The Graduate Rule: Here’s to you, Mr. Saban

Published 8:24 am Sunday, August 7, 2016

Nick Saban probably wishes he had handled it differently now.

Was it really worth it?

He’s the smartest coach in football and should have known to pick his battles a little better.

But he’s not in the habit of admitting he has made a mistake,

So he’s not budging, and what should have been a minor annoyance is blowing up in his face right now, turning into a public relations nightmare.

Saban is catching 10 tons of grief — and is unusually testy when questioned about it — because one his former players, defensive back Maurice Smith, wants to transfer from the Crimson Tide.

Smith, who got his Alabama diploma Saturday but has a year of eligibility remaining, now is even able to use the graduate-transfer rule to be able to play somewhere else immediately, without sitting out a year.

Saban apparently doesn’t want him to leave, but will outwardly wish him well — with certain restrictions.

Saban, as is his right under NCAA rules, has blocked Smith from going to another Southeastern Conference school.

That’s a problem — Smith’s desire is to go play for Georgia.

Smith would have been a contributor for the Tide this season, but hardly a star and certainly not irreplaceable on such a deep roster.

But Saban apparently isn’t going to back down.

It looks even worse because Saban gave his blessings when another former Tide player, Chris Black, recently transferred to another SEC school, Missouri.

Saban explained, with some irritation, that there were extenuating circumstances with Black’s transfer, though he felt no need to go into detail.

So the whole thing has turned ugly and, for Alabama, embarrassing.

Smith now says he was harassed by the Bama staff after making it known of his plans to transfer. His mother is also crying foul from the highest mountaintops.

Understand, Saban is not alone on this issue. Most coaches, including benevolent ol’ Les Miles at LSU, put restrictions on where transfers can go, even those who have graduated.

Why?

Because they can.

Because the NCAA decrees that they can.

And because they’re control freaks.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was using it to his advantage by saying he plans, in the future, not to have any restrictions on players who want to leave the Bulldogs.

But then he conveniently forgets that when he took over, Smart also forbade any transferring Georgia players from following their former Bulldogs coach, Mark Richt, to his new job at Miami.

Smart was Saban’s (and Smith’s) defensive coordinator at Alabama last season. Also, Smith’s Alabama position coach, Mel Tucker, is now defensive coordinator at Georgia.

It’s probably why a Texas native at the University of Alabama suddenly got a hunkering for dem Dawgs.

Some will note the hypocrisy that allows Smart and Tucker to jump ship and leave Smith with no restrictions, while Smith faces miles of red tape if he tries to join them.

Well, there are advantages to adulthood. Let’s let leave it that.

To allow unrestricted transfers in college football would be anarchy. Recruiting would be a constant four-year nightmare.

But the graduate transfer rule is different.

And this answer here is pretty simple.

Why doesn’t the NCAA — not the SEC, not each individual school — step in with a basic rule on the matter? Take it out of the coaches’ self-serving hands.

If he has a diploma, he has fulfilled what the NCAA claims is its true mission — to churn out college graduates with the same enthusiasm it stocks the NFL.

Let him go wherever he wants.

The graduate-transfer rule shouldn’t be a loophole, it should be a reward to let the player, uh, student-athlete, do whatever he pleases.

If a guy has graduated, the school that just handed him a diploma shouldn’t have any say in the matter.

While they’re at it, the NCAA could drop the silly graduate school rule.

That was the original excuse for the graduate rule. College graduates with eligibility remaining (apparently) were having trouble finding their chosen grad-school curriculum at their original school (insert your own snickers).

So another requirement for the immediate transfer was that his destination had some post-grad work not available at his former school.

Once the rule went into effect — wink-wink — it was amazing how often this dilemma seemed to turn up.

Never mind that it was a bit of a joke.

In reality, it was just another hoop to jump through.

Every school seems to have some kind of oddball grad school course work that no other school would want or even think of.

It’s just a matter of finding it (and developing a sudden passion for it).

Yeah, it’s mostly a farce.

So drop it and let the players who’ve gotten those degrees be rewarded for it.

No questions asked.

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Follow Scooter Hobbs on Twitter at twitter.com/ScooterAmPress