INDIANAPOLIS --- Texas Tech senior basketball student-athlete Esmir Rizvic has been granted a season of competition waiver by the NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee.

Texas Tech sought the waiver after Rizvic’s eye socket was fractured from a flagrant foul in January, causing him to miss the rest of the season. The Big 12 Conference withheld the opposing student-athlete from two games as a result of the flagrant foul.

Under the conditions of the waiver, Rizvic will be given back the 50 percent of the season lost due to the flagrant foul, thus granting the student-athlete half of an additional season to be used during his fifth year of enrollment.  

 “The committee felt that the nature and totality of circumstances that resulted in Mr. Rizvic’s inability to compete the remainder of the season was an important extenuating circumstance when considering a season of competition waiver,” said Carol Iwaoka, committee chair and associate commissioner for the Big Ten Conference. “We determined that the student-athlete should regain the opportunity to compete in the 50 percent of the season missed last season due to the unique circumstances.”

The waiver request was originally heard by the conference office and NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff. The staff and committee consider a number of factors including guidelines established by the Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement, any relevant case precedent and any mitigating factors presented by the university. The NCAA reinstatement staff was not comfortable expanding current legislation policy given the magnitude of the situation without the committee’s support. As such, it encouraged the university to submit the waiver appeal to the committee.

The NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee is an independent committee comprised of representatives from NCAA member colleges, universities and athletic conferences.

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