Tag Archive for: NCAA DI Transfer Rules

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NCAA DI Ratifies New Transfer Rule

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors recently ratified and made official the new One-Time Transfer Rule.

As a result, any four-year college athlete – even a full scholarship athlete in the sports of baseball, basketball, football or men’s ice hockey – will have the opportunity to be eligible in their first year as a transfer to an NCAA Division I university without the need to serve a “year in residence” before they can compete for their new team.

The new rule takes effect immediately. This means that an athlete transferring this summer to a Division I university will be able to be eligible as soon as next Fall as long as they meet the required conditions.

Those conditions are:

  • Transfer from any four-year college to an NCAA Division I university.
  • Must be academically eligible at the school the athlete is leaving. (In addition, the NEW school must certify that Progress Toward Degree requirements are satisfied.)
  • Athlete has not transferred previously from a four-year university.
  • Athlete and new head coach must certify in writing that there was no direct or indirect communication between the athlete and the athletic staff at the new university before entering the Transfer Portal.
  • Any athlete planning to use this new rule to transfer to a Division I university for next year must submit their name for the Transfer Portal by July 1.

NOTE for any athletes who transferred to a Division I university in the middle of this current 2020-21 academic year:

If you were required at the time of your midyear transfer to serve a “year in residence” at your new university, you may also be able to use this new rule to become eligible next Fall.

Do you Have Questions?

If you need advice regarding how this rule impacts your student-athlete, schedule a confidential Transfer consultation online, by calling 913-766-1235 or sending an email to rick@informedathlete.com.

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New NCAA DI Transfer Waiver Being Considered

The NCAA Division I Transfer Waiver Working Group recently announced that they will likely propose a change to the Division I transfer waiver considerations.

If adopted by the Division I Council in April, scholarship athletes in the sports of baseball, basketball, football, and men’s ice hockey will essentially be able to use the One-Time Transfer Exception to be immediately eligible at their new university.

Currently, scholarship athletes in the Division I sports noted above can’t use the One-Time Transfer Exception that is available to student-athletes in all other sports. However, they can still seek waivers for immediate eligibility when they transfer due to “…extenuatlng and extraordinary circumstances.”

The Transfer Waiver Working Group noted that the large number of waivers being processed has “…strained the waiver process” hence the proposed change to the waiver criteria.

If adopted, such transfer waivers could be approved as long as the transferring student-athlete:

  • Receives a transfer release from their previous university,
  • Leaves their previous university while academically eligible,
  • Meets the academic requirements to maintain their academic progress at their new university, and
  • Is not under disciplinary suspension when they leave their previous university.

There are a couple of key points to keep in mind.

  • First, a student-athlete’s previous university will need to provide a transfer release as noted above. The university will still have the right to object to an athlete’s transfer. If they do so, they will be required to offer an opportunity for an appeal to the student-athlete.
  • Second, the Transfer Waiver Working Group will be seeking feedback from Division I student-athlete representatives, coaches associations, athletic directors, and conference offices prior to the Division I Council’s April meeting. Given the concerns of some high-profile coaches and athletic directors, it’s quite possible that additional conditions could be required of transferring student-athletes, such as a minimum GPA.

If adopted by the Division I Council at their April meeting, the new waiver criteria will be available for scholarship student-athletes to be immediately eligible when transferring to a Division I baseball, basketball, football, or men’s ice hockey program for Fall 2020.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated as we learn of new developments.

To discuss a possible transfer for your athlete, schedule a confidential transfer consult online or contact us at 913-766-1235 or by sending an email to rick@informedathlete.com.

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NCAA Division I Transfer Rule Changes Effective August 1, 2019

As of August 1, 2019, these NCAA DI Transfer Rules will go into effect:

Walk-on/Non-Recruited Transfer Exceptions

A student-athlete transferring to a Division I university next Fall as an undergraduate can possibly be immediately eligible if:

  • Their previous four-year college provided athletic scholarships in their sport, but the athlete has not received an athletic scholarship, OR
  • Their previous four-year college did not provide athletic scholarships, and the athlete was not “recruited” by that college.

Student-Athletes in position to benefit from this change will still need to be academically eligible at their new university.

Also, while these changes have received lots of publicity in social media, there is one aspect of this change that has NOT received much publicity at all.

The university that these athletes are transferring from WILL NOT be allowed to object to the athlete being immediately eligible next year at their new university (a condition of the One-Time Transfer Exception which I have shared with many of our clients)!

Graduate Transfer Exception

An athlete transferring as a graduate student to an NCAA Division I university in the sports of baseball, basketball, football, and men’s ice hockey next Fall will have the chance to be immediately eligible (without need for a waiver from the NCAA) as long as:

  • The athlete’s previous four-year college did not provide athletic scholarships, OR
  • The athlete never received athletic scholarships while enrolled at a four-year college.

