Does that rule still exist where Aristide would have to remain on field for another year if he is retained?
In short, no. No such rule exists. There appears to be consistent confusion on this site around the actual NCAA rules regarding this topic so I re-read the current NCAA manual to gain some clarity.
First, there appears to be a mix up in the rules that have been confused and intertwined by several posters. It all stems from the rule passed in 2017 that put rules around the employment of high school coaches who were being given plum jobs at colleges (think Bush to Michigan) to entice their high school athletes to follow them to that college.
So the NCAA wrote 2 key provisions, summarized here. (The actual rules from the NCAA website are posted below.)
1. High school coaches cannot be hired by a college and then recruit a player at that high school unless that coach is one of the 11 listed "countable" coaches. Otherwise, a college cannot employ anyone from that high school for a 4 year period related to any specific athlete (Jr, Sr year of HS and Fr, So yr of college) recruited from that school.
2. If a high school coach is hired as one of the 11 on field "countable" coaches, which would allow free immediate recruitment of any athlete from that coach's old high school, that coach must be in that "countable" role for at least one full academic year before he can be moved off field.
Again this restriction is ONLY for former high school coaches making an immediate jump to college. It has no applicability to personnel moving from the recruiting office to on field or vice versa UNLESS it's a former high school coach. Thus both DVD, who was in the recruiting dept and then went on field, and Arisitde, who was off field at A&M and came to Miami, are free to go back and forth without any restriction.
So, I believe the 2-year rule being thrown around is a mixup of 11.4.4 below crossing over with 11.4.4.2.
Hope that helps....Professor C
NCAA manual rules verbatim below.
11.4.4 Individual Associated with a Prospective Student-Athlete -- Bowl Subdivision Football. [FBS] In bowl subdivision football, during a two-year period before a prospective student-athlete's anticipated enrollment and a two-year period after the prospective student-athlete's actual enrollment, an institution shall not employ (either on a salaried or volunteer basis) or enter into a contract for future employment with an individual associated with the prospective student-athlete in any athletics department noncoaching staff position or in a strength and conditioning staff position. (Adopted: 4/26/17 a contract signed before 1/18/17 may be honored.)
11.4.4.1 Application. [FBS] A violation of Bylaw 11.4.4 occurs if an individual associated with a prospective student- athlete (see Bylaw 13.02.20) is employed by the institution and, at the time of employment, a student-athlete who enrolled at the institution in the previous two years (and remains enrolled at the institution) was a prospective student-athlete by which the individual meets the definition of an individual associated with a prospective student-athlete. A violation of Bylaw 11.4.4 also occurs if an individual associated with a prospective student-athlete is employed and, within two years after such employment, a prospective student-athlete by which the individual meets the definition of an individual associated with a prospective student-athlete enrolls as a full-time student in a regular academic term at the institution. In either case, the student-athlete becomes ineligible for intercollegiate competition unless eligibility is restored by the Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement. (Adopted: 4/26/17)
11.4.4.2 Exception -- Reassignment. An institution may reassign an individual associated with a prospective student- athlete from a countable coaching staff position to a noncoaching staff position or strength and conditioning staff position, provided the individual has been a countable coach at the institution the previous academic year. (Adopted: 4/26/17, Revised: