Photo by Jacob Noger - UK Football
If you are trying to figure out what might be going on with the transfer waiver request that Kentucky quarterback Joey Gatewood asked the Southeastern Conference for, then what SEC commissioner Greg Sankey might not do anything but confuse you even more. Gatewood transferred from Auburn — the team UK plays Saturday — to Kentucky. Apparently the NCAA has okayed they transfer waiver but it still needs SEC approval.
Speculation is it might come next week after the UK-Auburn game, but it’s pretty obvious from Sankey said on the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday that this is a touchy subject for him.
Enjoy what Sankey had to say and if you can figure it all out, post your comments to help me understand.
Q. There’s obviously been a lot of talk about the transfers, and I know you clarified some things this morning on radio in Birmingham as far as the two stipulations that allow for immediate eligibility. If a school approves a guy or is there a relief that the school that the player comes from, does that increase the chances or allow for a different interpretation, and what are your thoughts about how this rule could be interpreted amid this environment where no one’s eligibility clock is technically on this season?
GREG SANKEY: I think there are probably three or four questions in there, so I’ll probably miss some and I’ll deal with some. One, just because there are real issues in front of us now — I’ve always been careful that I don’t address specific waiver requests. That’s just not appropriate. That just has to be understood.
The rule can be accessed pretty easily on our website through our manual. I don’t know where we put the manual, but if you want to search I’ve always been able to find it for myself through Google to read. Also the ability for waivers to be granted outside what the specific rule may read. But those have always been really limited.
I also said this morning it is interesting that we rely upon waiver requests rather than changing rules, and we made two adjustments that I referenced in 2018, one related to grad transfers because we saw the culture change and had to deal with waivers, which we could do so at that point. Now it’s simply an exception to the rule. And then those who have postseason bans, a student-athlete choosing to leave would have the freedom to do so within the conference.
There are a set of NCAA bylaws referenced in there that get into the level of gibberish that I won’t bore you with, so I observed this morning and would observe again, rule changes are always available to our membership, and we as a staff support that process. We’ve identified issues. We’re going to see a change. We expect the NCAA rules come January around transfers, and all of that creates to an environment along with your questions about kind of what’s happened with COVID and eligibility that didn’t result yet in a change to that particular bylaw.
Q. The athletes that are waiting on the SEC to learn their waiver fate, do you expect they’ll get a ruling before the season begins?
GREG SANKEY: As I said earlier, I’m careful not to talk about specific waiver circumstances. That would be in that category, that question.
Q. Can you offer any general timeline of how long it normally takes the SEC once the ball is in the SEC’s court to rule on a waiver?
GREG SANKEY: We work to move through matters efficiently, but there’s always been variance.
Q. As the commissioner of the SEC, have you granted any waivers of student-athletes transferring from one SEC school to another SEC school?
GREG SANKEY: Ever is a long time. Again, they get fact specific, so have waivers been granted? I’m certain one can just go find those pretty quickly through a search, and those will speak for themselves. But as I indicated earlier, I don’t speak to the specifics of waiver requests.
Q. But I just didn’t know if you as the commissioner had granted any waivers.
GREG SANKEY: Yeah, I think you could probably go find those, waivers and denials. There are two sides to every coin.
