Jason Tsirtsis Transfers To Arizona State

Jason Tsirtsis Transfers To Arizona State

2014 NCAA Champion Jason Tsirtsis was dismissed from school at Northwestern University for academic reasons as he explained in this interview. Heading into

Aug 19, 2016 by Mark Bader
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2014 NCAA Champion Jason Tsirtsis was dismissed from school at Northwestern University for academic reasons as he explained in this interview. Heading into his senior campaign, staying at Northwestern would have meant missing his final collegiate wrestling season. 

Jason Tsirtsis wants to wrestle.

After visiting Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Arizona State University Tsirtsis has made the decision to transfer to ASU.

Here is what he had to say about the move:

"I am going to finish out my collegiate career at ASU. I would like to thank UNI & ISU for their consideration and overall hospitality during this process. The current situation at ASU is something to be excited about and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be part of it."

Whether or not Jason will be able to compete for the Sun Devils this coming season is still in question. NCAA rules state that an athlete must be in good academic standing to be eligible to transfer and compete within the same year. Tsirtsis, of course, was not in good academic standing at Northwestern.

However, Northwestern academic standards are higher than that of the NCAA and Tsirtsis was not actually academically ineligible according to the NCAA.

What are the options at this point?

No matter what, Jason Tsirtsis and Arizona State will have to go through a petitioning process. They will have to make their case to the NCAA that Jason has been dealing with extenuating circumstances and deserves to have one more year of eligibility. It has been well documented that Jason Tsirtsis dealt with some serious personal issues this past year, losing both his sister and one of his best friends in tragic accidents.

Simply put, one of three things will happen:

1. Tsirtsis and ASU plead their case and Tsirtsis is allowed to compete in his 5th season for the Sun Devils in 2016-2017

2. Tsirtsis and ASU are denied their initial request, but later request a 6th year which is granted and he is allowed to compete in 2017-2018 for ASU.

3. Requests for 5th and 6th year are denied and Jason Tsirtsis is out of NCAA eligibility.

Sources close to the program say the second option is the one they feel confident will happen, Tsirtsis being granted a 6th year. If that is the case Jason will join the team immediately and focus on freestyle at 70kg for this season and join the ASU line-up the follow year.

FloWrestling will continue to follow this story and keep you posted as the petition process unfolds.

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