National Letter of Intent (NLI) agreements are slated to become less binding for athletes after the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) announced a series of policy changes on Tuesday.
NLIs (not to be confused with NIL, which stands for name, image, and likeness) are one-year scholarships that have been a part of the NCAA Division I and Division II recruiting process for nearly since 1964. Under the nearly 60-year-old framework, athletes who broke their NLI contract were prevented from competing for one season at their next destination.
The new policy will allow athletes to renege on their NLI agreement due to a head coaching change.The CCA is adding another exception for athletes to leave without penalty after completing one quarter or one semester of school.
For swimmers (and all sports other than football and basketball), the change will take effect November 8, 2023, when the 2023-24 signing period opens for 2024-25 enrollees. The 2023-24 signing period ends August 1, 2024.
The CCA also said it is expanding the NLI program to include four-year transfers in the portal. Transfers will now be able to sign NLIs, which triggers a recruiting ban that prevents other schools from poaching recruits, as opposed to financial aid guarantees. Big Sky Conference commissioner Tom Wistrcill said the changes are intended to modernize the system to better reflect the recruiting landscape.
In order for transfers to sign NLIs, they must have entered into the portal during a designated window, which the NCAA is also looking at modifying next season. On Tuesday, the NCAA Division I Council proposed cutting in half the windows to enter the transfer portal, from 60 days to 30 days. A final vote will take place in October, about a year after the transfer portal window system was implemented last fall.
Cutting the window in half is terrible for student athletes
How? Does it really take athletes 60 days after the season to decide if they want to transfer? Most of them have their mind made up before the season is over
Will be difficult to initiate contact with coaches and visit schools in such a short timeframe.
They have 30 days to enter. Not 30 days to decide where they are going. Most already know that they are going in by the end of the championship season.
Coincidence that it’s a Kentucky commit for the picture of the article?