A new proposal would extend the NCAA’s “year in residence” requirement to all sports, requiring all transfers to sit out a full year before rejoining NCAA competition, though other proposals would allow students with a certain GPA to bypass that requirement.
The proposals are part of lots of potential tweaks to the NCAA transfer system mostly built around revenue sports. CBS Sports reported in January on a sweeping proposal, originated in the Big 12, which would make some major changes to the transfer landscape for all sports.
Currently, there exists a “year in residence” requirement that forces transfers to sit out one year before returning to NCAA competition – but that requirement is only in place for five NCAA sports: football, hockey, baseball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. In all other sports, an athlete is immediately eligible to compete, provided they receive a release from their former school. (When swimmers or divers have to sit out a year in a transfer situation, it’s often because either their previous school didn’t release them or they couldn’t get an NCAA waiver allowing them to compete.)
The Big 12 proposal would essentially extend the stricter transfer rules to all other sports, while creating more exceptions. Athletes would be allowed to compete immediately if their coach was fired or left the school, or if their program gets hit with an NCAA postseason ban.
Another proposal would establish a GPA threshold by which athletes with a certain grade point average could compete immediately after transferring. CBS Sports reported this week that the current proposal sets the GPA bar at 3.3. That means athletes with a GPA of 3.3 or better could transfer without sitting out a year, while those with GPAs of 3.2 or lower would have to sit out the year upon transferring. That would currently only affect the five sports with the sit-out requirement, but would affect swimming & diving if the stricter rules are extended to all sports.
The GPA threshold proposal has come under fire, though, from critics who say it unfairly impacts student-athletes who are racial minorities. CBS Sports reports that 47 percent of transferring white athletes would be eligible to compete under the 3.3 GPA proposal, while only 14 percent of African-American transfers would be eligible. The racial disparity has also added some fire to the stark divide between revenue-generating sports (which generally have much higher participation by student-athletes in racial minorities) and non-revenue sports.
Big 12 faculty reps wrote to the NCAA, criticizing transfer rules that “would favor white student-athletes whose efforts do not generate positive revenue over African-American student-athletes whose efforts do,” per CBS Sports. Critics also say the GPA threshold could lead to lawsuits and a flood of waiver applications. One athletic director is quoted in the CBS Sports piece noting that students who miss the GPA threshold by a small amount could point to a concussion incurred during competition as the reason for missing the threshold.
Best news ever!!!! These kids transfering are getting way out of control.
Interesting. USA Swimming club swimmers who pay to be on their club team of choice have MORE restrictions on their eligibility after transferring teams than NCAA swimmers do under existing rules for both organizations. USA Swimming swimmers must wait 120 days before they are eligible to represent their new team. NCAA swimmers transferring for the first time are immediately eligible based on the one-time transfer exemption.
So where is the clamoring to let club swimmers “go when they want to go”?
Most minor league baseball players, who sign out of high school make LESS than an NCAA swim program will spend on a walk on swimmer, let alone a scholarship swimmer, but the cannot change team if they don’t… Read more »
The USA Swimming rule doesn’t prevent swimmers from competing entirely for 120 days, it only prevents swimmers from scoring points for–or swimming relays with–their new team.
Nor does the NCAA prevent swimmers from competing entirely. College swimmers who sit a year in residence can still train with their college teams and compete outside of the NCAA in USA Swimming meets or any other non-NCAA meets.
That’s true. However, how many college coaches and programs can afford to provide any scholarship money whatsoever towards a swimmer who cannot contribute towards the team during meets? So not only are they more than likely having to forego any financial assistance for their education, but then they’d be personally responsible for funding their own travel and registration fees for any non-NCAA meets they attend.
As others have stated, the decision and act of transferring schools is already difficult enough both logistically, financially, and mentally for anyone, much less a young person. Why put up so many other potential roadblocks? It’s about the student, and it’s about swimming. Why is the NCAA so adamant about doing anything whatsoever that… Read more »
Except that is NOT what the NCAA is actually doing. The PROPOSAL, by the Big 12 Conference, not the NCAA, to require the year in residence for all transfers has been met with a lot of resistance. Just because acrule is proposed, does not mean it will pass.
As I pointed out in a previous post, there is no agreement on any of the current transfer eligibility proposals. The NCAA is not adamant about this. They actually just made it EASIER to request a transfer.
My feedback to our conference leadership was that we should keep the1 time transfer exemption for scholarship athletes providing they meet current NCAA academic eligibility rules, just as all athletes must, that walk-on… Read more »
Is there speculation Dean Farris is transferring to NC State?
The swimmer is worried about having no money as a transfer…but that’s somehow the NCAA’s fault for “not protecting the swimmer”? How does that logic work?
Can we do the same for coaches who break NCAA rules, how about we make them sit out a year?.. A school gets the death penalty under your watch and your out of the NCAA.
Those rules already exist in the NCAA, and not just for death penalty situations. Google “NCAA show cause penalty”. Yes
Not enforced.
I get that you don’t like the NCAA, but can we please stick with facts. It is simply not true that show cause orders are not enforced. Just google it.
For a very incomplete list of coaches who had show cause penalties enforced, you can start here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show-cause_penalty
Steve, don’t come on these message boards with your crazy facts! And no one wants to hear these facts and opinions from a very well respected D1 coach who has been around for years and knows the ins and outs of these rules better than anyone else posting on here. This is SwimSwam. We only tolerate outrage and misguided blaming. Flyer hates the NCAA so no facts will change that. SMH…. Get it together man! 😉
If a school fires a coach who is under show cause or doesn’t hire one because of that, that is not the NCAAs fault… They are enforced, but the problem might be that schools will quickly forgive them when the time is up.
I’m a college coach. I can leave my school and coach at another school immediately. My athletic director can do the same. The college president can as well. Who is the NCAA to restrict the rights of student-athletes by forcing them to sit out a year? It’s a terrible rule, regardless of sport or division.
Maybe kids should look into where they commit a little more than just going somewhere with sick tailgates
What?!? that makes too much sense!!
But on the other hand the only teenager with that kind of sleuthing ability is Nancy Drew and maybe the Boxcar Boys….
It is important to note that there is no general consensus on how to proceed on transfer eligibility rules. Here are the current “Key Takeaways” as quoted from the latest NCAA DI Council Transfer Eligibility Working Group report:
“There is no consensus around a uniform transfer eligibility rule. Feedback indicates a wide range of ideas on the subject. The Transfer Working Group will seek input through spring and summer conference and association meetings on various concepts, including:
1) An academic-based transfer exception;… Read more »
2) Elimination of the one-time transfer exception, with no new broadly available exception created (e.g., all student-athletes serve a year of residence);
3) An exception for student-athletes who are not on athletics aid (e.g., walk- ons)
Seek input from who. Not the athletes but the coaches who want power come on
The athletes are represented by their SAAC reps and have been involved directly all the way through the process. As originally noted, the input now requested will come from the conference level, so if you are an athlete, contact your conference SAAC reps.