Immediate eligibility transfer rules to be discussed in June by NCAA
The NCAA said Wednesday night that it will consider proposals to change the transfer process in June.
The announcement came from the Division I Council. A possible proposal will be considered this summer that gives players immediate eligibility upon transferring. Right now, a player has to sit out a season if he or she transfers unless he or she is a graduate transfer.
The delay would allow time for the working group and the Committee on Academics to develop and recommend a possible set of academic benchmarks that, if met, would allow students in all sports to play immediately after transfer.
If the board approves a more flexible legislative timeline, the Council could wait until June to vote on the notification-of-transfer proposal with other transfer concepts.
The Council modified that proposal to require schools to enter a student-athlete’s information into the national transfer database within five days of the student notifying the school in writing that he or she wishes to transfer. The database would allow other schools to know who can be contacted and will be created and managed by the national office.
ESPN host Matt Schick cited an NCAA official who said it was a near-guarantee an agreement would be worked out to let players transfer without sitting out a year.
I spoke w/ an NCAA official this week who was “95% certain” transfers will soon be allowed to play immediately in basketball & football. Could be a one-time freebie, plus grad transfer option. So in theory, a student-athlete could play for three different schools w/o sitting out.
— Matt Schick (@ESPN_Schick) January 17, 2018
Changes to the transfer process are long overdue, especially when you consider how freely coaches can move from school to school for better jobs and more money. Many recruits commit to a school because of a coaching staff and it’s unfair to the recruits to make them sit out a season and change schools after a coach leaves.
There will also undoubtedly be those academic benchmarks for students to transfer freely, and we can also see the NCAA instituting a transfer window of sorts like it has for a signing period for high school recruits.
Expect a lot of discussion regarding transfer parameters over the coming months. While an immediate-eligibility transfer model will likely increase the number of transfers, we’re not sure it will be a dramatic spike, especially in men’s basketball. According to the NCAA, approximately 40 percent of Division I recruits transferred by the end of their sophomore seasons.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
