TCU coach roasts 'stupid' new NCAA rules

By Ross Kelly July 17, 2018 at 9:54am

While the majority of college football players are happy with the new NCAA rule regarding transfers, one prominent coach is most certainly not.

In short, the new transfer rule no longer requires players to ask for permission from coaches in order to contact other schools, but Gary Patterson of TCU is not a fan of the change.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Patterson told the Star Telegram. “Players from other teams are going to start recruiting people and you can’t stop them from going wherever they’re going to go. Then it’s like what we’ve been trying to stop for a long time — it’s going to become the highest bidder. The people who are going to get hurt most by this is the non-Power 5 schools.”

Patterson has an affinity to schools outside of the Power 5 conferences as TCU was once one of those schools. Prior to joining the Big 12 in 2012, they were in the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA, among other non-Power 5 conferences.

The new transfer rule goes into effect this October and players who wish to transfer simply have to let their schools know they want to do so.

Then the school enters the player’s name into a database which all head coaches have access to. A coach will then be able to see who all is looking for a fresh start and they can reach out to those players.

“Schools right now, they’ve got a list of who all grad transfers are,” said Patterson. “Now, they’ll look at film and see who all the best players are [not just grad transfers] and then somebody is going to reach out and find them.

“Everybody will say nobody will do that. … ‘OK,’” he said sarcastically.

Patterson said he would be more in favor of the new rule if it went into place with a set deadline such as Jan. 1. That would give coaches a chance to recruit new players for that position as opposed to the transfer notifications happening in the middle of a season.

Do you like the new transfer rule where student-athletes don't have to ask for their coach's permission?

When it comes to athletics, TCU is a football school who hasn’t put a player in the NBA since 2001. But Patterson is still aware of the transfer dynamics of college basketball and brings that up as a reason as to why freshman should not be allowed to transfer.

“You know how many basketball kids transferred last year? 800,” Patterson said. “That’s with 13 scholarships. Can you imagine football teams with 85 scholarships, what the number of transfers is going to be?

“What we’re teaching our kids to do is quit. I’m not starting. I’m not getting my playing time. Every freshman I’ve ever known wants to transfer because it’s harder than anything else he did in high school.

“As I tell people all the time, at your house you’re going to allow your 17-year-old, 18-year-old to run your household? Let them pay your bills, that’s what you do? No. You don’t do that. So why are we putting our jobs in jeopardy because of an 18-year-old? That’s stupid.”

Patterson, and all other coaches, may have their jobs in the hands of 18-year-olds, but those 18-year-olds can finally do something that Patterson, and all other coaches, have always been able to do.

He would know, as he’s coached at 11 different schools during his career and always jumped to a job he perceived as being better than his current job.

Coaches being able to leave without asking for permission doesn’t seemed to have hurt college athletics and student-athletes now having that same power shouldn’t damage the game either.

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