Alabama, ranked No. 3 in the preseason in 2000, stumbled through a difficult season, then lost four key players in an even more trying offseason. They included the team's top pitcher, righthander Scott Murphy, a potential first-round pick in 2001. According to some of the nation's coaches, the situation is not likely to change, either. Free agency has come to college baseball, for better or for worse, and it's not going away. Coaches In Control For coaches like Gillespie and Polk, it's just too easy for a player to transfer.
Players come to the coach's office or call when the season is over and ask for their release.
For the most part, coaches give the release, Polk said, because few players have a full scholarship. Stanford assistant coach Dean Stotz, an outspoken critic of the transfer rule, acknowledged Polk's point, but his contention with the process goes deeper. What I'm afraid of is when a player goes to a smaller school or a program in a mid-major conference and has a good year, the bigger schools swoop in and recruit him and get him to transfer. Obviously, Martin disagrees with Polk. The Florida State coach was clearly troubled by Smith's departure, prompted by the hard-throwing lefthander's desire to pitch more.