Tag Archive for: NCAA Convention

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Expected DI Transfer Portal Changes at NCAA Convention

At the NCAA Convention January 13-16, the NCAA Division I Council will vote on proposed changes to Transfer Portal windows in several sports. If approved, the changes would include:

  • Men’s and Women’s Basketball
    The Transfer Portal would open for 15 days beginning the day after the NCAA championship game.
  • Track and Field
    The Transfer Portal window following the indoor season would be eliminated.
  • Men’s Wrestling
    The current 45-day window would be replaced with a 30-day window from April 1–30.
  • Men’s Ice Hockey
    The Transfer Portal would open for 15 days beginning the Monday after the NCAA championship concludes.


Do You Have Questions? 

To discuss how these proposed changes may affect you or your athlete, schedule a confidential Transfer Consultation online, by calling 913-766-1235 or emailing rick@informedathlete.com.

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NCAA 2025 Convention Summary

The annual NCAA Convention was held recently in Nashville. I’ll share below some of the key decisions and rule changes that were approved during the Convention.

As a side note, I was surprised to not see any mention of a formal discussion about the possibility of athletes being granted 5 years of playing eligibility given recent lawsuits against the NCAA.

Here’s a brief rundown of the approved rule changes that directly impact student-athletes:

NCAA Division I

For Division I (and for Division III), the only proposed rule change that directly impacts student-athletes is the approval of Women’s Wrestling as an official Championship Sport beginning next year. There will be one National Championship for NCAA sponsored teams across all three NCAA Divisions in 2026.

  • There were 76 NCAA schools (across all three Divisions) that sponsored a Women’s Wrestling team during the 2023-24 school year.
  • By the end of the 2024-25 school year, it’s expected that there will be 93 schools sponsoring a Women’s Wrestling team (4 in Division I, 34 in Division II and 55 in Division III).

NCAA Division II

Effective Fall 2025, an athlete in their first year of college enrollment will be able to redshirt as long as they participate in less than 30% of the maximum permissible games or dates of competition in their sport.

  • Note that this will only apply for an athlete who starts their college career at a D2 school.
  • This option will not be available for an athlete transferring to D2.

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Also, D2 member schools voted to eliminate the academic requirement that an athlete must earn at least 18 semester credit hours or 27 quarter credit hours during the regular academic year to be eligible for competition the following year.

Other academic requirements were retained for Division II eligibility:

  • An athlete must earn at least 9 semester credit hours or 8 quarter credit hours during each semester or quarter of full-time enrollment to be eligible to compete during the next term.
  • An athlete must earn a total of at least 24 semester credit hours or 36 quarter credit hours annually to be eligible (summer or winter credit hours can be included to satisfy this requirement).
  • An athlete must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.00 to be eligible for competition.

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Athletes who were Qualifiers based on their high school academic performance and who are transferring to NCAA Division II from a two-year college will no longer be required to earn transferable credit hours in English, math or science courses to satisfy transfer eligibility requirements.

  • Those athletes will still need to satisfy other academic requirements to be eligible as a 2-4 transfer (such as earning at least 12 hours of transferable credit for each term of full-time enrollment at the two-year college, etc.).

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Finally, as in the other NCAA Divisions, D2 approved the addition of Women’s Wrestling as a Championship Sport starting in 2026. It was necessary that all three Divisions approved this to establish a Championship next year.

NCAA Division III

As mentioned above under Division I and Division II, the only proposed rule change affecting Division III athletes was the approval of Women’s Wrestling as an official NCAA Championship Sport beginning next year.

Do You Have Questions?

For questions about any of these actions taken at the NCAA Convention, you can contact us directly via e-mail at rick@informedathlete.com or by calling 913-766-1235.

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NCAA Convention Summary

The most significant rule change that was approved at the recent NCAA Convention will benefit the health and well-being of Division I student-athletes at a Power Five university.

  • Those athletic programs will be required to provide their athletes with information and access to available mental health services.
  • Non-Power 5 NCAA Division I programs will not be required to offer such services, but many will do so to keep pace with the universities they are recruiting and competing against.

Here’s a brief rundown of other rule changes that might be of interest to our readers: 

NCAA Division I

Power Five universities will be allowed to provide room and board to athletes participating in summer school activities (strength and conditioning, etc.) even if they aren’t enrolled in summer courses.

NCAA Division II

Division II student-athletes competing unattached next school year will be permitted to receive athletic training support or medical services from their university at a competition site.

Under current legislation, if a track athlete is competing unattached, for example, at a meet where their teammates are competing for the college, that athlete is not allowed to be treated by the athletic trainers from their own college. They would instead need to receive treatment from the staff of the college hosting the event. The new rule will allow an unattached athlete to receive medical assistance from their own athletic training staff starting next year.

NCAA Division III

High school or prep school students who choose to participate in college athletics in NCAA Division III will be permitted to receive funds to pay for their pre-college educational expenses from any person or entity as long as the funds don’t come from an agent, a pro sports team, or the booster of a Division III college. Another condition is that such funds must be paid directly to the athlete’s high school or prep school rather than to the athlete’s family.

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