With spring football wrapping up around the country and the transfer portal not opening up again until January, the NCAA is cracking down on teams executing so-called "ghost transfers" before they even happen.
For those unfamiliar, a "ghost transfer" is the term invented for a player who switches rosters without ever entering his name into the portal. Dubbed here as the "Xavier Lucas Rule," the NCAA has been talking about implimenting the rule for more than six weeks now, and the Division I Cabinet passed it into law at the beginning of the month. Lucas was a Wisconsin cornerback who left for Miami last winter; when asked why he was allowed to do that, the NCAA responded at the time that it had no authority to stop a player from enrolling at one institution and enrolling at another.
The organization is now claiming that authority.
The top-line punishments for teams executing ghost transfers are a suspension of the head coach for 50 percent of his season, and a fine of 20 percent of the team's budget. The NCAA announced Wednesday that teams are expected to self-report any violations, and those who do not will see their head coach's suspension increased by 10 percent, and its fine upped to 25 percent of its budget.
If a school does not notify the NCAA within 15 days of its intent to self-apply those penalties, the enforcement staff will provide written notice of the potential violation to the school, along with a date by which the school must provide evidence demonstrating that a violation did not occur. Consequences for failing to self-impose the legislated penalties include an additional 10% suspension for the head coach and an additional 5% fine.
The obvious follow-up question is how the NCAA would know about the ghost transfer if the school never self-reports, and it's not a bad one given that the organization only learned of the tampering violation against Iowa that was announced Tuesday because of a quote the player gave to a national publication. No quote, no investigation.
However, ghost transfers are different in that a player is either in the portal, or he isn't. If a player of note switches rosters without appearing in the portal, people are going to notice -- if not the NCAA, then the media will and rival teams certainly will. And given the punishments on the table, anyone brave enough to try a ghost transfer will definitely get turned in by the competition.