Rutgers Dictating Transfer Options to Tom Savage is Petty and Hypocritical
By Ty Duffy
According to the Miami Herald, Rutgers has blocked Savage from speaking to Miami, Florida, Florida State and Michigan, while permitting him to pursue opportunities at marquee destinations Marshall, Western Michigan, Northern Illinois and Arizona. The blocked schools are not in the same conference as Rutgers. None have a game scheduled through 2013.
Rutgers is limiting Savage’s educational opportunities, ostensibly because it would look bad to have him succeed where someone would care. That’s petty and cruel.
Savage supposedly is a “student” and, as such, he deserves autonomy. This isn’t merely a question of where he plays football. His education and future employment prospects also are at stake. Arguing a degree from Florida is more valuable than one from Western Michigan or Northern Illinois is no stretch.
If Rutgers is releasing him from his scholarship, Savage should be free to matriculate at the university of his choosing and participate in all extracurricular activities provided for students (after sitting out for a season in accordance with NCAA rules). The average Rutgers student would not have his or her transfer options controlled in such a fashion, nor, presumably, would the average student-athlete.
Rutgers’ action is not the behavior of a university toward a student. It’s the behavior of an employer toward an employee. For a sport that shields itself with the amateur ethos, Tom Savage’s treatment is incredibly hypocritical.
[Photo via Getty]