The NCAA this week denied a medical hardship waiver that would have allowed incoming Virginia Tech transfer Brock Hoffman to be immediately eligible. Setting aside the fact that transfer restrictions on the whole are a joke, this case feels especially egregious, as even within the NCAA’s twisted logic, Hoffman should really meet the requirements.
Hoffman, an offensive lineman who spent the first part of his career at Coastal Carolina, transferred to Virginia Tech in large part to be near his mother as she recovers from surgery to remove a brain tumor. The particulars of the situation are very frustrating even from afar; it’s impossible to judge how frustrating they must be to Hoffman and his family. We know details thanks in large part to Mike Nizolek’s piece in The Roanoke Times, an article that served as the basis for Scott Van Pelt’s very effective dive into the case last night on SportsCenter.
I have your back, 76.
Tonight's One Big Thing. https://t.co/3QmIWcJ4N9
— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) August 28, 2019
Van Pelt’s One Big Thing segment is always worth watching, perhaps never more so than when he turns the focus on sports injustice. This certainly qualifies, and Van Pelt didn’t hold back.
The irony is they could have applied because Brock’s coach who recruited him at Coastal stepped down in January, but they chose the medical hardship route because, well, if your mom is recovering from a brain tumor, isn’t that what this is?
Nope. Sorry.
Look, I understand every case is unique. I don’t know why some transfers get approved and this one didn’t. Maybe the NCAA could explain it in a way that might make some sense to me.
Nope. Sorry.
The whole thing is just so impossibly dumb that it’s hard to imagine the NCAA doesn’t succumb to the outcry and make it right. They’re the ones in charge, after all, it’s not like their hands are tied. Then again, it’s the NCAA. Common sense and the right thing aren’t exactly central tenets of the organization.
