Tweed-Kent's losing battle with the NCAA

After a drawn-out 18-month appeals process, Chris Tweed-Kent received the final word on his collegiate playing career. The NCAA had again denied him the opportunity to play a fourth season for the Blue Devils.

Having already postponed his pursuit of being selected in the MLS SuperDraft, the 5-foot-9 midfielder learned in June that he would not be able to play in the 2012 campaign for Duke on account of a bylaw that counted club sport participation toward a year of eligibility. Without a team to play for, the two-time ACC assists leader decided to return to Durham this fall, taking a spot with the team as a coach instead.

“After the initial shock of the decision, we were all terribly disappointed,” head coach John Kerr said. “We felt terribly for him because his dream was taken out [from] underneath him and from then on, he’s been real professional and continued to say, ‘you know, sometimes in life things don’t go your way, but let’s make the best of the next possibility that you have.’”

The NCAA had rejected two prior appeals from Chris and his twin brother Dan, who also walked-on after playing club. And the Tweed-Kents were not the only walk-ons denied a fourth year due to the club sports rule. Virginia midfielder Ari Dimas was barred from playing this September due to the same law.

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas has been an outspoken critic of the NCAA’s stringent rules, even tweeting about the strife of these soccer players.

“They’re outstanding students,” said Jay Bilas, a former Duke basketball player and Duke Law graduate. “They’re everything that college sports says it’s supposed to be… but because most people don’t pay attention to this, and it’s not affecting the public consumption of the sport, most people don’t care. But if they did know, they would laugh at the ridiculousness of the NCAA and the rigidity and lack of common sense being used here.”

Four years ago, it seemed as if Chris and his twin brother Dan might not even get an opportunity to play for Duke’s varsity soccer team. Coming from the small town of Pittsfield, Mass., neither was recruited by the University, and after failing to get a fall tryout with the varsity squad, the brothers decided to play club soccer.

“It’s just that’s all I had,” Chris said.

According to a June 24, 2009 NCAA bylaw, participation in any club sport in which the institution also has an NCAA program counts as a year of eligibility. “From my understanding, they had issues with some club sports, with coaches recruiting several kids, putting them into club programs as farm programs and then having them come up,” Chris said.

Still, the Duke coaching staff and the Tweed-Kents felt they had good case at appealing for an exception, Chris said, and submitted their first appeal in January 2011.

“We appealed originally… on the grounds that a year of club soccer should not count as a year of varsity, especially in the case where the individual was not recruited by the university,” Dan said. “In addition, the rule was not actually in the rulebook as an official rule until after.”

That March, the players heard back, learning that the NCAA had lost their appeal and needed them to resubmit, according to Chris.

Then, in June 2011, they received the initial denial of their appeal. In response to the Tweed-Kents’ argument that the 2009 rule had been applied ex-post facto, the NCAA pointed to an interpretation of a 1987 rule—which the players had no way of knowing about—as the basis for denying eligibility.

The Tweed-Kents re-appealed, but with eligibility looking unlikely, Chris worked on an alternative plan. With hopes of participating in the MLS combine and getting drafted in January, the senior loaded up on his Fall courses.

While finishing third in the nation in assists on the pitch, Chris took five classes—including three labs and an engineering capstone at N.C. State.

“Pratt was absolutely phenomenal with working to allow me to speed up the requirements,” Chris said. “Typically engineers are pretty stressed for time and it’s difficult to fit things in… but they were more than willing to do everything possible to make it work.”

Although they received another denial that October, Duke chose to reopen the case with additional information on the suggestion of NCAA Vice President of Academic and Membership Affairs Kevin Lennon, according to Chris. Additionally, the players were informed that the bylaw might change in a spring 2012 overhaul of the rulebook.

With the possibility of gaining the year of eligibility back on the table, Chris met with his family and coaches to reconsider his professional plans. Even though Dan had ruled out returning to Duke due to an ACL injury, Chris made the decision to forego the MLS SuperDraft and return to the Blue Devils.

“Because I had already developed so much over these last three years... we decided it was best for me to stay, and I wanted to stay, and at that point it seemed that there was a very good chance that we were going to get eligibility,” Chris said.

Six months later, after not hearing any updates about the rulebook overhaul, Chris was again denied eligibility.

“In the case of non-recruited student-athletes, there is not an exception to this rule because of the possibility of a feeder system,” said Kayci Woodley, an NCAA media relations intern, in an Oct. 26 email to The Chronicle. “Coaches could tell non-recruits [or] would-be walk-ons to participate on the club team until they are asked to play varsity, which the membership has not been willing to allow.”

Despite the hope for a change in the rule, the NCAA had not amended the bylaw for non-recruited athletes. And when bringing up the argument that Chris could have played eight non-regular season varsity games—as well as trained with the varsity team for the entire fall—and still not lost eligibility, he was told by Lennon that they were “apples and oranges.”

“There are mixed messages sent all the time,” Bilas said. “You can call the NCAA five different times and get five different answers on the same question, so that’s not shocking to me. It just adds another layer to how laughable this whole matter is.”

Having foregone the MLS draft, Chris was now entirely without a team.

With the help of Kerr, Chris attempted to earn a roster spot during the MLS transfer window immediately after receiving the news, but was not signed in the more competitive summer period.

“He wasn’t really sure what he was going to do,” Dan said. “He was thinking about training abroad. He was offered to train at a few different places—some professional teams just to train.”

In limbo after the NCAA ruling, Chris received an offer from the Blue Devil coaching staff to return to the team as an undergraduate assistant coach for the upcoming season.

Chris accepted the opportunity and returned to campus. Taking classes and training with the varsity squad, the fifth-year senior, now a coach, has taken on a film analysis role that may help him in his soccer future.

“When you watch other players do the same thing and how they progress, you understand the concept a lot better,” Chris said. “There are things that I maybe took for granted as a player that I maybe don’t take for granted anymore. I see the game in a more holistic sense.”

As the season draws to a close, Chris will look to utilize his coaching experience in the next stage of his soccer career. Although the NCAA effectively ended his amateur career, Chris said he hopes to participate in the MLS combine in January with the goal of getting drafted or signed during the preseason.

“[His] future’s bright,” Kerr said. “He’s a dedicated, determined young man in so many facets of his life, and I feel that he has a big future in the game of professional soccer if he wants it. But luckily for him he has other options going forward, and I know he’s going to make a major contribution to anything he does on or off the field.”