Turns out, Sean Kowal isn't playing college basketball this season

Yesterday, we wrote this piece on the waivers that transfers receive that allow them to avoid the mandatory redshirt year when going from one Division I institution to another. One of those waivers can be granted when a player has graduated from their first school with eligibility left, allowing them to play immediately at a different program if they enroll in a graduate course that isn't offered at the school they graduated from.

In that post, we talked at length about Sean Kowal, praising him for using the aforementioned rule to his advantage and doing so, most importantly, in the spirit of the rule. Instead of leaving his previous school on bad terms with the team -- the way Eniel Polynice reportedly left Ole Miss to enroll at Seton Hall -- Kowal left with the intention of enrolling at a school that offered a Theology Master's degree so he could one day teach religion and coach high school basketball without having to shell out the money to pay for his education.

We praised him because he was a true student-athlete. Because he was using his basketball skills and god-given height to make himself a better applicant for a career he wanted to pursue.

It appears as if Sean Kowal's college basketball career is done.
(photo credit: Chicago Now)

But we spoke too soon.

Why?

Because it is mid-September, and Kowal still hasn't found a landing place.

Today, Andy Katz broke the news that Kowal has not actually enrolled in school. When we first wrote about Sean Kowal back in July, it was because Northern Illinois was not releasing him from his scholarship. NIU head coach Ricardo Patton believed that Kowal had been tampered with, that a school had contacted him about transferring before Kowal had officially received his release. It didn't help matters that Kowal was admittedly less than truthful in his initial attempt to receive a release.

The reason that Kowal is not currently enrolled anywhere -- it seems like the St. Louis native was headed to play for Rick Majerus and the Billikens -- is that the NCAA started to sniff around his case. St. Louis had a scholarship open, but they decided -- and rightfully so -- that it wasn't worth the headache of an NCAA investigation for what amounted to a one-year player, even if that one-year player was a 6'11" center that averaged 10.5 ppg and 6.4 rpg in the MAC last season.

I don't mean to be callous, because I really do feel for Kowal. He got himself caught up in the web of NCAA red tape when all he was trying to do was get his graduate degree paid for. But I believe my point from yesterday still stands. The NCAA's rule is that if you transfer from one D-I school to another, you have to sit out a season. They have the power to waive that penalty, but they aren't required too.

Kowal can deflect the blame all he wants, and he probably does have a point. NIU didn't have to drag their feet through the process of granting him his release. The NCAA didn't have to investigate this situation. But if Kowal had been completely honest in the first place, NIU likely wouldn't have had an issue with his decision to leave.

(In the initial Katz article, he wrote "Kowal said he later admitted that he wasn't as forthright about his intentions." In that same article, Katz later wrote "Northern Illinois athletic director Jeff Compher said Wednesday that the Huskies didn't have all the information from Kowal. Once it found out it was about a master's degree that NIU didn't have, it could resolve the matter quickly.")

There appears to be little doubt that Kowal is getting screwed here, and I certainly do feel bad for the kid. And while NIU definitely gets a good amount of the blame, Kowal himself is the one that initially complicated the situation. If he is truthful, then NIU isn't miffed about having a valuable piece taken from them. If NIU isn't miffed about the situation and allows Kowal to transfer, does it get any attention from me, or, more importantly, ESPN? And if this situation didn't make headlines, does the NCAA suspect tampering? Do they go poking around in Kowal's business? Does he become a toxic addition to a basketball team?

And let's be honest -- Kowal had options. He had an opportunity to play professionally for a team in Holland. Couldn't he have spent a year -- or a few years -- playing pro ball and saving up the money to pay for his education? That's what most of us average Joe's and Jane's do, right? We graduate college, work for a couple of years, and then head off to pursue a graduate degree. Am I wrong?

Like I said, I really do feel bad for Kowal. This was a golden opportunity for the young man that he never saw come to fruition. Not only does he lose his chance for a year of graduate school to be paid for, he loses his senior season of college basketball.

That sucks. Trust me. I know. I had my senior season taken away from me four games in. To say the least, its not a good feeling.

And while I can sit and bitch and complain about how I got a raw deal with the way my collegiate career ended, the bottom line is that I brought it on myself.

Just like Kowal. He may very well be getting the short end of the stick, but he's not blameless here.

He knew the rules.

And not all rules were made to be broken.

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Should the NCAA change the waivers they have in place for transfers?

On the surface, the NCAA transfer rule appear to fairly straight forward. If you decide to go from one Division I institution to another, you must sit out one season.

Its not a punishment. Its a regulation. The rule creates an incentive that's in place to prevent players from shopping their skills in between seasons.

