Alvarez can’t have another year…can he ?

[Cornell Kevin]

Looking at his wrestle stat, and looking at the current rules for red shirt/med shirt and covid year, I don’t see this happening. 

2020- Freshman

2021 - Sophomore 

2022- Still a sophomore because of free covid year in 2021. 

2023- Still a sophomore because of a medical shirt taken in 2022.

2024- Junior 

2025- Senior 

* He never took a red shirt but you can’t use red shirts retroactively.  Even if you could, he would not qualify for a red shirt in 2020, 2023, 2024, or 2025 due to the fact that he wrestled in duals each of those years. 

* Some said that he was trying to retroactively get approved for a medical shirt. The rules say that it needs to be done in a timely manner although that is quite vague. What is not too vague, is the rules that state it needs to be a season ending injury in the first half of the season. You also cannot have wrestled in more than 30% of teams matches. The only seasons that he could be trying to get a med shirt for would be 2023, or 2024. In 2023 he wrestled in much more than 30% of his teams matches, having wrestled in 8 of their duals plus Midlands.  In 2024, he went way past the half way point of the season having  wrestled in a dual meet every week of January with his last one coming on January 27, just 5 weeks prior to conferences.  2020 he wrestled at Big Tens…2021 was the free covid year so you can’t be awarded an extra year that never counted, 2022 he used a medical shirt, and 2025 he AA’d.  So unless they completely disregard the rules for 2023 or 2024, he does not qualify for a medical shirt. 

* I argued with this knuckle head on facebook for far too long in regards to this last point He argued that he could get a red shirt year for 2021.  No he can’t. 1- It was the covid year.  The covid year was just the year 2021 not counting against ones eligibility. It was not a free year that you use whenever you please  2- He was not a first semester freshman in 2021 and he wrested in duals   so no soup for you 

So does anyone have a clue on how in the world they think he is going to have another year??

 

Another way to visualize it  is he wrestled 6 years and never did he use a red shirt in this time 

He had 1 medical shirt year 2022 (1/6)

He had 1 free covid year 2021 (2/6)

He had 4 seasons of wrestling 

2020-2023-2024-2025 (6/6)

 

[1032004]

Seems plausible he could get one for 2023 if they’re being more lenient now, he only wrestled once in January or later.

I do appreciate your insight and agree with most of your takes, but aren’t you the guy that claimed Yianni could have had another year if he transferred somewhere else?  (He couldn’t have)

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

He should try the Tyler Brennan approach...it almost worked.

[cowcards]

As of this moment, he doesn't. But with all the lawsuits and whatnot with regards to eligibility right now you are seeing people put their name in the portal with no eligibility so they can move if they end up more. Lack of eligibility doesn't prevent you from putting your name in the portal.

[Wildcat92]

Time to move on with his life

[GimJustafan]

24 minutes ago, Wildcat92 said:

Time to move on with his life

agreed 

[1032004]

2 hours ago, Wildcat92 said:

Time to move on with his life

 

1 hour ago, GimJustafan said:

agreed 

Last year was literally his first NCAA tournament.   I know he may have gotten beat out at least one year and was having weight issues at one point, but he also had the 2020 tourney taken from him, and was seemingly injured at least one maybe more of the other years.  

I have less of a problem with him getting another tournament than anyone getting 5.

[boconnell]

52 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

 

Last year was literally his first NCAA tournament.   I know he may have gotten beat out at least one year and was having weight issues at one point, but he also had the 2020 tourney taken from him, and was seemingly injured at least one maybe more of the other years.  

I have less of a problem with him getting another tournament than anyone getting 5.

I don't get this at all.

You think it should be more about whether you were good enough to start 4 times?  More eligibility for guys who weren't good and less for guys who were good enough to start?

[1032004]

35 minutes ago, boconnell said:

I don't get this at all.

You think it should be more about whether you were good enough to start 4 times?  More eligibility for guys who weren't good and less for guys who were good enough to start?

That was more talking about people commenting that “he should move on.” I’d want a wrestler that already competed in 4 NCAA tournaments to move on more than someone that just competed in their first.  

As far as the rules go, at the end of the day it’s gonna come down to if that 2023 season can count as a medical.   Technically it shouldn’t, but it’s probably not that far off.  He would appear to have a better case than AJ Ferrari from 2022.

[Cornell Kevin]

8 hours ago, 1032004 said:

Seems plausible he could get one for 2023 if they’re being more lenient now, he only wrestled once in January or later.

I do appreciate your insight and agree with most of your takes, but aren’t you the guy that claimed Yianni could have had another year if he transferred somewhere else?  (He couldn’t have)

I was absolutely wrong in the sense of him transferring somewhere at the end of his career.  At the time I misunderstood the entire covid year being something that didn’t count on your eligibility rather than an “extra year” which it vaguely says in the NCAA rules.  At the time I was just going by what the rules said apparently talking it too literal . Yep that was me though.  He would have had to transfer prior to the start of the 2021 season rather than stay with Cornell and take his second Olympic shirt  If he was to get 5 cracks at ncaas that is. 

