Allow me to make one thing clear: I don’t think student athletes should have the opportunity to avoid punishment just by switching schools. It makes zero sense to watch a player misbehave, get kicked off their respective team and then still allow him to play football that same year for another program.

However, had the NCAA Division I Subcommittee for Legislative Relief not clear former Oregon Duck and now current Ole’ Miss Rebel Jeremiah Masoli to play this season, then they would have been hypocrites.

Masoli has mucked up every opportunity he’s been given so far and quite frankly, didn’t deserve another chance. He was suspended by Oregon for stealing from a frat house in January following the Ducks loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and then was kicked off the team months later after receiving a citation for marijuana possession.

But because he switched schools, now he’s allowed to play this season. That’s not right, which is why the NCAA had denied his waiver claim earlier this week. Simply put, players shouldn’t be allowed to transfer and leave their issues behind them.

That said, the NCAA can’t allow players like Ryan Perriloux (LSU) and Darius Barksdale (Ole Miss) to get kicked off their respective teams and then play for Jacksonville State (at separate times, mind you) that same year and not allow Masoli to play for Ole Miss. It’s hypocritical, even if Jacksonville State is a much smaller program than Mississippi. (The size of the school shouldn’t have anything to do with the NCAA picking and choosing whom its rules should apply to.)

Thus, the NCAA essentially got it right by getting it wrong the first time. They should have enforced the rule with Perriloux and Barksdale (and those are just two players who transferred from their problems – how many more were there?) and then it could have stuck to its guns with Masoli.

As with most things, the NCAA screwed the pooch.