Without this rule, a player would be able open himself up to recruitment by other teams and coaches during each and every offseason. Don't like how many minutes you're getting at Duke? Transfer. Get in a disagreement with the coaching staff at Kentucky? Transfer. When considered in combination with the four-in-five rule, which allows a player five years to exhaust their four seasons of eligibility once they play one season of collegiate athletics, it allows, at most, two transfers by any player. Even then, that player would be forced to lose a full season of competition.

But there are two ways around this rule:

• If a player receives their undergraduate degree from one university with eligibility left and wants to pursue a graduate degree at another institution that isn't offered at their current school, that player can apply for a waiver from the NCAA to be eligible immediately at the new school.


• If there are extenuating circumstances, involving anything from the illness of a close family member to financial hardships at home, then that player can apply to the NCAA for a hardship waiver that would allow them to be eligible immediately.
  

These issues have made quite a few headlines with a number of notable players of late. Sean Kowal was initially denied, and subsequently granted, his release from Northern Illinois when he tried to transfer out of the Huskies program to pursue a masters in theology. Justin Knox graduated from Alabama and was forced to run through hoops regarding where he was allowed to transfer before finally ending up at North Carolina. Eniel Polynice went to Seton Hall after finishing his degree at Ole Miss. On the football side, we all know the story of Jeremiah Masoli, who was kicked out of Oregon and initially denied clearance to play at Ole Miss before winning an appeal. Roburt Sallie tried to take this course of action when leaving Memphis, but he was unable to get himself eligible at Louisville.

Tyler Smith, who transferred from Iowa to Tennessee to be closer to his ailing father, and Elliot Williams, who went from Duke to Memphis to be near his mother who was sick, are two of the most well-known examples of players taking advantage of the NCAA's hardship waiver, while countless others -- Jordan Crawford, Herb Pope, Keon Lawrence, Matt Pilgrim, Armon Bassett, Julian Vaughn, and the list goes on -- have recently applied.

The teardrop tattoos on Tyler Smith's face are in honor of his father.
(photo credit: ESPN)

J'Mison Morgan is the latest to be granted the hardship waiver. It was announced yesterday that Morgan, who transferred out of UCLA, would be immediately eligible at Baylor because his grandmother, who is his legal guardian and the woman that raised him, has terminal cancer.

This is one situation where the NCAA gets it right. If a player legitimately wants to be able to be closer to an ailing family member that they care about -- like a parent or a grandparent or a sibling -- than I have no problem with the transfer rule being waived. Likewise, if a player legitimately is transferring in order to enroll in a graduate program that isn't offered at their current school, then I think they should be allowed to enroll without penalty.

The problem is that athletes are taking advantage of these rules. Both Polynice and Sallie were on the outs with their previous teams which forced their hands. Masoli, obviously, was kicked out of Oregon for disciplinary reasons. Many of the transfers that apply for the hardship waiver do so as a last resort. If they apply and get rejected, then they still have to sit out a season. But if they apply and come up with a good enough argument as to why they shouldn't have to sit out a season, then they are eligible immediately. There's no downside to trying.

Jay Bilas touched on this a few weeks back, and he dislikes any sort of rule that waives the one-year penalty:

There have been several recent cases in which players have essentially switched teams to pursue a degree not offered at a player's current school or to get closer to a sick immediate family member. Those players should still have to sit out a year. Nobody is stopping anyone from attending any school or transferring. The only hurdle that has to be cleared is sitting out a season. That is not too much of a burden, and it is fair. But it has to be applied to everyone across the board.

He's not alone in that sentiment. Quite a few coaches disagree with it as well.

The spirit of the rule is 100% correct. Take Kowal's case. He told Andy Katz last month he wanted to transfer to a different school because "it makes you more diverse and more marketable. I've always wanted to be a high school basketball coach, especially at my previous high school, a Jesuit school. It's a fit for me." His intent to transfer was, it seems, truly motivated by academics, and not athletics.

Sean Kowal seems to be using the NCAA's transfer waivers correctly.
(photo credit: ESPN)

Morgan's grandmother lives an easy 90 minutes drive from Baylor's Waco campus. Do you think he is going to value the chances he gets to drive back-and-forth to see her? Do you think that the opportunity for him to play in front of her on Dec. 18th, when Baylor takes on Gonzaga in Dallas, is something that is important to him?

So what is the answer?

Does the NCAA need to reevaluate how often they grant these waivers? Possibly, but reducing the number of waivers would likely result in some athletes with legitimate cases being forced to sit out, while becoming more liberal in which cases are granted a waiver would only increase the incentive for a player to transfer. If it is less likely that a player will be forced to sit out a season, its more likely that player will bolt for greener pastures.

