I'm a part-time instructor at BU (teaching Computer Architecture for their
evening college) and although I've only given three incompletes in eight or
nine years of teaching, a student who is in good standing and has some
job relocation that would make it impossible to attend classes but would be
returning at a later date to complete the classes, would be a perfectly valid
reason for an incomplete.  (This is exactly the description of a student-
athlete turning pro early.)  If there was no intention of completing the class,
then they'd go for a withdraw.  And to even bring up the idea of just
flunking them is so pathetically absurd and mean-spirited it boggles the mind.
Even my biggest class screwups (and boy have I got some stories...) still have
the right to get a Withdraw until very late in the semester.  All the players
who turned pro did so *long* before the typical university has their Withdraw
deadline.
 
FWIW I turn down an average of two requests for Incompletes a semester, so I'm
hardly an easy mark.
 
DaveH