Monday, August 07, 2006

Arizona Republic: Rule lets grads transfer

Tyler Krieg, an experienced offensive lineman, received his undergraduate degree on May 14 and considered his future. He had a year left of eligibility at Duke, but the university didn't offer a graduate school discipline to his liking. He wanted to pursue a master's degree in education with a concentration in athletic and academic achievement, something that might one day mold him into an athletic director.  Out of options on Tobacco Road, Krieg decided to take an advantage of a new NCAA rule that allows graduated athletes with remaining eligibility to transfer to another school for grad-school purposes and play without sitting out a season. Krieg enrolled at California in June, and today he is penciled in at right guard on a Bears team that is expected to compete with Southern California, Oregon and Arizona State for the Pac-10 title.

"People have been labeling me as a transfer, but I just did what any other graduate would do," Krieg said from Berkeley, Calif. "I think it's a good rule. Call it what you want, but we are student-athletes. Why penalize us for graduating early?"

The rule - Proposal No. 2005-54 - has drawn criticism from coaches, who fear it provides an avenue for other programs to secretly recruit their accelerated student-athletes, many of whom have redshirted. The school presidents who make up the Division I Board of Directors passed the proposal in April, but NCAA members and conference representatives can override the legislation in January. Besides Krieg, former Arizona State leading-scorer Kevin Kruger has taken advantage, leaving the Sun Devils to play basketball for his father, Lon, at Nevada-Las Vegas this season. Kruger completed work earlier this summer to complete his bachelor's degree with a major in justice studies. Also, former Arizona quarterback Richard Kovalcheck, who graduated in three years, transferred to Vanderbilt, where he's expected to battle for a starting position. Kovalcheck declined an interview request, but last month he told the (Nashville) Tennessean, "I've heard if you are going to get your MBA, that it's better to get it at a different place, because you will be repeating a lot of stuff."

Regardless, his former coach isn't concerned. "You know, I don't put any stock in it whatsoever," Arizona's Mike Stoops said of the rule. "In Richard's case, he lost his job and had a chance to play somewhere else. More power to him." UCLA's Karl Dorrell said the rule was "kind of funky," but he doesn't think it will happen enough to cause problems. A player would have to learn so much in a matter of weeks to successfully impact a top program, he said. It seldom would be worth the hassle.

Arizona State doesn't have any graduated student-athletes on this year's roster, but coach Dirk Koetter said last season the Sun Devils featured several. Under this year's rule, all could've bolted for grad schools - and football programs - across the country. "That would've been tough," Koetter said. As for Krieg, he's just happy for a chance to complete his goals, academically and athletically, especially for a team loaded with talent. He knows this month will be a challenge, but he insists he's a fast learner. And his coach at Cal agrees. "For a high school player, the transition that needs to be made to our level is mental, physical and emotional," coach Jeff Tedford said. "Tyler's already got the emotional and physical part already whipped. So now it's just the mental part. He's a very smart kid. I don't think it will be a problem."

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