NCAA’s Transfer Revolution: The Game-Changing Move that Comes With Unintended Consequences

After months of speculation, the NCAA Division 1 Council has announced a long-awaited change to its transfer rules that will drastically change the collegiate sports landscape.

“Allowing student-athletes a one-time opportunity to transfer and compete immediately provides a uniform, equitable and understandable approach that benefits all student-athletes,” said Division I Council vice chairman Jon Steinbrecher. “The decision is consistent with Division 1’s goal of modernizing its rules to prioritize student-athlete opportunity and choice.”

The approval of this new rule would allow for all collegiate players to transfer one time as an undergraduate without having to sit out for a season, which is what current regulations require. While this has been available to several sports for years now, it has only recently been approved and made official for football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s ice hockey, and men’s baseball players who transfer from one Division 1 university to another. It is a significant change to the collegiate sports landscape that overturns rules that have been in place since the 1960s, and it is likely to come with numerous unintended consequences. While athletes themselves are fond of this decision for the most part, coaches and those at the top of the sport view it as worrisome and highly concerning.

“It’s going to change the landscape of college football,” said John Grass, head football coach at Jacksonville State in Alabama. “Certain things happen, and it changes the recruiting landscape. When the grad transfer thing happened, that drastically changed things. Cost of attendance changed things. This one will change things.”

The changes are already happening. The new legislation is claimed to be responsible for the significant surge in the transfer portal, as a record number of athletes are looking for immediate play at a new school. According to a list compiled by 247Sports, roughly 3,000 players combined from men’s football and basketball are actively in the portal, and at least a third of these are walk-ons. This uptick in transfer interest is concerning to many coaches because it means that many in the portal will not find a permanent landing spot for their athletic abilities.

“Does that slow it down, when you tell a young person, ‘Hey, you can enter the portal but it doesn’t mean you’re going to definitely get a home out of this?’” said Shane Lyons, West Virginia athletic director and chairman of the NCAA football oversight committee.

Another concern among coaches regarding this “free agency” is that recruiting tactics will change to focus more on transfer students rather than high school recruits, thus adversely impacting both the visibility and scholarship chances of younger, incoming college recruits. Additionally, many fear that it will also further exacerbate the gap between the more powerful programs and the smaller schools, as the more dominant institutions will easily be able to poach players from the weaker ones.

However, despite these concerns, some coaches are optimistic that the current consequences and concerns being felt by this new decision are not permanent, and athletic programs will be able to adapt accordingly.

“It’s really crazy right now. Never seen anything like this,” said Oakland University men’s basketball coach Greg Kampe regarding the transfer portal, “but two years from now, it’s like the stock market — it’s going to find its way and recorrect itself.”

While the legislation still needs final ratification by the Division 1 Board of Directors (who will meet on April 28th), it is looking like the Council’s groundbreaking decision is the future of NCAA’s most popular collegiate sports. Adaptability and optimistic acceptance are the keys to staying on top of this new rule change and ensuring success within athletic programs.

“The coaches that embrace all these changes are the ones that will adapt,” said Washington State athletic director Pat Chun. “The ones that can’t adapt to the sea of change are the ones that are going to struggle.”