The NCAA denied Tyon Grant-Foster’s appeal for an eligibility waiver on Friday afternoon, according to Spokane attorney Carl Oreskovich, as reported by Theo Lawson of the Spokesman-Review.
Spokane County will host a preliminary injunction hearing for Grant-Foster’s case on Thursday.
The NCAA has yet to provide any written notice outlining the reasons for denying Grant-Foster’s waiver, although Oreskovich suspects it will be consistent with previous positions regarding the “five year rule”.
“Gonzaga is aware of the legal action filed by Tyon Grant-Foster regarding NCAA eligibility rules,” the University released in a statement. “Tyon’s story is one of remarkable resilience, and we are hopeful for a positive outcome.”
Grant-Foster entered the transfer portal in April and committed to Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs in late May. He spent the entire summer working out in his hometown of Kansas City and in Phoenix, waiting to hear from the NCAA about his eligibility.
Finally, in early October, Grant-Foster received a practice waiver from the NCAA, which allowed him to report to campus in Spokane and participate in practices with Gonzaga. Two days after arriving on campus, Grant-Foster joined the team for Kraziness in the Kennel, finally donning a Zag uniform and playing in the scrimmage.
The 6’7 wing was a big-time addition for Few and the Zags, projected to start at small forward and replace Khalif Battle as a high-level slasher and scorer. The 2023-24 WAC Player of the Year is also a strong facilitator and defender, and would have filled multiple roles for Gonzaga throughout the season.
Instead, he’ll go through the process of trying to secure a preliminary injunction, which would allow him to temporarily suit up for Gonzaga while his lawsuit is ongoing. This has been used successfully against the NCAA before, including back in 2023 when the courts granted a preliminary injunction to allow student-athletes who were multi-time transfers to play immediately during the 2023-24 season, which eventually resulted in the NCAA permanently changing its rules.
In this case, the NCAA rule being challenged is the five-year window, which starts when a player graduates high school and gives them five years to complete their four years of NCAA eligibility.
While Grant-Foster has missed multiple seasons due to injury, his five-year window began back in 2018-19 when he played at Indian Hills Community College, over seven years ago.
After two years at Indian Hills, Grant-Foster spent the 2020-21 season at Kansas, appearing in 22 games before transferring to DePaul. He played in just one game at DePaul in 2021-22 and zero games in 2022-23 while recovering from a pair of heart surgeries, resurfacing a year later at Grand Canyon, where he played in both 2023-24 and 2024-25.
The NCAA gave Grant-Foster an extra year in 2024-25 because one of his seasons, 2020-21 at Kansas, was wiped away due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, since that ruling, the NCAA has also determined that players who spent time at a Junior College will get an additional year of eligibility in 2025-26, which will be a key part of Grant-Foster’s argument for eligibility through this lawsuit.
For Gonzaga, expect to see more playing time for Steele Venters and Jalen Warley at small forward, with freshman Davis Fogle potentially mixing in more as well.
Fans will get a chance to see how Gonzaga responds without Grant-Foster on Sunday in an exhibition game against Northwest University, set to tip off at 2:00 PM PT.
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