West Virginia University recently announced that TyQuane Goard, dismissed from Marshall’s men’s basketball team for team rule violations in October 2014, would join the Mountaineer men’s basketball team for the 2015-16 season. Plenty of folks reported the arrival, and at least one mentioned that Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni “reportedly” blocked Goard’s transfer to WVU, a claim that has been made since June.
A coach blocking a transfer for a player he kicked off the team? That doesn’t exactly add up. So I called Marshall to see if it, in fact, happened. A Marshall spokesman told me that, according to the university’s compliance department, not only did Marshall not block the transfer, but it gave WVU permission to contact Goard beginning April 24, 2015.
But it’s all a moot point now, anyway, because Goard’s officially a Mountaineer and WVU gets an athletic 6-foot-7 guy who can help in the post and do some damage from the wing, too. Could make this year’s Capital Classic a little spicier, though.
(I also was curious whether a university was even allowed to block the transfer of a student-athlete it already had dismissed from the team. I sent an inquiry to the NCAA, and if I hear back, I’ll update everyone right here.)
