Neither Alex Galindo nor C.J. Giles is eligible to participate in Kansas University basketball games as a freshman during the 2004-05 season.
Right now, that is.
However, the two high school seniors who this week signed scholarship agreements with the Jayhawks should regain their eligibility before the summer is over.
“I’m not concerned,” said Terry Hines, KU’s associate athletic director for compliance and legal affairs.
Both Galindo and Giles had signed tenders in November with schools that subscribe to National Letter of Intent guidelines – Galindo with UTEP, Giles with Miami (Florida) – but each asked for a release after the coaches who recruited them departed.
The Collegiate Commissioners Assn., which administers the national letter of intent, granted those releases. However, the releases also stipulate that a future student-athlete must sit out a full year and lose that year of eligibility unless he files an appeal listing the extenuating circumstances.
Hines said he was familiar with the process because he just signed off on a football player who had asked for a release from a KU tender.
“The next step is to file the papers asking for a complete release,” Hines said, “and that should take about four to six weeks.”
A common misconception is the National Letter of Intent is administered by the NCAA when, in fact, the CCA runs the program.
What is the CCA?
The CCA was founded in 1964 and is governed by a steering committee. It is chaired by Mike Slive, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference who administers the program out of the SEC offices in Birmingham, Ala.
Other commissioners on the steering committee are Britton Banowsky (Conference USA), Chris Monasch (America East), Robert Vowels (Southwestern Athletic) and Thomas Yeager (Colonial Athletic).
Those are the five men who will hear the appeals Giles and Galindo will submit.
No high school athlete who has requested a waiver of the one-year penalty based on the coach who signed him leaving the program ever has been denied.
“If they’re not approved, I’m sure there will be appeals,” KU coach Bill Self said.
Self expected all five recruits to be eligible as freshmen.
“Barring something unforeseen in the second semester, all the recruits seem to be in good shape academically,” he said.
