Hardly.
Every April. After coaches have been fired and hired. Assistant coaches make a move. And otherwise coaches do what they can for their career and lifestyle, transfers are not far behind. Not that the two are always related. Players also transfer for personal reasons, playing time and personality conflicts.
This year, Pitt was on both ends of the player transfer. Khem Birch, left Pitt in December and ultimately transferred to UNLV. He has to sit until January, per NCAA transfer rules. Trey Zeigler has transferred to Pitt after the firing of his coach at Eastern Michigan. He was granted a waiver by the NCAA to play right away for Pitt because the aforementioned fired coach at Eastern Michigan was also his father — and that created a reason for the waiver.
The actual reason the NCAA granted the waiver is unknown. We assume that the NCAA decided (in part, with precedent) that Zeigler suffered an additional hardship because the he could have signed with high-major programs, but chose EMU to play for his father. Coupled with the awkwardness of having to play for a coach that replaced his father.
That’s part of the problem. We don’t actually know the reason since the NCAA never gives a reason to grant or deny waivers to play right away.
