How do redshirts factor in to that? Could a kid play 2 years, transfer and sit/keep the year, then redshirt, then play 2 more years? That's 6 years of college. By the 6th year, if they don't have one already, they should be very close to having an undergrad and a graduate degree. Most kids should be able to graduate in 4-5 years. If you give them a sixth year, they better have a great GPA and are enrolled in grad school. I don't have a problem with the players who "transfer up" since many "transfer down" too. There are all sorts of recruiting violations occurring at every level. Limiting the freedom of the players, IMO, is not the way you crack down on it. Making it extremely expensive for the coaches and the schools who get caught is how you crack down. A coach/school caught being fined in the hundreds of thousands/millions (respectively) will put a quell on the 20,000 cash payments. Holding a school responsible for the behavior of boosters will too. A booster who donates $1 million to a school, then gets caught handing $20k to a player, isn't going to be happy when his $1 million donation to the school gets paid to the NCAA once, twice, or three times over for his violations.
The debate isn't whether or not their should be consequences to transferring. It's about what those consequences should be. Of course they have to weigh the options. What happens when you commit to Dana Holgerson who is entering his first year as coach, and before the bowl game in your freshman year he is already gone to another school? Why should you be forced to sit a season? How can you assume they didn't think the decision completely through? What if you have two schools completely equal on your list of pros and cons, and the tie-breaker is the head coach. Then he leaves. You can research, study, think, pray, etc, etc, but you'll never know if you made the right decision or not until you actually make the decision.
Um, thanks? We're debating the way the rules are set up, and whether or not they are fair, but thanks for the reminder, I guess.
