United States Senator and former college football coach Tommy Tuberville introduced a new college sports bill this week that would change the transfer rules and codify the limits on eligibility.
Tuberville’s bill would allow student-athlete’s one transfer without penalty, but would require them to sit out one year for each subsequent transfer.
In early 2024, the NCAA approved a new rule that allowed limitless transfers with immediate eligibility.
The bill, which he says will “fix 80% of the issues in NIL today,” would also set eligibility limits to a maximum of five consecutive years to play five consecutive seasons.
Currently, student-athletes have a five-year eligibility clock to complete four seasons of competition.
The transfer portal has screwed up college sports.
My bill is simple: you get 5 consecutive years to play 5 seasons and you get 1 transfer.
After that, if you transfer again, you sit out a year.
This will fix 80% of the issues in NIL today. https://t.co/Ei8DfGHXg5
— Tommy Tuberville (@CoachForGov) March 24, 2026
As the NCAA enters its revenue-sharing era, Tuberville believes that the unlimited transfer rule has led to college sports becoming more like pro sports in terms of free agency, with teams seeking out players in the portal and players jumping around from school to school.
“Sixty to seventy percent of them (college programs) don’t even look at high school athletes, they look at the portal and say ‘How can we win now? How can we bring players in?’,” Tuberville said on OutKick’s Hot Mic, according to Yahoo Sports.
“It’s going to bring the price down on a lot of these players in which to me, it’s ok because they’re going to be making money anyway. I’m all for them making money. But for them to keep selling themselves for $50,000 to $100,000 more, I think it’s creating a huge problem.”
Tuberville has plenty of experience in college athletics, serving as head coach at Ole Miss (1995-98), Auburn (1999-08), Texas Tech (2010-12) and Cincinnati (2013-16). His most successful season came in 2004, when he led the Tigers to a 13-0 record and the #2 ranking in the AP Poll.
A Republican, Tuberville successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in Alabama in 2020, and then in 2023, took over as the state’s senior senator following Senator Richard Shelby‘s retirement.
Let’s apply that for coaches, as well. If they leave before their contract is up, they gotta sit out a year.
I think for coaches, that’s usually solved with money. Significant buyouts. I guess we’ve heard this retort through the years, “coaches get to transfer whenever they want, why not athletes?” and maybe buyouts didn’t used to be as prevalent, but they are now. Even for swim coaches.
Historically, that’s always felt like fair symmetry. Coaches get paid money, so they have financial consequences for a transfer. Athletes don’t, so they have had a different consequence for a transfer. Now that athletes get paid money, maybe they can be solved the same way.
There are some pending legal cases trying to see if schools can reclaim NIL money when athletes transfer or refuse to finish a season. I guess we’ll find… Read more »
Remember y’all tuberville is a republican so if you like this idea your a facist…you just don’t know it yet
Republican and a moron.
It’s unbelievable that this guy is a United States senator. He’s not even close to B final caliber in any category
*you’re* a facist
Let’s have the senate regulate college sports, and the NCAA can authorize the war in Iran.
Might actually yield better results
If money is the issue, I don’t think they will be able to prevent athletes from moving to get a higher income. I think there will be labor laws that will protect athletes ability to make money(move schools) during their eligibility.
If they want to lock in athletes to schools, let’s have coaches and administrators follow the same rules. They would get locked in and if they are fired(benched), they would need to sit out a year. The system is crazy right now but taking away the ability for a job seeker to gain more money doesn’t seem fair either.
The same Tommy Tuberville that famously left a recruiting dinner at Texas Tech to take the Cincinnati job
And left Ole Miss in the middle of the night to take the Auburn job
that’s all nice and good. but if you REALLY want to make a difference, start capping the revenue focus of football and basketball players. yes, the football program at most schools fund the bulk of remaining athletic departments and help prop-up the “non-revenue” olympic sports. i agree athletes should be compensated for their efforts because universities are making millions/billions off their efforts. athletics has become a business – and it’s not about academics. however, i do agree that these athletes (football and basketball) are now defacto free agents and can hop around at will. there has to be a better balance.
however, this current structure is skewering olympic sports and teams and programs are getting cut left and right because… Read more »
Interested to hear/read a little more what he feels about some of the rules some athletes use to be able to compete a 6th etc season due to injuries etc. I would not mind a clear 5 year maximum. I would not mind it starting from the year when a student graduate from high school.
What would arguments against the clock starting when you graduate from high school be?
Military service, religious commitments, injury, financial situations, family(adding or subtracting), and Olympic year training
“we’re gonna bring salaries down”