 

 

As far as 2023, He may make the cut off date but he did wrestle in much more than 30% of his teams matches having  wrestled in 8 duals 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 07:00 PM by Cornell Kevin

[Cornell Kevin]

I in no way think that AJ should or will get a medical shirt.  I do wish that they would be more distinct when writing the ncaa rules. It says that it needs to be filed “in a timely manner.”. Now clearly AJ (and Alvarez if this is what they are going for) is not in a timely manner but who is to say what exactly that is. 

Another thing with medical shirts is how they define 2 of the 3 major stipulations. 
1- can’t be passed the midway point of season..ok when exactly is that?  Are you referring to midway point competition wise, because teams start competing on all different dates.  Or is it midway season from when they start practicing?  Either way 1/27 has to be passed that point for Alvarez in 2024.  

2- Cannot have competed in more than 30% of team’s matches.  What the heck does that even mean ?  Are we speaking of just duals?  Do tournaments count where half the team may go to some and not others?  &nbsp
Althoign in 2023 I believe that he is ok on the midway point rule having not wrestled after the start of January (just like Bastida did this year) he wrestled in 8 dual meets and midlands. I would have to say that is more than 30% but with such little detail defining the rule, I wouldn’t doubt the threat of a law suit if denied. 

 

They need to put exact measures on these rules.  

1- and exact day for midway point or point in date which  you can’t then take a med shirt 

2- They need to define a specific amount of matches wrestled where it is then to many to take a med shirt . This rather it be 10-12-15 whatever.  
3- They need to put an expiration date on when a med shirt can be retroactively applied for as “reasonable time” means nothing 

[Wrestleknownothing]

1 minute ago, Cornell Kevin said:

I in no way think that AJ should or will get a medical shirt.  I do wish that they would be more distinct when writing the ncaa rules. It says that it needs to be filed “in a timely manner.”. Now clearly AJ (and Alvarez if this is what they are going for) is not in a timely manner but who is to say what exactly that is. 

Another thing with medical shirts is how they define 2 of the 3 major stipulations. 
1- can’t be passed the midway point of season..ok when exactly is that?  Are you referring to midway point competition wise, because teams start competing on all different dates.  Or is it midway season from when they start practicing?  Either way 1/27 has to be passed that point for Alvarez in 2024.  

2- Cannot have competed in more than 30% of team’s matches.  What the heck does that even mean ?  Are we speaking of just duals?  Do tournaments count where half the team may go to some and not others?  &nbsp
Althoign in 2023 I believe that he is ok on the midway point rule having not wrestled after the start of January (just like Bastida did this year) he wrestled in 8 dual meets and midlands. I would have to say that is more than 30% but with such little detail defining the rule, I wouldn’t doubt the threat of a law suit if denied. 

 

They need to put exact measures on these rules.  

1- and exact day for midway point or point in date which  you can’t then take a med shirt 

2- They need to define a specific amount of matches wrestled where it is then to many to take a med shirt . This rather it be 10-12-15 whatever.  
3- They need to put an expiration date on when a med shirt can be retroactively applied for as “reasonable time” means nothing 

They define both terms in an addendum. They do it that way because the numbers change by sport.

For wrestling the midway point is defined as the 10th official date of competition for the team. In Alvarez's case, in both 2023 and 2024 it looks like his last match was the team's 11th official date. So he wrestled in the second half, making him ineligible for a hardship waiver.

For wrestling 30% is defined as 6 (the denominator is 17 and 30% of the denominator is rounded up to 6). In 2023 Alvarez competed in 9 official dates. In 2024 he competed in 5 official dates.

Reasonable time is relative to after all other eligibility is exhausted, not to when the injury occurred.

[boconnell]

1 hour ago, 1032004 said:

That was more talking about people commenting that “he should move on.” I’d want a wrestler that already competed in 4 NCAA tournaments to move on more than someone that just competed in their first.  

As far as the rules go, at the end of the day it’s gonna come down to if that 2023 season can count as a medical.   Technically it shouldn’t, but it’s probably not that far off.  He would appear to have a better case than AJ Ferrari from 2022.

I wouldn't care how many of the years they qualified for nationals.  I'd care only how many chances they got.  

And when the entire country got an extra year because of covid, I didn't love it, but I didn't hold it against guys who went to nationals 5 times more than I held it against guys who weren't good enough to go to nationals 5 times.

[Wrestleknownothing]

4 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

They define both terms in an addendum. They do it that way because the numbers change by sport.

For wrestling the midway point is defined as the 10th official date of competition for the team. In Alvarez's case, in both 2023 and 2024 it looks like his last match was the team's 11th official date. So he wrestled in the second half, making him ineligible for a hardship waiver.

For wrestling 30% is defined as 6 (the denominator is 17 and 30% of the denominator is rounded up to 6). In 2023 Alvarez competed in 9 official dates. In 2024 he competed in 5 official dates.

Reasonable time is relative to after all other eligibility is exhausted, not to when the injury occurred.

BTW the bolded part is wrong.

