The NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Transfer Portal Is Closed — Time To Break Down The Numbers

Post in collaboration with Springboard Creative

The men’s NCAA swimming and diving transfer portal has closed for the 2024-25 season and like we did for the women’s transfer portal, we’ve collaborated with Springboard Creative to break down all the numbers. There is still an exception for swimmers whose head coaches have left the program, like Wisconsin, but these numbers provide the most complete look at what’s been a busy season in the portal.

Overview

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Overall, 311 men from 78 different programs entered the Division I transfer portal. That’s less than the 346 women from 113 different programs, but it’s still the highest total number of entries. 78 programs are also still over half the Division I swimming and diving programs.

It is interesting to see that even with the SEC reportedly limiting men’s swimming and diving teams to a 22-man roster, there are still fewer male entries to the transfer portal than female entries. Though, there will only be a portal entry if the swimmer is trying to find a new program, the data does not account for swimmers who retire from the sport before their eligibility is over. However, these factors may be reflected in the fact that 66% of the Division I athletes in the transfer portal were from Power Four programs.

The issue of roster limits is ongoing as the House vs. NCAA settlement still awaits final approval or denial from Judge Claudia Wilken. Yesterday, the parties submitted a revised filing that permits (rather than mandates) schools to grandfather-in athletes currently on roster, those who have already been cut this year, and high school recruits who enrolled after committing to a then-eliminated roster spot. It remains unclear if Judge Wilken will accept these changes and grant final approval. Objectors now have a week to file responses to the revised settlement.

Of course, there are reasons beyond roster limits for why an athlete enters the transfer portal. But the ripple effects of the House vs. NCAA settlement have contributed to the numbers ballooning this season.

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The graph above shows how much the number of male Division I swimmers and divers in the transfer portal shot up after being fairly stable for the past three seasons. 264 of this year’s entrants put their names in during the spring window. That’s more people who entered the portal during this season’s spring window than the total number who entered during each of the past six seasons. This is likely due to the majority of swimmers and divers learning their roster spot was cut after the 2025 NCAA postseason concluded.

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This breakdown of graduates versus undergraduates in the portal over the last seven seasons reflects what we saw in the women’s transfer portal data. This year, the number of graduate transfers has dropped after exploding during the past three seasons as the 2024-25 season due to the lack of a COVID-19 fifth year for this class of seniors.

Spring Breakdown — By School

Power Four Conferences By School

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The reported SEC roster limits show up in full effect when you compare the Power Four programs against each other. The three Power Four programs with the most athletes in the portal are all from the SEC: Auburn leads with 15, followed by Kentucky at 13 and Texas at 11.

Virginia Tech and Indiana both have 10 men entered in the portal, which keeps them high up in the rankings for programs with the most athletes in the portal, as they were on the women’s side. NC State and Ohio State both match them with 10 athletes of their own entered in the portal.

Mid-Major Programs By School

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As far as the mid-major programs go, it’s no surprise to see Cal Poly with the most athletes in the portal. The program was cut in March and though athletes have organized a campaign to raise $20 million by June 4 to save their program, athletes had to enter the transfer portal before it closed if they wanted the chance to swim for another program.

The majority of the other mid-major programs with athletes in the portal only have a few, but Niagara does have nine male athletes in the portal and St. Peter’s has five.

Spring Breakdown — By Conference

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As we mentioned above, the SEC dominates with 76 athletes entered in the portal. That’s the most among all Division I conferences, 28 more than the 48 ACC athletes entered. No mid-major conference has more athletes entered in the portal than any of the Power Four conferences, though the Big West has 26 athletes entered, nine less than the Big XII (which has the least athletes entered among the Power Four).

Division II and III

The DII and DIII conferences function differently than the DI transfer portal, namely because there is not a specific window where the portal is open. Still, there has been action in the portal.

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136 Division II athletes have entered the portal. 73 of these athletes, or 54%, are international students. Note that though the Division portals function differently, it doesn’t limit an athlete from transferring from Division II to Division I or vice versa. We’ve seen several examples of that on the women’s side, and schools like West Virginia, Kentucky, Cal Baptist, UCSB, and Fairfield have all made additions from Division II on the men’s side.

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Once again, there’s a steep drop from the number of athletes in Division I and II compared to Division III. Just 23 male swimmers and divers from Division III entered the transfer portal this year, 22 of whom were swimmers.

+/- Pick Ups By Division I School

If you really want to nerd out over the transfer portal data, Springboard Creative has essentially tracked the pickups and losses each school has had in the transfer portal as of May 6th. So, for example, you can see that West Virginia lost one athlete to the portal but added five, resulting in a +4 difference.

Power Four Programs

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Mid-Major Programs

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