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Playing for the Coach or Playing for the School? A Modest Proposal

By Rick Karcher, Michael McCann, Geoffrey Rapp, Greg Skidmore, and Howard Wasserman

While I recognize that college sports are a corrupt and unfair sewer in many ways, I never have been on the bandwagon for radical changes such as paying players. But I would support the proposal that NPR's Frank Deford makes in this NPR commentary arguing that student-athletes should be able to transfer freely, without having to sit out a year, if the coach who recruited them leaves mid-contract to go to another school or to coach in the pros. (H/T: Civil Procedure Prof Blog, which linked to my post about the Rich Rodriguez lawsuit).

The argument against Deford's proposal--the player came to play for the school, not the coach--is verifiably false for the majority of athletes. The player is not ordinarily attracted by what the University of Florida has to offer as an institution of higher learning as compared to Florida State University or the University of Georgia. Players are lured by "the program." And that is inseparable from the player's personal feeling/rapport with the coach who recruits him. That is the person with whom is going to work closely for four years--more closely than anyone else he will encounter at the university. So you cannot really separate the coach from the school with respect to the player's choice.

And this is not without academic parallels, even for undergraduates. One of my dormmates freshman year was a music major (I think she was a cellist) who came to Northwestern specifically because of one particular faculty member. If that faculty member left, this student would have the option of transferring and might well do so. Although she chose to attend the institution of Northwestern, this prof was part of that institution; without him, this may no longer be the best place for her.

Now, the devil with Deford's proposal is in the details. For example, it is not clear why the coach leaving for another school is distinct (from the player's standpoint) from the coach being fired or the coach retiring. In all cases, the coach for whom he came to play no longer is there--and neither is a major reason he chose to attend this school. But to allow players to leave freely whenever there is a coaching change potentially creates too much instability and uncertainty for schools (schools, after all, invest resources in student-athletes in a way they do not invest them in my cello player). Of course, the option to transfer always is present and a new coach has to "sell" the inherited players. But that is easier to do if the player knows that transferring means sitting out a year.

But this is an interesting starting point.

Full post as published by Sports Law Blog on January 19, 2008 (boomark / email).