[Cornell Kevin]

10 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

They define both terms in an addendum. They do it that way because the numbers change by sport.

For wrestling the midway point is defined as the 10th official date of competition for the team. In Alvarez's case, in both 2023 and 2024 it looks like his last match was the team's 11th official date. So he wrestled in the second half, making him ineligible for a hardship waiver.

For wrestling 30% is defined as 6 (the denominator is 17 and 30% of the denominator is rounded up to 6). In 2023 Alvarez competed in 9 official dates. In 2024 he competed in 5 official dates.

Reasonable time is relative to after all other eligibility is exhausted, not to when the injury occurred.

I had no idea thank you ! That’s great to know! 

[alex1fly]

Hell when he transferred to OSU for 2023-2024 there was talk about whether it would be his last season, depending on if the medical shirt was granted. We were all surprised that he got to wrestle in 2024-2025. 

[Wrestleknownothing]

The Athletic has an article about the number of college basketball players in the portal who are out of eligibility. There were 137 as of when the article was written. They are being advised by agents and lawyers to put their names in "just in case".

The arguments for "just in case" range from "if the NCAA loses lawsuit X" to "what if they give everyone a fifth year". Even if a lawsuit is undecided by the start of next season, they can still bet on a temporary restraining order to allow them to compete.

[Cornell Kevin]

On 5/8/2025 at 3:15 PM, Wrestleknownothing said:

They define both terms in an addendum. They do it that way because the numbers change by sport.

For wrestling the midway point is defined as the 10th official date of competition for the team. In Alvarez's case, in both 2023 and 2024 it looks like his last match was the team's 11th official date. So he wrestled in the second half, making him ineligible for a hardship waiver.

For wrestling 30% is defined as 6 (the denominator is 17 and 30% of the denominator is rounded up to 6). In 2023 Alvarez competed in 9 official dates. In 2024 he competed in 5 official dates.

Reasonable time is relative to after all other eligibility is exhausted, not to when the injury occurred.

Questions for you.. 

1-When you say denominator, are you saying that that is the amount of dates that they are saying wrestling teams compete in in order to keep it all the same so it’s not a different # for med shirts (some teams have guys who wrestle 36 matches others 20).

2-When you say 6 dates…examples of  this would be…..

6 duals 

4 duals, CKLV, Midlands 

3 duals, Clarion Open, Journeyman, Scuffle. 

for example?? 

Am I understanding that correctly? 

 

3- You first mentioned something about the “timely manner.” Then said the bold part wasn’t true. Is there any kind of understanding of what they mean by timely manner? 

 

Thank you so much for all the information you provide in these forums! 

[Wrestleknownothing]

18 minutes ago, Cornell Kevin said:

Questions for you.. 

1-When you say denominator, are you saying that that is the amount of dates that they are saying wrestling teams compete in in order to keep it all the same so it’s not a different # for med shirts (some teams have guys who wrestle 36 matches others 20).

2-When you say 6 dates…examples of  this would be…..

6 duals 

4 duals, CKLV, Midlands 

3 duals, Clarion Open, Journeyman, Scuffle. 

for example?? 

Am I understanding that correctly? 

 

3- You first mentioned something about the “timely manner.” Then said the bold part wasn’t true. Is there any kind of understanding of what they mean by timely manner? 

 

Thank you so much for all the information you provide in these forums! 

1-Yes. There is a table that has a column with the denominator for every sport and the 30% value for every sport, in the rule book. I am out of town, but can post the location Sunday night.

3-Yes. An official tournament counts as a date, as does a dual. If you look at their wrestlestat team page you will see (unofficial) next to the tournaments that do not count against the total competition dates. The official ones are generally when they send the whole team, while the unofficial are generally when they send a couple guys. A multi-day tournament counts as a single competition date.

3-you can get a hardship waiver more frequently than just when all your eligibility is done. But I do not know the definition of timely.

[1032004]

 

 

[Cornell Kevin]

thx for the info 

 

As far as the pick up by Iowa, I assume that his eligibility will still have to be approved by NCAA first cause I have not seen or heard anything approving it yet.

 

Iowa is a strange spot.  Maybe he goes 157 and Caliendo staying at 165 after all? 

[Wrestleknownothing]

1 hour ago, Cornell Kevin said:

thx for the info 

 

As far as the pick up by Iowa, I assume that his eligibility will still have to be approved by NCAA first cause I have not seen or heard anything approving it yet.

 

Iowa is a strange spot.  Maybe he goes 157 and Caliendo staying at 165 after all? 

As promised:

https://web3.ncaa.org/lsdbi/bylaw?ruleId=104793&refDate=20250511

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Bob would not have given him a bag without assurances he would be eligible to wrestle.

[flyingcement]

2 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Bob would not have given him a bag without assurances he would be eligible to wrestle.

Tell us more about Bob's natural tendencies

[flyingcement]

Alvarez wrestled the Reno TOC unattached and didn't transfer to OK State until January.  He wrestled four matches in January as an attached wrestler.  Maybe using that criteria he could have another year?