The NCAA provides eligibility extensions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NCAA adopts a one-time transfer rule, allowing athletes to transfer once with immediate eligibility in Division I football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s ice hockey and baseball. The NCAA eliminates transfer limits, allowing athletes to transfer multiple times and remain immediately eligible. 2020 2021 2024 ← Oregon State Hall-of-Fame pitcher Tarrah Beyster now runs Beyster Elite Softball Traning in southeast Michagan. ↑ Larry Bumpus played as a Beaver defensive back in the mid1990s. aren’t the right fit, or being offered name, image and likeness (NIL) payments that are just too big to turn down. “When you talk about the money portion, it’s a hard one,” Radford said.“How can you advise a broke teenager not to take $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 — whatever? It’s unfathomable to me to tell them not to. It would be an injustice. Most of them aren’t going to play pro and the opportunity to make this kind of money may disappear.” Casey Bunn-Wilson, ’07, known as Casey Nash when she led the Pac-10 in scoring during the 2006-07 women’s basketball season, agrees. “The ones that are transferring for NIL money — it’s life changing,” she said. Still, student-athletes’ newfound freedom can be a mixed blessing. Some athletics alumni say they hate to see players miss out on benefits that don’t come with dollar signs — from identifying with something bigger than themselves to lifetime bonds with teammates, coaches and a community of fans. Tarrah Beyster, ’01, coached NCAA Division I softball for 12 years; now the Oregon State Hallof-Fame pitcher runs Beyster Elite Softball Training in southeast Michigan. Her coaching includes advising high school student-athletes on how to choose a college or university. She presents one consideration in a TikTok video: If a broken leg or another medical issue ends your athletic career — if you become a “student” rather than “student- athlete” — would you still want to be at your school? She emphasizes a sense of community and comfort with the campus as key to that. What Beyster thinks is important to high school seniors could benefit college seniors as well. “I think you have this sense of, this is my home field, this is my hometown, this is my community, this is where I play,” said Beyster, who played at OSU from 1997-2000. “You’re not a stranger walking to your field or your practice field or even your weight room or indoor facility.” Larry Bumpus, ’01, a defensive back on Beaver football teams from 1994-97, believes players should have career mobility equal to coaches’.“But on the other hand, I really think there’s a lot of things being lost if you transfer,” Bumpus said. “The stick-to-it-iveness, the competitiveness — trying to stick it out and get better to win a job and be loyal to a school. … If you’re hopping around … you’re just kind of a nomad; you’re everywhere and nowhere at once.” Mark Radford arrived at OSU in the fall of 1977, part of a men’s basketball recruiting class that included Ray Blume, Jeff Stoutt and Bill McShane; Steve Johnson, a year older, played with that group for its final three seasons after missing a season due to injury. In their senior season of 1980- 81, they were ranked No. 1 in the nation most of the winter. “We played so much together we knew what each other was going to do,” Radford said. “Everything was second nature.” Spending four years in head coach Ralph Miller’s regimented system also gave them a role in sustaining OSU’s success: “We would groom the next teams,” Radford said. “Then when we left, they could carry the torch.” Miller was a stern taskmaster. “We were the fortunate few that were willing to stay and to put up with a lot,” LARRY BUMPUS OSU FOOTBALL, 1994 - 1997 35 COVID: CDC/UNSPLASH; FOOTBALL: DENIS ROZHNOVSKY/ADOBE; CAPS: DMITRY KROPACHEV/UNSPLASH
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