Update: Arizona has confirmed that Tandy will have two years of eligibility: this season and next.
The biggest news, perhaps, of the men’s NCAA Championship season so far, was handed down on Monday, when the NCAA finally decided that South African Brad Tandy would be eligible to compete for the Arizona Wildcats this season. Tandy confirmed the ruling on Tuesday morning to SwimSwam.
That will become a massive boost for the Arizona men’s team because Tandy will be competitive at the end of March for the title of the country’s top sprinter.
When Tandy initially announced that he would transfer from Indian River State College, a Junior College, to the University of Arizona, SwimSwam was told that he would have two years of eligibility left. However, that has turned into quite a battle with the NCAA, as they debated with the University of Arizona about exactly how many years Tandy would have to swim.
Unofficial sources tell us that the discussions were centered around whether Tandy had taken a year off before first coming to the United States and/or after enrolling into a post-secondary institution, which would have started his five year clock. In the NCAA’s Division I, an athlete has five years after enrollment in ‘college’ (a flexible term) to complete their four years of eligibility, even if those five years aren’t all in an NCAA Division I institution.
Editor’s note: There are exceptions to the five year rule for military service, religious missions, and recognized foreign aid services of the U.S. Government.
All of that is now washed away, and we’ll see Tandy make his official Arizona debut at the upcoming Pac 12 Championships in Federal Way, Washington. Though he’s not swum any official NCAA races yet, he’s remained race-ready by taking on several exhibition swims with the Arizona Wildcats. That includes an 18.97 in the 50 free and 42.71 in the 100 free at the mid-season Texas Hall of Fame Invitational. In the 50, Tandy becomes one of the top three contenders for the national championship, alongside Florida’s Brad deBorde and Auburn’s Marcelo Chierighini.
What’s more, he solves in part the sprinting problem that Arizona has had this season where they’ve used a few different guys to anchor their medley relays. The focus for those medleys now becomes whether or not Giles Smith is healthy; if he is (he’s missed a few meets this semester), then the Wildcats are probably the favorites in the medleys with Mitchell Friedemann, Kevin Cordes, and Smith in front of Tandy. Specifically, that’s a healthy quartet where all four swimmers could contend for their respective national titles.
In all, it’s likely that Tandy’s addition to this Wildcat lineup for NCAA’s (technically, he still has to qualify) could have as much as a 70 or 80 point impact for Arizona.
Wow. You are all focused on such a trivial aspect of this article. Did anyone ever complain about Vlad at USC? Let’s really look at what Tandy will add to an already amazing Arizona team and that this may well catapult them to one of the top contenders at NCAA
Wow… Can’t believe the amount of xenophobia in this forum.
the athletic scholarships given to foreigners is merely a tiny drop compared to the huge income the colleges get from full fee paying foreign students.
This is hypocrisy though and through.
Allowing foreign swimmers into the NCAA raises the bar. Everyone wants their kid to be the best, but you’re only fooling yourselves if you exclude the internationals that push the Americans to be even faster.
Sure some kids are a bit older, but that’s probably because their school year ends at a different time of year than USA. So Internationals can either be half a year too old or young. Corey Main for example, a sophomore at Florida is either still 18 or freshly turned 19 after nearly two years of college.
The opportunities available in the US are so valuable to these kids, I think it would be a little selfish to deny them
I think a lot if people are confused on where scholarship money comes from. It’s separate from the taxpayer funds. It comes from the athletic programs. Schools lose scholarships when there athletic teams aren’t generating the revenue. So it’s not like you’re paying for some German dudes scholarship at a state school if you’re paying taxes.
the other issue with all the foreign swimmers is that if the foreign swim team federations pay (sometimes in state tuition) for their swimmer and it doesn’t count against the 9.9 it isn’t a level playing surface – over half of UF scoring on the Men’s side was from foreign swimmers and it would be interesting how many of their top swimmers count against the 9.9 scholarships or if they are receiving tuition funding from their home country federations – NCAA should def limit their numbers
The NCAA already has a vast number of rules and regulations. I’d rather see the best talent compete under the existing NCAA rules (or simplified) and let the chips fall as they may. If a bunch of foreign nationals win, so be it. In Tandy’s freestyle sprint specialities there are plenyy of younger American swimmers from 18 to 21 plus the equivalent aged DeBorde and Toomey to make a great challenge!
