The NCAA Division I Council recently approved and adopted revisions to rules specific to the sport of men’s wrestling which “…are intended to help all men’s wrestling student-athletes achieve an academic foundation during their initial year of college, while also helping to provide financial and well-being support.”
These changes impact the NCAA Division I rules for men’s wrestling regarding scholarships, the use of a season of competition and participation in outside competition.
Changes to competition rules effective with this current 2022-23 academic year:
NCAA DI Men’s wrestling student-athletes who are in their first year of college enrollment:
- Will be allowed to compete in up to 5 dates of competition for their university without being charged with the use of a season of competition.
- Will not be allowed to compete as an “unattached” wrestler or as a member of an outside amateur team during their first full-time term of college enrollment.
- Will also be required to have a GPA of at least 2.000 at the beginning of each term of enrollment to be eligible for competition during that term. This rule applies regardless of whether the athlete will be representing their university in competition or will be participating in outside competition.
Each wrestler’s GPA requirement can be satisfied by having a cumulative GPA of at least 2.000 at the start of each academic term or by having earned a GPA of at least 2.000 during the preceding academic term.
Change to scholarship rules for those enrolling in Fall 2023:
- High school seniors or junior college recruits who will have an opportunity to sign a National Letter of Intent with an NCAA Division I wrestling program will be interested to know that there is now a 20% minimum scholarship equivalency required for those first enrolling at a four-year institution on or after August 1, 2023. Wrestling becomes the second Division I equivalency sport to require a minimum scholarship value (after baseball).
- For any Division I institutions that award athletic scholarships based solely on demonstrated financial need, their wrestling program will not be required to provide a scholarship value that is at least 20% of a full scholarship.
Need Advice?
Schedule a confidential Scholarship Strategies Consult online or by calling 913-766-1235 if you have questions about these new rules.
NCAA DI FBS or FCS Football student-athletes must successfully complete at least 9 semester hours (or 8 quarter hours) of academic credit during the Fall term to be fully eligible to compete during the following season.
An FBS or FCS athlete who does not earn the required number of academic credit hours during the Fall term “…shall not be eligible to compete in the first four contests against outside competition in the following playing season.”
There are options for athletes who don’t satisfy this requirement to regain their full eligibility for the following season if they earn additional credit hours prior to the beginning of the next Fall term.
We can explain this rule in more detail, including the requirements to regain full eligibility, in a confidential Eligibility Consult. You can schedule a confidential Eligibility Consult online or call 913-766-1235 for more information.
With fall sport practices starting recently at many colleges, and classes starting soon, here’s a sample of some of the questions we’ve received recently:
- I’ve started practice with my college team, but I’m not sure this is the right fit for me and I’m thinking about leaving. When does my eligibility “clock” start?
- Will I be considered a transfer athlete if I leave this team after starting practices at this college?
- My new coach just informed me that I likely won’t receive any playing time this season. Do I have any options to transfer at this late date? Also, is there any way I can “protect” my scholarship for this year, or at least part of the year?
- I just learned that I may not be able to be eligible at my new college this year because I don’t have enough transferable credit hours. Do I have any options for a waiver at this point?
If you or your athlete have questions like these, we can discuss your specific situation, answer your questions, and explain what options might be possible.
Schedule a confidential Eligibility Consult, a Transfer Consult, or a Scholarship Strategies Consult online at one of these links. Don’t worry about whether you’re choosing the correct category of consultation. Regardless of which category you choose, we’ll be sure to confidentially answer your questions and explain what options your athlete can consider.
You can also contact us directly by calling our office at 913-766-1235 or by sending an email to rick@informedathlete.com.
The academic requirements for a student-athlete to be eligible when transferring to a new university depend upon several factors, including the number of semesters when an athlete has been enrolled in college and taking classes as a full-time student. This is especially true for any athlete transferring to the NCAA Division I level.
When a junior college athlete who will be transferring to an NCAA Division I university has attended the junior college for more than two years, the academic requirements to be eligible can become even more complicated.
Here’s one reason why:
If you think of that situation this way, how will an athlete attending a two-year college that only offers freshman and sophomore level courses earn junior level course credits that will be acceptable for transfer to a Division I university if they’ve been attending a junior college for three years?
We can provide a confidential Eligibility Consultation to inform you and your athlete of the specific academic requirements that he or she will need to satisfy to be eligible when they transfer to a new university. Contact us at rick@informedathlete.com or call our office at 913-766-1235 for more information regarding our services.
When it comes to medical hardship waivers, the NAIA has recently taken a different approach.
The NAIA implemented a new “season of competition” rule last year that largely eliminates the need for a Medical Hardship Waiver for an athlete competing for an NAIA sports team.
Under this new rule, the NAIA will only charge a student-athlete with the use of a season of competition if the student-athlete participates in more than 20% of the maximum number of games or dates of competition in their sport.
As an example:
If an NAIA basketball athlete competes in no more than 7 games during a season (regardless of whether the games are at the varsity, junior varsity or freshman squad level), that athlete will not be charged with the use of a “season of competition” during that academic year under the NAIA rules.
If you have questions about this new rule and how it may impact your athlete – or a question about a hardship waiver for an athlete who has transferred to an NAIA program from an NCAA or junior college program – schedule an Eligibility Consult online. You can also call us at 913-766-1235 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com for more information.
The annual NCAA Convention was held recently in Indianapolis. While much of the publicity over the last few months regarding the Convention was regarding the work of the Constitution Committee to propose a new draft of the NCAA Constitution, I doubt that work will really impact the day-to-day life of NCAA student-athletes – at least not in the near future.
