Could NCAA transfer proposal stabilize coaching profession?

While leery in general about the NCAA's transfer rules being further relaxed, USF first-year men's basketball coach Brian Gregory seems receptive to a new proposal gaining traction.

The proposal — obtained by CBS Sports — would allow athletes to leave their school if their coach departs. Those athletes would be immediately eligible without sitting out a year, as they must do under current rules. They could not, however, follow their coach to the new school.

The proposal would also allow athletes to transfer if their school receives postseason sanctions.

While calling broad-stroke transfer reform a "slippery slope," Gregory suggested Tuesday this latest transfer proposal might stabilize the coaching profession.

"I think the two things you would see in that is that one, the buyouts for coaches would be maybe a lot more…so if you left, there would be a significant monetary penalty for leaving on the coach's end," Gregory said.

"And maybe coaches would be given another year or two as they try to build the thing up, and maybe wouldn't be fired as quickly. Because what (the transfer proposal) could do is decimate a program. We had to sign nine guys in the spring."

Six Bulls players transferred shortly after the end of the 2016-17 season, during which Coach Orlando Antigua was fired. A seventh member of that team, F Tulio Da Silva, recently left the program.

Only two of those players — graduate transfers Geno Thorpe (Syracuse) and Bo Zeigler (George Washington) — were eligible this season, and Thorpe already has departed Syracuse's program.

"And I think those guys…all went to good places and will be successful," Gregory said. "Like in any problem, if you just throw one blanket statement like, 'This is what we're gonna do,' there's a lot of other things that come into play on that."