FORT MYERS, Fla. - Haanif Cheatham, a 6-5 guard on the FGCU men's basketball team, has been granted immediate eligibility for the upcoming 2018-19 season after the university's compliance office received word of an approved legislative relief waiver from the NCAA. He will have one season of eligibility remaining.

In April, the NCAA Division-I Council made an amendment to its waiver guidelines for transfer players seeking immediate eligibility, and FGCU's assistant athletic director for compliance, Keenan Johns, successfully petitioned. It is the same scenario that allowed FGCU women's basketball redshirt freshman Tyra Cox to also become eligible for the full year.

"Haanif brings a toughness and experience level to our group that will help us grow throughout the season and allow our younger guys to learn at a fair pace rather than being thrown to the wolves in game one," FGCU head men's basketball coach Michael Fly said. "Though this is a huge advantage for our basketball program, I am even more happy for Haanif's family that he is now close enough to support them and can get home when he needs to. He is an extremely important piece to the puzzle of our team and program, and we are looking forward to seeing him in the Green and Blue for the season opener."

Cheatham (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Pembroke Pines HS) originally came to FGCU from Marquette prior to the spring semester in January and practiced with the team through the end of the season. This past spring, he announced his intention to declare for the NBA Draft, but didn't hire an agent, which allowed him to maintain his amateurism as he went through the evaluation process. He then withdrew his name in May.
 
While at Marquette, Cheatham started 63 of 70 games he appeared in and was named to the Big East All-Freshman Team after averaging 11.8 points per game in 2015-16, starting all 33 contests. He reached the 20-point plateau four times – including a career-best 24 against Jackson State – and a stretch of 21, 21 and 20 points over a four-game Big East run versus Xavier, Providence and DePaul.
 
As a sophomore, Cheatham averaged 8.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, reaching double-figures in points 14 times. As a junior, he played in the first five games before transferring, averaging 8.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 26.2 minutes per contest.
 
The Pembroke Pines Charter High School product has already scored 710 career points in two plus seasons in one of the nation's top basketball conferences. Additionally, he won Marquette's Best Defensive Player Award both of his full seasons.
 
Cheatham is a career 79 percent free throw shooter (183-for-232), in addition to connecting at a 47 percent rate from the floor (240-for-508) in his time at Marquette. He also had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio, averaged nearly a steal per game and played more than 27 minutes per outing.
 
Coming out of high school, Cheatham was a consensus top-100 prospect and was named First Team All-State as a senior after averaging 24 points, five rebounds and three assists per game. As a junior, he recorded four triple-doubles en route to Class 6A Player of the Year honors following averages of 26.2 points 7.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and three steals per outing.
 
Cheatham returns to an FGCU program which went 23-12 in 2017-18 and won the ASUN regular season championship outright for the second-straight season with a 12-2 record. FGCU played in the NIT for the second time in program history, part of a larger stretch of six postseason appearances in the program's first seven years of eligibility – believed to be the only team in NCAA D-I men's basketball history to have accomplished that feat.
 
SOCIAL CENTRAL
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COACH FLY
Michael Fly was introduced as the 4th FGCU men's basketball head coach on April 5, 2018. He had spent the previous seven years as an assistant coach on the Eagles' staff. In that time, he helped FGCU to a 155-86 record (.643 winning percentage), including six ASUN Tournament Final appearances, three NCAA Tournament victories, three ASUN Tournament titles and three ASUN Regular Season Championships, two berths in the NIT, a CIT appearance and a run to the Sweet Sixteen. He has coached a dozen all-conference selections while with the Green and Blue, including two ASUN Player of the Year honors in Sherwood Brown and Brandon Goodwin, and two ASUN Defensive Player of the Year selections in Bernard Thompson and Demetris Morant. Of the top-10 players in career points at FGCU, Fly has helped develop eight of them, including all-time leading scorer Thompson (1,835). Additionally, the Kentucky alumnus has coached both the ASUN all-time assists leader Brett Comer (845; 24th in NCAA history) and FGCU all-time leading rebounder Chase Fieler (714).
 
SUPPORT THE CAUSE 
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.