On Friday evening, the NCAA came down on Jose Perez and West Virginia, denying him a waiver to play this season.
Perez is a two-time transfer, going from Gardner-Webb to Marquette, and then from Marquette to Manhattan. Perez then transferred to West Virginia right before the season started as Manhattan decided to let go of their head coach Steve Masiello days before the 2022-2023 college basketball season began.
On top of that, it has been reported that Manhattan administration “did not support the waiver,” Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported. While West Virginia is appealing the Perez decision and while Perez can still practice with the Mountaineers, Perez is getting punished in a sense for trying to do what is best for him at a time where transfers are at an all-time high.
“I did nothing but put my blood sweat tears into that college place was home and due to them firing basically a coach who took me in as his son just got no words,” Perez said on Twitter Friday. “Not going to say too much.”
The NCAA’s decision on Perez seems to put the power back in the hands of the schools, when the NCAA has been trying to give more power to the student-athletes for the last few years. While Perez seems to be an exception, it is still not the best of looks when a player leaves because his coach got fired and then is forced to sit out an entire year before he can play again because the school who fired that coach was against the player leaving.
“We are disappointed by the news that we received this afternoon from the NCAA,” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. “All of Mountaineer Basketball is hurting for Jose. We plan to appeal this decision.”
Perez will officially begin practicing with West Virginia today, Dec. 17, while he will not be eligible to suit up for West Virginia until the 2023-2024 season begins.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
