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After a cycle of transfer portal craziness and high profile eligibility cases that drew the ire of some fan bases, the NCAA is looking to tighten up some of the requirements when it comes to transfer guidelines.
According to Dan Wolken of USA Today, the NCAA Division I council approved a package of updated guidelines that could make it more difficult for college football and basketball players who transfer to receive immediate eligibility via waivers.
What do you need to know?
– The NCAA is classifying the changes as “minor clarifications.”
– Based on the new guidelines, paperwork will be more extensive for athletes seeking immediate eligibility
– The new guidelines are not rules but essentially a set of directions for the NCAA staff that makes initial waiver decisions.
Key changes…
– In cases where an athlete was run off by a coach or essentially had their scholarship pulled for non-disciplinary reasons, the NCAA will require a written statement from the athletics director at the previous school stating whether the athlete would not have had an opportunity to return to the team and why the athlete is transferring.
– Waivers should be granted for documented cases where the athlete was a victim of “physical assault or abuse, sexually inappropriate behavior, racial abuse, religious discrimination, questioning of sexuality by a staff member or student at the previous institution.”
– In cases where athletes transfer within 100-mile radius of their to home due to injury or illness to an immediate family member or because of a pregnancy, the NCAA’s proposal requires more paperwork from both schools, including “a treatment plan detailing the student-athlete’s caregiving responsibilities.”
More waiver requests than ever…
Overall requests across all sports increased to more than 250 in 2018-19 from more than 150 the previous year, according to AP.