Another option is that the NCAA could eliminate the waivers. But doing so would punish kids like Sean Kowal, true student-athletes that are utilizing athletic scholarships in order to educate themselves and avoid the mountain of student loans so many young adults are currently trying to climb. It is less of an issue with someone like J'Mison Morgan, as the standard argument against the hardship waiver is that if the player is really dealing with an issue pressing enough to necessitate a transfer, should they be spending all of their time playing basketball?

As far as I'm concerned, no changes need to be made.

Players that transfer need to understand that the rule is that they must sit out one season if they decide to transfer. If you have a legitimate argument as to why you shouldn't be forced to sit out a year, then in most cases the NCAA will grant you a waiver if you apply. If someone catches a break and receives a waiver outside of the spirit of the rules, well, good for them for exploiting a loophole. It happens all the time with the NCAA.

And if you don't receive a waiver, that sucks, but that's life.

You'll simply have to follow the NCAA's rule.

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Northern Illinois won't allow Sean Kowal to pursue a graduate degree in Theology

Sean Kowal is an example of what is right in college athletics.

The 6'11" big man originally enrolled at Colorado, but after seeing limited minutes in his one season with the Buffaloes, he transferred to Northern Illinois. After redshirting the required one season, Kowal became a very effective part-time starter for the Huskies, averaging 10 ppg and 6 rpg the last two seasons.

But Kowal is also a good enough student that he was able to earn his undergraduate degree in four years. Coming to the realization that he likely won't be playing for pay once he collegiate career comes to an end, Kowal is looking to attend graduate school for Theology.

"After I realized I was going to graduate," Kowal told KSDK in St. Louis, "I've kind of thought about life after basketball. I'm not going to sacrifice my education for basketball."

The NCAA has a rule in place that allows a player to transfer to another institution for graduate school and skip the required redshirt season as long as the program he is taking isn't offered at his current school. Northern Illinois doesn't offer Theology, so one would think that Kowal would currently be looking for a school with the right Theology program.

Except there's one problem -- NIU won't release him from his scholarship:



Now here is what I don't understand.

In an idealistic world, the reason for athletic scholarships is that kids with superb talents in a certain sport can capitalize on that talent and receive a very expensive education for free. Kowal did just that. He's a "student-athlete" by every definition of the word.

And now he wants to be able to use his talent to further his education, to help him earn a graduate degree is Theology. But since the NCAA allows NIU to "handcuff" Kowal, he is either going to have to change the course of his studies and take a graduate program offered at NIU, or he is going to have to pay out of pocket for his education.

Student loans are miserable to pay back. Kowal has an opportunity to avoid those loans and that debt and still pursue the education and the career that he wants.

NIU wont give him that opportunity.

Which is ridiculous.

NIU won't grant Sean Kowal a release.
(photo credit: NIUHuskies.com)

Now, I don't the exact details of the relationship between Kowal and NIU's head coach Ricardo Patton, but he says in the interview has had no issues with the coach or the athletics department. Which makes me wonder -- what does Patton really care about here?

Does he truly care about Patton's education? Does he want his players to pursue a fulfilling career path? Or does he see a 6'11" center that averages double figures -- those don't exactly come around too often, especially at the mid-major level -- getting ready to walk and figure that his team, and by extension his coaching ability, would be that much better with Kowal on the roster?

If Patton really cared about his players, he would be applauding Kowal. We all should be applauding Kowal. Being a college basketball player and a student is not easy. Unline baseball and football, basketball season extends through both semesters, meaning that for at least half of every class a basketball player takes in college, he is going to be dealing with road trips, practices, film sessions, weight room sessions, etc., all while handling the same course load as the kids that have to budget their time between smoking weed, getting drunk, and banging out a paper or problem set.

People bitch and they moan about the issues with one-and-done players, and how poorly Kentucky did in the class room this year, and the APR. How many times have you heard someone make some remark about how college basketball players aren't "student"-athletes?

Well, here we have a real, live, honest-to-god student-athlete. Here we have a kid that graduated from school on time, and is looking to further educate himself. Instead of rewarding that, instead of helping him, the NCAA allows rules to be in place that can feasibly make it impossible for Kowal to receive an athletic scholarship to pursue the degree he wants to pursue.

And you wonder why people think the NCAA is a farce.

If Patton had any class or any sense, he would release Kowal from his scholarship. If Kowal wants to move on with his life, if he wants to attend school elsewhere, and if there are NCAA rules in place that would allow him to receive a graduate degree for free, than Patton should allow him to leave.

Because the only person getting hurt here is the student-athlete.

Do the right thing, coach. Let Sean go.
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