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New rules might slow JC-to-Division I transfers
By Debra E. Blum and Douglas Lederman, Special for USA TODAY
Ontario Lett made the leap from junior college to big-time college basketball when the University of Pittsburgh recruited him two years ago.

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder: NCAA should distribute funds to community colleges to provide more academic guidance for athletes.
By Denis Poroy, AP

Now he is a pro in Europe, hoping to make the NBA. If that doesn't happen, he says, the degree he earned last spring will help him in another career.

"This was definitely the way to go," he says about working hard at Florida's Pensacola Community College so he could transfer to a Division I school.

Each year, according to the NCAA, about 2,000 junior college athletes earn scholarships and transfer to Division I colleges. And they help some of the nation's best teams in all sports. Washington State's No. 8-ranked football team has nine JC transfers on its depth chart, including all three running backs. Kansas State's 18th-ranked football team has 28 JC transfers on its 120-player roster, including a little more than half of its first- or second-team offensive linemen and defensive backs. And Louisiana Tech's No. 12 women's basketball team has four JC transfers; three will be in the playing rotation.

But for an untold number of junior college athletes who want to follow Lett's path to the big time, tough new NCAA rules might block the way.

The rules increase the proportion of the degree requirements athletes must have completed by the start of their third year and each successive year. Intended to put more athletes on track to graduate in five years, the tougher standards put two-year college students at a disadvantage because of the number and kinds of courses available to them, and because many of them start on a slow academic track.

Even junior college athletes who take a full complement of rigorous courses might not have enough classes that fit into a specific degree program at a four-year college to qualify to transfer.

Some college sports observers predict that the new rules, which took effect for athletes entering college as freshmen this fall, will stem the flow of two-year-college athletes into Division I programs.

"We're just going to have to say no to more student-athletes who want to transfer," says John Anderson, associate athletics director for academic services at Texas Tech. "Coaches will be forced to look away from junior college schools."

At least seven of Texas Tech's junior college football recruits this year would not have been eligible to transfer under the new rules, Anderson says.

Because fewer junior college athletes are likely to meet the standards, at least in the short term, competition for those who do is expected to intensify.

"We'll be recruiting from a smaller pool," says Jim Epps, senior associate athletics director at Kansas State.

All of this means Division I coaches might no longer be able to count on quickly plugging holes in their rosters with the experienced players junior colleges can offer. And placing academically deficient athletes at two-year schools with the intent of them gaining admission as transfers will be less of a sure thing.

To avoid surprises, Lee Ann Riley, women's basketball coach at Stephen F. Austin, says coaches will need to identify recruits in their first year at a junior college. "If they are taking a lot of developmental courses, or if their transcripts have a lot of question marks," she says, "don't count on being able to recruit them."

Options limited with new rules

The higher standards, some guess, will cause more of the best junior college athletes to turn pro instead of moving to Division I, while others will look to qualify at colleges in Division II or outside the NCAA that do not have the strict new rules.

"I understand that the NCAA doesn't want kids who can't cut it academically," says Dan Sparks, athletics director and basketball coach at Vincennes (Ind.) University, a community college. "But with these rules they are going to be penalizing a lot more kids than the ones they are trying to eliminate."

The new rules require athletes to complete at least 40% of the requirements for a degree at their institution by the start of their third year in college, up from 25% for most athletes and 35% for those who did not meet Division I's initial-eligibility standards coming out of high school.

The standards increase to 60% by the start of the fourth year and to 80% by the start of the fifth year, up from 50% and 75%, respectively.

The rules are especially tough on junior college athletes who have to take remedial courses, most of which do not count towards the eligibility requirements.

Lett took hefty course loads each semester during three years at Pensacola and enrolled in two summer sessions after his first and second years. But he had spent much of his first year taking remedial courses, so he still barely met the NCAA's Division I eligibility requirements.

Under the new rules, he might not have made it to a Division I school. "I went to school for three straight years, and worked really hard. But I'd be shut out now."

Even for junior college athletes with strong academic records, the new rules make moving to Division I trickier. The rules leave little or no room for electives at two-year colleges and force JC athletes to try to pick classes that have the best chance of being accepted as part of a degree program at a Division I school.

"It's already a guessing game getting these kids ready," says Evans Roderick, academic counselor at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif. "What courses will fit in what majors at what schools? We have to make better guesses now."

In some cases, such pressure will lead to better, more attentive academic counseling at two-year colleges — even lending an advantage to schools with strong advising programs for athletes. In other cases, some say, the new rules will lead athletes and junior colleges to cut corners, even cheat, to get players qualified to transfer.

"There will be a lot of athletes and colleges working hard" to meet the rules, says Roderick. "But there will be plenty of cases where grade inflation will be what is pushing athletes through."

Bill Snyder, Kansas State's football coach, says some potential problems could be avoided if the NCAA did more to support junior colleges.

"If we're going to continue to recruit these athletes, and pass rules that affect their ability to transfer," Snyder says, "let's think about how we can distribute funds to community colleges so that they can provide the kind of guidance they might not be able to afford. That will put youngsters in the best position to get a good education and get to Division I."









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