ugly. U better be happy w/ the system, as imperfect as it is, because it can be worse. After it ruins our sport, many of u will criticize the way it was done when in the end, we should have never gone there. Hell, they already buy guns w/ Pell grant money, what the hell do u brains surgeons think they r gonna do w/ a salary?
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Of all the arguments in the world to make, this is certainly one of them.
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