Kelly Brooks, a director of academic and membership affairs with the NCAA who oversees the legislative relief staff gave some background on these waivers. This waiver is designed for athletes who have not been kicked off the team for academic or disciplinary reasons. That would be within the control of the student-athlete. Athletic performance is not considered within the athlete’s control, whether the team is oversigned, the athlete was “recruited over”, or the coach misevaluated the athlete and they do not meet the standards of the program.
The guidelines do not differentiate between different reasons why an athlete was cut from the team, so long as it was not within the athlete’s control. To that end, the NCAA will ask the previous institution what the athlete’s status was when they were told they no longer could participate. Participation is the critical point, not the athlete’s scholarship. An athlete who has their scholarship cut but still has a spot on the team would not get relief under these guidelines.
Despite having a relatively low bar compared to some other waivers and the number of athletes who transfer because they were cut from the team, these waivers are rare. The reason, according to Brooks, is that few coaches and athletic departments are willing to go on record that they cut or ran off a student-athlete who had no disciplinary or academic problems. Some will respond by agreeing to support the waiver, but will not admit to the conversation where the athlete was run off, which makes meeting the first requirement difficult.
This is not some Holy Grail that lets all or even most athletes transfer and play immediately in sports like football and basketball. But it does soften the blow for athletes who find themselves out of a team due to oversigning, over recruiting, or a coaching change. The only thing needed is for coaches who cut players for athletic reasons to be willing to stand by that decision, especially considering how valuable it can be to the student-athlete.