Former Notre Dame WBB Coach Muffet McGraw Speaks On NCAA Proposal: “College Athletics is Broken”

Former Notre Dame Head Women’s Basketball coach Muffet McGraw has opened up about her thoughts on the NCAA proposal that would give student-athletes five years of eligibility from their 19th birthday or high school graduation, whichever comes first.

McGraw, a decorated coaching figure in college sports, is one of just six women’s basketball coaches to win multiple national championships, having done so with the Fighting Irish in 2001 and 2018. She spent 33 seasons with the program.

She took to X to share her thoughts on the proposal, citing potential issues with transfers, class absences, and recruiting, among others, and even stating that “college athletics is broken”.

Here is her full statement:

Giving college athletes 5 years of eligibility will only exacerbate issues with the transfer portal & NIL. If it passes, kids could be playing for 4 or 5 different schools. Graduation rates dropping are already a concern & IF they graduate they will use the 5th year to collect a paycheck and sign up for classes they will never attend. If the only reason we are looking at this is to lighten the load of NCAA staff who process waivers then surely there is another solution that doesn’t negatively impact coaches by giving players more oppty to transfer. The goal used to be to get a degree and learn some valuable life lessons along the way. Recruiting is no longer about where I can get the best education, the best fit, or how my degree will help me get a good job, now it’s a transaction. Now it’s agents and recruits saying just get to the point, don’t waste my time talking academics just tell me how much you can pay me. College athletics is broken and giving athletes 5 years of eligibility is not going to fix it.

Since stepping down as head coach at Notre Dame, McGraw has stayed in the college athletics landscape, taking a job as an analyst with the ACC. She was also a professor of Sports Leadership at the Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame.

Her argument against the new proposal heavily weighs on the college experience, the value of education, and the relationship between student-athletes and institutions, which has transformed into one that is purely transactional.

Extended eligibility requests are nothing new to the world of college athletics, as reported by Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger, more than 1,450 waiver requests for extended eligibility were submitted to the NCAA last year, with about 500 of those cases not being granted.

McGraw is also no stranger to speaking out about what she feels is injustice in college athletics, having as recently as this past January posted a statement regarding the transfer portal, asking the NCAA to “fix the transfer portal before it irreparably harms college athletics.”

That statement can be read here:

Dear NCAA,

Please fix the transfer portal before it irreparably harms college athletics. We need to return to a firm one-time transfer policy and enforce it consistently.

Seventeen- and eighteen-year-old students sometimes make decisions that, for any number of reasons, do not work out at their first school. Those student-athletes should absolutely be allowed a second chance. Likewise, athletes who earn their degree should have the opportunity to transfer and continue their careers elsewhere. A second chance allows them to make a more informed, educated decision-they know what questions to ask, what to look for, and whether a new school is truly a better fit,

However, what life skills are we teaching if athletes can repeatedly make major decisions with no consequences? At some point, accountability matters.

I understand that reverting to a one-time transfer rule will not eliminate tampering. Some coaches will always try to skirt the rules to gain an advantage. But the majority of coaches have integrity. If that is the case, then let’s implement meaningful anti-tampering rules and, more importantly, enforce real consequences for violations. A slap on the wrist is not enough.

Currently, the non-athlete transfer rate is approximately 35%, with a much smaller percentage transferring more than once. In contrast, 45- 60% of student-athletes transfer. The common argument is that if non-athletes can transfer freely, athletes should have the same right. I would argue that they already Student-athletes can transfer as often as they choose without any academic penalty-just like other students. They simply cannot compete immediately unless they sit out a year. This does not harm their ability to earn a degree; in fact, it supports it. Ensuring degree completion used to be our primary role as educators.

Another frequent argument is that if coaches can leave, players should be able to as well. But how many head coaches can you name who coached at three or four different schools within a four-year span? Still, to address this concern, a reasonable exception could be made for athletes whose head coach leaves their institution.

It is not enough for coaches and administrators to publicly acknowledge that the system is broken or to casually suggest possible fixes. The NCAA is made up of member institutions, and those institutions are responsible for proposing and voting on legislation. The NCAA cannot act unilaterally. We created this problem, and we must the ones to fix it.

Did we really think Congress was going to solve this for us?

So the question remains: who is going to step up and start proposing solutions that we can actually vote on and implement?