College coaches don’t like rash of transfers, but ‘it is the norm,’ KU’s Bill Self says
More than 400 men’s college basketball players, including former University of Kansas guard Issac McBride, have decided to switch schools since the start of the 2019-20 season.
McBride, who has surfaced at Vanderbilt, made his decision to leave KU in September. Many more student-athletes nationwide have followed suit, announcing transfer plans after the March 12 cancellation of the NCAA Tournament — the official start of what will obviously be an active offseason.
Wichita State has already lost six scholarship players and Iowa State three to transfer, leading Wichita KFH talk radio hosts Bob Lutz and Jeff Lutz to ask KU coach Bill Self his take during a Thursday interview.
It should be noted Self during the discussion was not asked specifically about Wichita State and/or ISU, but transfers in general.
“I can’t speak to anybody else’s program (but) it seems to me when things are going well, you usually have less situations to deal with and when they aren’t (going well) they usually happen in twos and threes,” Self said of players with remaining eligibility leaving one’s program.
“When things are not (going well) it can become compounded. So much of that is because of the easy route young players can take to leave,” Self added.
For the past several seasons, juniors who have stockpiled enough credits to graduate have been allowed to leave as graduate transfers and not have to sit out a year at their transfer destination.
Underclassmen are allowed to transfer to a new school and practice but not play in games a full season, then resume playing in games the following year. A proposal to allow all student-athletes immediate eligibility after transfer is being proposed, with implementation possibly coming as soon as the 2020-21 campaign.
According to the New York Post, this is a “concept under consideration” by the Transfer Waiver Working Group that could be adopted by the Division I Council. The working group will decide whether to make a formal recommendation during its April 23-25 meeting. At that point the council could vote on the proposed changes.
“It’s the right thing to do. There’s nothing we should be doing to block that,” Self said, referring to players being allowed to transfer in the current system. He is not in favor of what he’s called the “free agency” that may occur if players are allowed immediate eligibility after transfer via the proposed new rule.
“It also can give the coach a very negative look that you could have five guys transfer but really only two of them wanted to,” Self said. “Now the concern (of remaining players after two leave) is, ‘Well they are not going to be here. Who are we going to play with? I don’t know how good the guys are we are recruiting. I want to be sure to play on a good team.’ All this stuff starts creeping in, all the doubt.
“People can help create that doubt that really puts coaches a lot of times in ways where they really don’t have much control. Nobody likes seeing what is transpiring across America with all the transfers. No coach does, but it is the norm.”
Self said programs can survive a transfer or two, even more.
“We’ve had situations before where it looks bleak (losing several players),” he said. “Sometimes it just takes one or two guys (recruits) you get lucky on in the spring can totally flip your roster and change everything overnight.”
Self lost one player, McBride, before the start of the 2019-20 season to transfer. No other players have indicated they wish to leave KU, but he said he holds no ill will toward those who decide to transfer.
“When you are putting a team together,” Self said on the Lutzes’ radio show, “everyone has all these expectations. These kids who have been recruited had unbelievably large roles in high school or junior college programs that they played at.
“That isn’t real, because it’s not realistic they would ever have a comparable role in college unless you are (Kevin) Durant or somebody like that. Now you plug them in to try to do what’s best for the masses, but a lot of times what’s best for the masses doesn’t appear to be what’s best for the individual.”
Self noted that on KU’s 2019-20 team, which went 28-3, “we only had eight eligible players. There was probably less unhappiness at our place because guys had to play but when you’ve got highly recruited guys and that number is 10 to 13, there’s no way you can really play more than eight to keep them happy.
“I really see that could be an issue and that creates locker room problems. That creates some other things, which leads to other guys maybe not totally buying in. It isn’t the easiest thing to manage.”
Self has said the rule that’s being proposed — allowing all players to transfer without sitting a year — could cause chaos: unprecedented numbers of players looking to switch locales.
“The free agency aspect of it, where kids can go wherever they want to go, whenever they want to do it, we (head coaches U.S.) are all strongly, strongly, strongly against it,” Self said in an interview at one of his weekly news conferences last season in Allen Fieldhouse. “It’s not because we think it’s negative with kids. It creates an environment where now you’re actually recruiting players from other teams in handshake lines.
“A team has something negative happen to the program and just looks for a guy at a mid-major that averages 15 (points) a game, and throws some bait out there for him.”
Of the proposed rule, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson told Jeff Goodman of the website Stadium: “It’s not a good rule for the health of college basketball. If we allow this rule, there’s going to be more bad decisions than good ones. Trust me, I’ve lived this.”
“I think it will adversely affect everybody except for the top programs,” Richmond’s Chris Mooney told Goodman. He was referring to blueblood programs being able to plug holes in their rosters when they become evident due to the ability to locate transfer candidates at mid-majors
Former Wisconsin All-American Frank Kaminsky of the Phoenix Suns told Goodman: “This new proposed rule is how it should be. The only way you should have to sit (a full year) is if you transfer within the conference.”
“Coaches can’t have all the power,” Kaminsky added. “If they want players to continue not to monetize their names, then there’s a give and take that has to take place. If there’s no give and take, then the quality of college basketball is going to continue to diminish like it has.”
In case one is wondering how KU has fared transfer-wise during the 17-year Self era, the Jayhawks have lost 22 players to transfer and added 15.
Players added via transfer in the Self era: Isaiah Moss, 2019, from Iowa; Jack Whitman, 2017, William & Mary; Charlie Moore, 2017, California; K.J. Lawson, 2017, Memphis; Dedric Lawson, 2017, Memphis; Sam Cunliffe, 2017, Arizona State; Malik Newman, 2016, Mississippi State; Evan Maxwell, 2016, Liberty; Dwight Coleby, 2015, Mississippi; Tarik Black, 2013, Memphis; Hunter Mickelson, 2013, Arkansas; Kevin Young, 2011, Loyola Marymount; Justin Wesley, 2010, Lamar; Jeff Withey, 2009, Arizona; and Rodrick Stewart, 2006, USC.
Players lost to transfer in Self era: Issac McBride, 2019, Vanderbilt; Charlie Moore, 2019, DePaul; K.J. Lawson, 2019, Tulane; Sam Cunliffe, 2018, Evansville; Dwight Coleby, 2017, Western Kentucky; Carlton Bragg, 2017, Arizona State/New Mexico; Jack Whitman, 2017, did not compete at another school; Evan Maxwell, 2016, Indiana Wesleyan; Conner Frankamp, 2014, Wichita State; Andrew White III, 2014, Nebraska/Syracuse; Zach Peters, 2013, Arizona; Anrio Adams, 2013, Ohio/Eastern Kentucky; Merv Lindsay, 2012, New Mexico; Milton Doyle, 2012, Loyola of Chicago; Royce Woolridge, 2011, Washington State; Quintrell Thomas, 2009, UNLV; C.J. Giles, 2006, Oregon State; Micah Downs, 2006, Gonzaga; Alex Galindo, 2005, Florida International; J.R. Giddens, 2005, New Mexico; Omar Wilkes, 2004, California; David Padgett, 2004, Louisville.
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "College coaches don’t like rash of transfers, but ‘it is the norm,’ KU’s Bill Self says."
