Baker had just walked through the 2023 lawsuit, brought after the NCAA told a player transferring for the third time in three years to catch up academically first, that produced today's unlimited transfer rule. Asked whether the NCAA is in better shape than when he arrived, he pointed at the athletes. His examples are the loss of team continuity and players getting pressured about next season two or three weeks into this one.
So do you guys know the history of how we ended up with that transfer rule?
No, sir.
…times you transfer, the less likely you are to graduate in four or five years. But right now, that's the federal standing that we all have to operate under. And it's one of the things that gets fixed in the Protect College Sports Act, which is it goes back to the transfer once, play right away. Transfer again, it's got to be and play right away. It's got to be because something happened. But I talk to kids all the time, and I very rarely talk to kids who think the current environment is good for them. Because the inability to create culture and continuity or to know who you're going to be playing with next year is a problem. But the other thing that's a problem is you have so many kids who have pressure on them. Literally, you know, two, three weeks into the season, they got people starting to gnaw on their ankle about where are you going to play next year. And I've talked to plenty of…
For you, Charlie, having only been at the position for three years, do you see the NCAA in a better place now than right before you started this job?
Well, I mean, we have taken all kinds of legal liability off the books. And we're paying for it. We did figure out. Way to do rev share, which was really important to me. We did figure out a way to create core guarantees and post-eligibility health insurance. We have been a pretty significant voice…
I'm from the South, and I know, right, and we all are: Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, football is a religion. And if I have the alum that's the judge on a certain case, and my quarterback is Trinidad Chambliss, and I want him to come back for another year, and I can control it, he's going to get…