Dennis Gates cites COVID-19 pandemic as turning point for eligibility rules in NCAA

With the NCAA’s eligibility rules back at the forefront, Missouri coach Dennis Gates provided a detailed assessment of the landscape on Friday. But he also cited a turning point: the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, seasons ended, and the NCAA gave a blanket waiver for the 2020-21 campaign for an extra year of eligibility across all sports. That brought the “COVID years” to college athletics as some athletes received a fifth season as a result.

But in light of a judge’s order granting Charles Bediako immediate eligibility, Gates said the landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. Specifically with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said it changed the way athletes received additional seasons at the college level.

“I think it’s important to look at the opportunities that you have,” Gates said Friday. “We’re no longer in an era where your eligibility is measured by age, seasons of competition, date of high school graduation, even the number of years enrolled in college. So those markers, which were once reinforced, they defined the identity of the student-athlete. That identity is changing, and it has always changed. There’s just a new number and there was an event that took place over the mass identity, which was COVID. COVID changed, single-handedly, the identity of a student-athlete. It was a virus that took place, a pandemic that took place.

“It wasn’t the health of a kid tearing an ACL, which was traditional. Get an extra year. It wasn’t a kid going to prep school the traditional way, getting an extra year. It simply is what it is. They now function more as formalities than safeguards, is what it is. We’re in changing times. That’s all it is. We’ll get to the other side of it. Sometimes, things have to seem worse before advocacy and changes and leadership takes place.”

Bediako previously played at Alabama from 2021-23 before declaring for the NBA Draft. He went undrafted and has since spent time in the G-League, most recently playing for the Motor City Cruise Jan. 17. Additionally, Bediako signed a two-way contract with the Spurs in 2023.

Bediako filed a lawsuit arguing for another year of eligibility this week, and a judge granted a temporary restraining order to make him eligible immediately. He is able to suit up for Alabama during Saturday’s game against Tennessee. A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

The Bediako ruling is the latest eligibility decision involving a former NBA G-League player. Former draft selection James Nnaji received immediate eligibility at Baylor last month, though he never signed an NBA contract or had previously played college basketball. In that case, the NCAA made the decision, while Bediako’s came via a court ruling.

Dennis Gates shares ‘biggest question’ about current landscape

With regard to players playing college basketball after signing professional contracts, Dennis Gates said he’s seen similar situations before. But NIL also creates a new dynamic in the current landscape.

“I’ve had college teammates … who signed professional contracts before, and they signed them. They just happened to be with FIBA,” Gates said. “That’s all. And between now and then, some of these contracts have never surfaced. Some of these contracts, you could not ever get a hold of because there was no collaboration with FIBA and the NCAA. Even as a coach, I’ve coached kids who signed professional contracts in other sports. It’s what it is.

“Ultimately, they’re getting paid like professionals. So now, the question that we have to ask ourself is, is name, image and likeness compensation … it expands the transfer freedom, medical redshirts, pandemic-era eligibility. Different things like that. It creates a system where the athletic participation is no longer connected to academic progress. That’s the biggest question that a lot of people have.”