Do you need assistance?

If you have questions about the NCAA transfer rules and how these changes might possibly affect your student-athlete, schedule a confidential consultation online or call us at 913-766-1235.

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NCAA DI coaching changes and “free transfers”

Last week, an NCAA Division I football athlete called our office and wanted to confirm what “somebody” had told that if his coach was fired at the end of the season, then he could transfer and be immediately eligible at another Division I program next year.

I’m glad he called as this athlete was given bad information.

A coaching change (whether the coach is fired, or leaves of their own choosing to retire or take a new job) doesn’t change anything about the steps to follow in a transfer or about whether an athlete can be immediately eligible at their next college upon transfer.

A coaching change at an NCAA Division I school CAN possibly change some things about an athlete’s scholarship, but nothing about the transfer rules.

If you’d like to have a detailed discussion about your personal situation and the steps involved in transferring to another college including whether you can be immediately eligible, schedule a confidential phone consult online, or by calling 913-766-1235 or sending an email to rick@informedathlete.com

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More Changes to NCAA DI Transfer Rules Proposed

More changes to the NCAA Division I transfer rules were proposed just last week by the NCAA Division I Council at their meeting in Indianapolis. These additional changes are not scheduled for a vote until April so likely won’t take effect until Fall 2019.

I will outline these key changes below, but for NCAA Division I athletes who are on an athletic scholarship, nothing will be changing about the rules that determine whether a student-athlete can be immediately eligible if they transfer to another Division I program.

The first proposed rule change will impact new incoming student-athletes to a Division I program (freshmen or transfers) who are attending summer school classes on an athletic scholarship (thereby triggering their status as a “student-athlete” at that university). Those athletes will be allowed to transfer and be immediately eligible IF their team has a head coaching change before Fall classes begin.

The second proposed rule change will allow more opportunities for walk-on athletes who have not received an athletic scholarship to transfer and be immediately eligible at another Division I university. There are current transfer exceptions that already allow that to happen, but those exceptions have conditions that restrict the number of athletes who can benefit from the exception. This proposed change will remove some of those restricting conditions.

The third proposed change should slow down the number of athletes in football and in men’s and women’s basketball who are transferring to Division I programs as graduate students. There has been a sense among many in NCAA leadership positions that some of these athletes (and the universities that bring them in) aren’t focused on the completion of their graduate degree, but are simply transferring to play for a different coach in their final year of eligibility.

As a potential consequence, football and basketball graduate transfers with just one season of eligibility remaining will be counted against their team’s scholarship limits for TWO years, unless the transferring athlete completes their graduate degree before the next academic year begins.

Here are a couple of points to keep in mind regarding these proposed rule changes:

First, these proposed changes will be reviewed by Division I universities and conferences which may result in amendments being proposed for these proposals. The impact of these changes on Division I athletes could be revised by the time the proposals are brought up for a vote in April.

Second, these proposed changes don’t address whether scholarship athletes who are transferring as undergraduates will still need the permission or agreement of the program they are leaving in order to be immediately eligible at their new university. Therefore, scholarship athletes should remember that their current coach and athletic department will probably still have the option to object to their immediate eligibility at a new university and might need to seek an appeal of such an objection.

To discuss these new, proposed NCAA transfer rules and how they could impact you or your student-athlete, schedule a confidential phone consult or email consult online, send an e-mail directly to rick@informedathlete.com or call us at 913-766-1235.

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No Changes to NCAA DI Transfer Rules…Yet!

From the emails and the phone calls we receive, there is a lot of interest in the possibility of NCAA Division I transfer rule changes– especially in the sports of baseball, basketball, football and men’s ice hockey where athletes are often required to serve a “year in residence” at their new university before they can represent their new school in competition.

At the current time, the only proposed change in the NCAA Division I transfer rules is one that would eliminate the requirement that an athlete must receive “permission to contact” from their current university before coaches at other universities could speak with the athlete or his/her family or representative regarding a possible transfer.

The change – if approved – would result in the athlete only being required to provide written “notification of transfer” to their university that they are planning to transfer and then their name would be added to a database of transferring athletes.  Once an athlete’s name is added to the database (to be managed by the NCAA) coaches at other universities could contact them regarding a transfer.

The earliest date for this proposed change to be voted on is in April but could be delayed until June so that other transfer rule changes can be voted on as a “package.”

There is no proposed change “in the mix” at this time regarding immediate eligibility for a transferring athlete in the specific sports named above.  We’ll have updates in future newsletters when there are new developments regarding transfers.

In the meantime, if you want to be proactive and prepared for a possible transfer, contact us for a consultation at rick@informedathlete.com or 913-766-1235. 

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