College football compliance officials across the country are scrambling for an explanation from the NCAA over a decision that appears to be all but closing the transfer portal at the end of the fall semester.
A law adopted in August indicates that given the annual financial aid limit of 85 scholarship players, the program has no room for additional undergraduate transfers for the semester. Thousands of athletes who have already accessed the portal in hopes of enrolling in a new school and starting practice at the start are likely to be left vague.
One compliance veteran described the situation this way: The effect of the current NCAA language is that all doors are closed.
“What that means is they’re effectively shutting down the portal,” the anguished Power Five head coach told CBS Sports. “It’s a cluster.”
The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for clarification. However, the document distributed to NCAA members on Tuesday appears to have been removed from the association’s website on Thursday afternoon.
Under NCAA rules, football teams that have reached the annual scholarship limit of 85 players are required to remove some of these players during the semester under a variety of circumstances, including transfers, ineligibility, graduation, and leaving the team. can be replaced with What the circulated document states is that a four-year transfer cannot be entered as a substitute and will not count toward the maximum annual scholarship for that sport.
The only students who can regain their lost scholarships are the next high school athletes and alumni transfers. This situation runs counter to the NCAA’s current move towards deregulation and a more athlete-friendly environment. It may also give rise to legal challenges.
“The calls of compliance governance people at conference offices around the country started to explode,” said an NCAA compliance expert who spoke to CBS Sports on condition of anonymity. “what [the NCAA] Many were caught off guard here. ”
What most coaches, compliance officers and managers understood to be Proposition 2022-20 is what was called “guidance” in two NCAA documents sent out earlier this week. . In late August, the NCAA Board of Governors 2022-20 established a transfer window for all sports. An NCAA Division I question-and-answer document attached Tuesday said, “Her four-year transfer of an incoming undergraduate [can] replace the counter [departed athlete] Are you using an existing exception?”
NCAA Response: “No.”
A compliance source called the decision a “record shriek.”
Normally, schools that replace retired athletes during the semester are allowed to count their scholarships into the next academic year if they exceed the maximum allotment of scholarships. 85 people, limited to 25 people per recruitment class. In men’s basketball, that number is 13 per year, and unlimited up to that number for certain recruiting classes.
Currently, according to the NCAA, mid-year transfers count towards the “that year” scholarship limit.
Some Power Five compliance officers have already reached out to the NCAA to address the problem language.