Here’s a brief rundown of some topics of interest for NCAA DI, NCAA DII, and NCAA DIII.
NCAA DI
For women’s basketball, recruiting rules were revised in several different topic areas, including telephone calls, official visits and the recruiting calendar. Due to the number of changes, contact us directly if you desire information regarding those changes.
In men’s basketball, the number of recruiting-person days (number of total days the men’s coaching staff could be off-campus recruiting) was reduced from 130 to 100. Two coaches recruiting on the same day equals two recruiting-person days.
For both men’s and women’s basketball, a proposal to allow student-athletes to appear in up to four regular season games without being charged with the use of a season of competition was defeated.
Football spring practice opportunities for full contact practice sessions will be reduced. They won’t be allowed on consecutive days during spring practice and won’t be allowed for more than 75 minutes in any practice session (other than a scrimmage).
New guidelines for transfer waivers that were set to go into effect in 2022 will be delayed until January 2023. This means that athletes transferring to a Division I university who need a waiver to be ruled eligible will have a wider range of acceptable reasons and circumstances that can be cited as a factor in the waiver decision as compared to the new waiver guidelines.
Those guidelines – which are now postponed a year – basically limit acceptable waiver reasons as:
- An athlete has a diagnosed learning disability which was not sufficiently supported at the previous university OR
- An athlete has faced a “real and imminent health and safety” threat at the previous university.
NCAA DII
The Division II One-Time Transfer Exception was changed to more closely align with the Division I One-Time Transfer Exception. The key aspects of the new Division II rule are:
- The school from which an athlete is transferring will not have the opportunity to object to the athlete’s transfer.
- Athletes will be required to view an educational video or online module regarding the transfer rules before their name will be entered into the Transfer Portal.
- Athletes will be required to provide written transfer notification to their school by June 15 to have the chance to be eligible during the upcoming academic year.
- A transferring athlete and the head coach at the new school to which they are transferring will be required to certify that they had no direct or indirect contact regarding a transfer prior to the student-athlete entering the Transfer Portal.
NCAA DIII
The proposal which would have had the most direct impact on Division III student-athletes was not voted on, but instead was referred to the Division III Interpretations and Legislative Committee for additional analysis and consideration.
If it had been approved at the Convention, it would have allowed Division III student-athletes to participate in a full season of practice with their team and still claim a “redshirt season” if the athlete did not compete in any games against another university.
As a result, the current Division III rule is still in effect. That rule charges a student-athlete with a “season of participation” even if they only practice with their team beyond the first game of the season but even if they don’t appear in a game against another opponent.
If you have questions about any actions taken at the NCAA Convention, contact us directly via e-mail at rick@informedathlete.com or by calling 913-766-1235.
We recently provided one of our Transcript Review Assessments for a high school athlete who is in the middle of her senior year of high school.
This athlete is short of having the required number of core courses to be eligible as a freshman and won’t be eligible for NCAA Division I if the athlete can’t change her course selection for this semester.
This athlete’s father informed us that he learned about the NCAA academic eligibility requirements from our website, not from their high school guidance office.
If you’d like to ensure that your high school athlete is on pace to meet the academic requirements to be eligible as a freshman at an NCAA Division I or II university, schedule a confidential Eligibility Issues Consult online.
We’ll discuss your student-athlete’s current situation, talk about all the academic eligibility requirements, and if needed, suggest a Freshman Transcript Review Assessment. You’re also welcome to call our office at 913-766-1235 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com
Like many organizations, the National Association for Athletic Compliance (NAAC) has an online chat room where members can share ideas and information, and ask their peers for assistance with questions. As a past President and member of NAAC, I keep up with those discussions to stay current with issues and discussions.
Recently, the following post appeared in the chat room:
“I am new to compliance and was wondering if there were any resources anyone can point me to so that I can learn/study compliance outside of the Manual or LSDBi.”
This was posted by the primary compliance contact for an NCAA Division II program!
I don’t mean to speak negative of this person. Rather, my concern is with the Division II school that would hire an inexperienced person for the primary compliance position.
If an athlete or family in your circle of friends isn’t confident in the information they are receiving from their compliance office, or if they aren’t comfortable posing their questions to their coach or compliance office, encourage them to contact us at 913-766-1235 or rick@informedathlete.com with their questions.
We recently learned of student-athletes at an NCAA Division I university who have created GoFundMe pages to openly request donations for their living expenses.
This type of solicitation is NOT permitted as part of the NCAA’s new Name, Image and Likeness policy. In fact, the student-athletes described above have received an impermissible benefit and will likely need to repay the value they have received to a charity to have their competitive eligibility reinstated by the NCAA.
A student-athlete must provide some type of service or “deliverable” in exchange for receiving an NIL payment.
Examples can include a wide variety of activities, from doing a TV commercial for a car dealership to signing autographs at a store’s grand opening to appearing at a child’s birthday party for photo opportunities.
The NCAA has recently updated their Question and Answer document regarding the NIL policy.
- This document includes an update addressing the type of situation I’ve described above, as well as emphasizing that NIL agreements are not to be intended as a recruiting inducement (e.g., a booster guaranteeing an NIL opportunity once a recruit enrolls at their favorite university).
- The update also includes a recommendation that international student-athletes check with their designated school office for all international students regarding any potential tax implications and impact on their immigration status if they participate in NIL opportunities.
The Q and A document can be viewed through this link:
