Efforts to get basketball player RaeQuan Battle a transfer waiver so he can play for West Virginia University continue.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey sent a letter Tuesday to the NCAA, urging officials to reverse their decision and grant Battle the opportunity to play. He said the waiver denial “was wrong.”
Battle played for two years at the University of Washington and two years at Montana State University. Student athletes are allowed to transfer once to another school and play immediately.
According to the NCAA’s website, if a student wants to transfer to a third four-year school, the transfer is allowed, but with a penalty of sitting out a year. The athlete will not play and possibly not practice with the team for an entire year.
The rejection of Battle’s “year-in-residence” waiver “conflicts with the NCAA’s own guidelines and principles,” Morrisey wrote. His letter also encouraged the NCAA to take immediate steps to implement a more appropriate system for regulating student-athlete transfers.
“There are many exceptions to NCAA’s transfer regulation yet the NCAA failed to consider the circumstances unique to RaeQuan,” Morrisey said. “Real issues are at stake here for the citizens of West Virginia, and they implicate my duties as the state’s chief antitrust officer.”
The Attorney General is asking the NCAA to respond to the letter by Nov. 6.
Battle’s unique circumstances centered around him growing up on the Tulalip Tribes reservation in Washington state and experiencing the many challenges his life presented, including losing a loved one to suicide and a school shooting that killed four of his classmates.
Gov. Jim Justice also indicated in an administration briefing that he would also write a letter to the NCAA.
Read a copy of Morrisey’s letter: https://bit.ly/3QlJ5XJ.