This subject was first broached in the comments section by JP (Not that JP). Can Michigan pick up transfers from other Division-1 teams, and have those guys play immediately? Since I didn’t know, I went straight to the NCAA rulebook – pdf link. First point (and the one I knew applied without having to look):
If your school dropped your sport from its program or never sponsored it while you were a student, you may be able to use this exception to transfer to a Division I or II school.
While this is a rare exception, there is indeed a Division-1 lacrosse program that is shuttering its doors for good after this season. Presbyterian College has 21 players with eligibility remaining, and though I’m not sure if any of them have a connection to Michigan, enough talent to play at Michigan (PC was awful this season), or even a desire to continue playing college lacrosse, they could transfer without penalty.
Reading further, it seems that any player in a Division-1 lacrosse program that
- Has not transferred between schools ever before,
- Is in good academic standing,
- Is eligible at their current school, and
- Gets the blessing of their current institution to transfer and play immediately
…is able to do so. They don’t even require the “grad transfer exception” that a football or basketball player might need.
I’m not one to speculate on individuals, but it does make me wonder if any of the Michigan natives playing division-1 lacrosse would be interested in transferring home to play immediately (and in some cases, get a better degree than the one they’re on track for now). John Paul (yes that JP) indicated to me that Michigan is interested in bringing in some transfers:
“A lot of questions we still have to answer, and some of those are admissions questions. We certainly have interest. There’s a lot of interest and people have been contacting us for weeks now. Once we establish how we’re going to be able to approach this, we’ll start making some of those decisions.”
It certainly sounds like Michigan will be bringing in some transfers, and most of them should be able to play right away.
Exhibit 1 for transfer and play right away: Tom Palasek – JHU starting attack last year, ‘Cuse starting attack this year.
Semi-shocking to me that Hopkins would release him (as they must do for him to play immediately, as he’s not a 5th-year this season) to play at another top national team, especially one that was on the regular-season schedule.
Of course, I assume Michigan won’t have the same issues (well, since the issue actually didn’t arise, I guess ‘Cuse didn’t either), as most schools will be OK releasing some players to go to a team that isn’t expected to compete nationally for a few years.
That’s pretty much the standard practice in Division 1. Whether it’s a gentlemen’s agreement among the coaches or something else, if a player wants to transfer and has good grades he is allowed to go.
Guys who want to go to Michigan will not have any trouble getting out of their current programs.
I think you are right Ben re: gentlemen’s agreement, but I think there is more to it than that. Given that only a few players end up being able to make a living off of lax, these athletes really are student-athletes, and the academic fit is really important too. (MLL salaries are around $6600/season – so unless you are Paul Rabil, Mikey Powell, or the like, you’ve got a day job.) Many of the elite lax programs are at really challenging schools and/or schools with unique student cultures (as a Hopkins alum, I am the first to admit that the school is not a good fit for everyone.) At the end of the day these guys have to perform in school, earn degrees, get jobs, etc.