Canisius College head men’s basketball coach Jim Baron announced Tuesday that Canisius’ waiver to allow Billy Baron’s immediate eligibility for the fall of 2012 has been granted by the NCAA.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound guard will have two years of eligibility remaining, starting in the 2012-13 season.

“I am really excited for Billy on a personal level and we are extremely happy to have him join our program at Canisius,” Jim Baron said in a news release from the college.

Baron played in 20 games last season at Rhode Island where he made 14 starts. After sitting out the first semester of the 2011-12 season following a transfer from the University of Virginia, Baron averaged 13.0 points per game.

Baron joins a Canisius program that boasts the return of four starters and eight letterwinners from the 2011-12 campaign. The 2012-13 season will mark the Golden Griffins’ first year under Jim Baron, who was named the program’s 23rd head coach April 3, 2012 after he spent the previous 11 seasons at the helm of the Rhode Island program.