I’d like to see the fastest NCAA meet possible!
USA Swimming is always a heartbeat away from another major scandal or two, whether they are academic or sexual doesn’t really matter.
American college swimming should stay American? My guess is that you, a family member, or a very close friend thinks that he / she lost out on a scholarship to a “foreigner.” At least state why you are such a xenophobe so we know why you feel the way you do.
Swimming just isn’t about swimming; it is about team work, camaraderie, exposure to different ideas, competition, and other things. Homogeneity does swimming and academics absolutely no good. Ideas are meant to be shared, including swimming ideas.
I wonder how you would think about a college scholarship swimmer… Read more »
Let me be clearer. I think you should have to be an American citizen to attend an American College.
Well, that’s another discussion entirely. The reason the US lets foreigners attend state-funded universities (they don’t really have a choice in private schools outside disallowing visas I suppose) is in the hopes that we will lure intelligent people from all over the world to stay and add their ideas to domestic ones. And that seems to work pretty well! Many of our best American minds have been born outside of America.
This is really neither here nor there though.
No, that’s not the REAL reason why state-funded universities LOVE foreign students, its because they have to FULL STICKER PRICE for their tuition, unless of course, they are receiving athletic scholarship dollars to offset that amount.
They do not qualify for US Federal Student aid in any form, nor can they apply for or receive any Federally backed student loan money. Again, they pay full sticker price for that fancy US collegiate education.
There was a scandal involving the UC schools (that’s University of California for the uninformed) several years ago involving a leaked memo from a high ranking UC official ordering admissions departments to “admit” and “approve” a higher number of foreign students (at the expense of in-state students)… Read more »
I’m not saying why the universities like foreigners or not – like it or not, higher education is a business and they have to make money somehow.
I’m saying why the United States has visas for higher education, period. Or at least why the program was started.
I feel sorry for people whose knee-jerk reactions are always to the negative side of something.
Based on that logic, you will never work for Sony, drive a Mercedes or have anything to do with any other foreign national country that has woven itself into the everyday life of our society.
We are a global society and being exposed to the pros and cons of other cultures in a collegiate environment is beneficial to life beyond.
Have fun drivng a Ford and drinking your Bud!
I meant they should not be able to have athletic scholarships. Plus, I’m not even old enough to drink, so i don’t know what you are trying to imply there.
I don’t know what you’re tryin o say there buddy..LOVE my F 150 and I love Bud…
And Bud (Anheuser Busch) is now owned by a Belgian conglomerate! Guess you’re down to PBR.
hey joe! just so u know, I was married to a foreigner for 20 years. my sons have duel citizenship. they attended a high school with the most famous swim program, whose coach is a foreigner and the team is loaded with foreigners…..and I love all of them! I just feel some colleges go overboard recruiting foreigners and there should be a limit on it. with higher education becoming so expensive, give a few more American kids a break! u of texas is a great example of recruiting American.
Foreigners: BAD
USRPT: BAD
Dr. Salo: BAD
Florida/Troy: BAD
AG Swims of the Week: BAD
Cordes Breaststroke: BAD
Stanford (if you like Cal): BAD
Cal (if you like Stanford): BAD
Carmel Swim Club/HS: BAD
Randy Reese: BAD
Lots of bitching and moaning lately on the site. It’s getting stupid.
Hulk- SMASH!!!!!!!
You forgot Michael Andrew and Katie Ledecky swimming fast.
Michael Andrew yes, but I never read any bitching about Ledecky swimming fast.