Who is it designed to protect, and from what?

The point of NCAA athletics is to allow athletic competitions among eligible students at participating colleges and universities. Why should a student in good academic standing be prohibited from competing?

I might be talked into a rule in which a scholarship isn't permitted for a one-year waiting period. Maybe. But this should be about student athletes competing during their education. The fact that it's allowed in all but five sports already demonstrates the real reason for the rule -- to protect institutions, not to benefit students.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In professional team sports, tapping up (British English) or tampering (American English) is an attempt to persuade a player contracted to one team to transfer to another team, without the knowledge or permission of the player's current team.

a student is "contracted" to a University? If a University has made a binding, enforceable, five year commitment to the student, perhaps I'd be more sympathetic to this argument.

But, in the case of one year renewable scholarships, I don't see how the student is contracted to the University.