The possibility Jane Croson will pursue a release from the University of Hawaii volleyball team to transfer to Arizona has sparked a debate inside the athletic program that mirrors some of what has taken place nationwide.

At issue is how much claim teams should be able to exert over athletes who wish to transfer and how often departing coaches are held to their contracts.

In the case of Croson, an immensely talented but twice sanctioned all-conference outside hitter with two years of eligibility remaining, we’re told that coach Dave Shoji is against a release that would allow her to be eligible immediately for a 2013 foe.

Shoji’s apparent contention — and it is a fair one — is why sign off on the transfer of somebody who would be able to step right in against the Rainbow Wahine in five months?

MEANWHILE, some in the department are said to currently favor granting a release, if requested, and the decision might ultimately come down to athletic director Ben Jay or a hearing before a campus committee.

It is the second time in a year UH has publicly wrestled with a high-profile case. In 2012, football coach Norm Chow denied defensive back Mike Wadsworth’s request for a release to transfer to Brigham Young.

Under NCAA rules, Croson can go where she pleases, but without the waiver from UH she would not be allowed to play immediately, though she could receive a scholarship.

LAST YEAR Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan ignited a firestorm when he sought to bar freshman Jarrod Uthoff from transferring to any of a list of nearly 30 schools. The Badgers quickly pared back the list.

Last spring, Wadsworth contested Chow’s decision, but a UH committee chaired by the faculty athletics representative upheld Chow’s decision. Wadsworth eventually transferred to BYU — without a scholarship. Volleyball players, unlike athletes in some other sports, are able to accept athletic scholarships immediately.

Chow had been willing to grant a release for Wadsworth, a returning missionary, to transfer to any of 122 FBS schools other than BYU, which, at that time, was on UH’s 2014 schedule.

Similarly, Shoji has often granted releases in the past when players weren’t going to a league or immediate adversary. Shoji, who declined direct comment on Croson’s case, said decisions are made “case by case.”

THE ISSUES are several fold. While coaches might not want an unhappy player on the roster, they also want to protect their investment, especially when it is a player they have recruited and coached who might quickly play against them.

In an era when coaches often switch schools with impunity, at least UH has held some of its ground there. The last UH head coach who left for another school, then-football coach June Jones, negotiated an exit from his contract with his foundation making a $100,010 donation to a scholarship fund.

It will be interesting to see if UH digs in here, too, and holds coaches to exit clauses in their contracts. Not that anybody expects Shoji to be a test case.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.