The NCAA adopted new transfer portal changes yesterday.
Biggest change is that athletes will have a limited time period to enter the portal each year.
The main period is 45 days after championship selections in that sport have concluded.
Football will have an additional 15 day period from May 1-May 15.
An unlimited transfer rule was voted down.
The basic rule is immediate eligibility only after one transfer but exceptions can be made in special circumstances. That rule is also waived for head coaching changes and athletic aid reduced or not renewed.
Another change is that schools that take transfers have to keep the athlete on scholarship until they exhaust 5-year eligibility or turn pro. No one year renewable ships on transfers. This will mean that schools will have to be a lot more careful in who they take as transfers. It also could mean that many more kids will end up in transfer portal with no options after they moved on from their original school.
NCAA is hoping this will bring more order to the transfer portal but still providing options for athletes to move on,
If they were not a transfer, they were a 5th or 6th year. The NCAA has created a mess by their short-sighted policy changes. I do believe that this is a step in the right direction. I wish that it was 100% black and white. My thoughts: 5 years to play 4. 1 free transfer. Extenuating circumstances allowing for 6 year eligibility (medical RS) allowed at the same institution.
The current rate of transfers is likely going to ruin many program cultures. I know of one B1G program that is experiencing challenges due to the number of transfers that have not “grown up” in the program culture. Some have brought their undesirable culture with them and it is bleeding into the younger players.
Teams are probably a bigger mystery opening the season this year than ever before. It seems 90% of the teams are loaded with transfers. Kent is taking 17 to Seattle with them to face 11 new transfers to Washington. We’ve got about a dozen transfers playing their first or second year at Miami and Kentucky has 17. I don’t think we’ll know the true identity of a number of teams until about mid-season.
The NCAA is cracking down on players transferring multiple times. They just voted today to update guidelines on when players get immediate eligibility vs needing to sit out a year after having already used their one free transfer:
Players who have graduated, had their scholarship pulled, or had their sport discontinued by their school will be automatically eligible
Players who are seeking a transfer because of assault/abuse or because of a mental/physical health condition will be able to apply for a waiver, but they have to provide documentation for the circumstances and why transferring is necessary under those circumstances
No other circumstances (athletic, academic, or otherwise) will be eligible for a waiver
There are still some avenues for abuse (eg Nike Sibande trying to get Miami to claim his scholarship had been pulled), but it seems like a step in the right direction over the wild west system that exists now.