Transfer portal windows? Unlimited movement? What proposed NCAA rule changes would mean
NCAA officials have discussed more adjustments to the NCAA’s transfer process, an area of college athletics that’s already undergone major changes in recent years.
The NCAA Division I Council this week recommended transfer windows be introduced to control player movement into specific time periods rather than year round. It is also in favor of allowing athletes to be immediately eligible in all transfer situations, meaning no more spending one year at a school before playing their sport.
This all comes after the NCAA changed its rules during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow athletes to play immediately following their first transfer, but to be subject to the “year-in-residence” rule in any subsequent transfers.
UNC football coach Mack Brown said Thursday he’s in favor of the transfer process as it has been the past few years. But, for reasons beyond sports, the unlimited transfer rule doesn’t sit well with him.
“I don’t like being able to transfer multiple times because it gives that person that’s not willing to step up and fight through some adversity a chance to run,” Brown said. “I think the graduation rates of first-time transfers are like 68 percent and most of the second-time transfers don’t graduate. I’m worried about putting more mental pressure on young people. Because it’s easier if you get mad to say I’m leaving, and it takes you five minutes to get in the portal. That’s not good for later, for your family as a father or a husband, or at your job.”
So what do all these new changes mean and when would they go into effect?
Here are some answers:
Transfer windows
Coaches complain that it’s hard to manage a roster when their players can enter the transfer portal at any time, even in the middle of a season.
So the Division I Council this week established set periods of time for transfer portal entry.
For fall sports, most notably football, two separate windows were proposed that, together, would cover 60 days. The first window would be for 45 days, beginning the day following playoff pairing announcement (early December for football bowl subdivision teams). The second window, following spring practice, would May 1-15.
For winter and spring sports, one window would be established, beginning the day after NCAA tournament pairings are released in each sport and lasting 60 days.
For basketball, that would mean the day following selection Sunday in March running through the middle of May.
Unlimited transfers
For years, the year-in-residence rule severely limited player movement in college athletics. The NCAA began changing things by allowing athletes to file for hardship waivers to allow them immediate eligibility.
Athletes who earned their undergraduate degree but had eligibility left were allowed immediate eligibility at their new schools.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA extended that right to all athletes while establishing the transfer portal system where athletes entered their names in an NCAA database to let schools now they sought to transfer.
Current rules allow athletes immediate eligibility after their first transfer but stipulate they must sit out a year before playing upon a second transfer.
Now the Division I Council is in favor of relaxing that while also instituting the transfer windows to tamp down round-the-clock activity.
Are these new rules in place?
No. The Division I Council, a group of administrators and athletes from around the country, meets monthly and proposes rules changes.
West Virginia athletics director Shane Lyons currently chairs the 40-person group, which includes a representative from each of the 32 Division I conferences, four commissioners, two athletes and two faculty athletics representatives. Pittsburgh athletics director Heather Lyke is the ACC representative. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is also on the council.
While the council recommended these changes, the full NCAA Board of Directors must approve them. The board’s next meeting is Aug. 3.
This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 7:47 AM.