The NCAA has released its new transfer data for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 academic years ahead of Thursday’s opening of the transfer portal for the 2022-2023 season.
The new data will be the last before new transfer portal policies take effect. Originally envisioned as a way to streamline and empower athletes seeking to transfer, many felt that the portal went too far, allowing open season on transfers at any time during the season.
Under new rules in effect this year, though, there are limited windows for athletes to enter the transfer portal. For winter sports, there is one transfer portal period. That period, which opens Thursday for D1 women, begins the day following championship selection and lasts 60 days.
After initially announcing the rule change, the NCAA later granted emergency legislation that provided waivers to graduate transfers, who are allowed to enter the portal at any time. While graduate transfers can happen at any time, they have become more prominent in the era of the 5th year of eligibility awarded to student-athletes who competed in the COVID-riddled 2020-2021 NCAA season.
Transfer Data
In total in 2022, 11,902 NCAA Division I student-athletes entered the transfer portal and transferred to another NCAA school, which is an increase from the 10,129 who entered the portal in 2021. Swimming, however, saw decreases in NCAA transfers for both men and women.
78% of those entrants across all sports transferred to another Division I school.
In swimming & diving, transfers peaked in in April 2022, after the conclusion of the March NCAA Championships, where they exploded again. That’s compared to the prior season, where they peaked in August, at the start of the season, as colleges were deciding what to do with their COVID seasons.
57% of student-athletes who entered the transfer portal in 2022 enrolled at a new NCAA member school. Swimming & diving saw a slightly-lower percentage than that find new NCAA programs – 54%.
Swimming Data, Transfer Portal Entries
- 2021 Women: 122 undergraduate, 37 graduate, 159 total
- 2022 Women: 119 undergraduate, 39 graduate, 158 total
- 2021 Men: 88 undergraduate, 14 graduate, 102 total
- 2022 Men: 52 undergraduate, 39 graduate, 91 total
Wonder what school will be most transfers this year… UF?…especially after NCAA
Why would the transfer portal open up so close to NCAAs? Shouldn’t they wait until after NCAAs are over?