By Packy Moore

10/9/2024

Council also transitions NLI into NCAA signing rules

The Division I Council on Tuesday approved changes to the notification-of-transfer windows in football and men’s and women’s basketball from a total of 45 days to 30 days, effective immediately.

The changes, which were initially introduced in June, are intended to provide greater stability to student-athletes and programs, in better alignment with academic terms and, in some cases, professional league draft rules.

“With several years of data now available, we know that the vast majority of student-athletes are entering the portal within the first four weeks of it opening,” said Josh Whitman, athletics director at Illinois and chair of the council. “The NCAA remains committed to adjusting to the rapidly changing collegiate athletics landscape while continuing to keep student-athletes at the forefront of our decision-making process. These window adjustments met that standard.”

Moving forward, the notification-of-transfer windows in basketball will be open for 30 days, starting the day after the conclusion of the second round of each NCAA Division I championship, when 91% of teams in both men’s and women’s basketball have concluded their season. For the 2024-25 academic year, the window will be open March 24-April 22 for men’s basketball and March 25-April 23 for women’s basketball.

In both the Football Championship Subdivision and the Football Bowl Subdivision, the notification-of-transfer windows will be a total of 30 days spread over two windows. The first window will open the Monday after the FBS conference championship weekend for 20 days, and the second window will open in the spring for 10 days. For the 2024-25 academic year, the windows will be open Dec. 9-28 and April 16-25.

The changes were recommended and supported by the Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees and the Football Oversight Committees on Tuesday before the council meeting and were adopted Tuesday by the council — which includes a voting representative from each Division I conference, as well as student-athlete representatives.

Student-athletes seeking to transfer and be recruited by other schools to compete the following year must provide their current school with administrative notice during the window for their sport. The window is for notice only and does not impact the amount of time a student might need to decide whether to ultimately transfer and to what school.

In all sports, student-athletes whose head coach leaves the school would continue to have an additional 30-day transfer window beginning the day after a coach’s departure.

National Letter of Intent

The council also adopted changes to NCAA signing rules that transition the National Letter of Intent program protections into signing and recruiting rules, effective immediately. The change was made at the recommendation of the Conference Commissioners Association, which previously had administrative oversight of the NLI program.

Moving forward, written offers of athletics aid will replace the NLI, and the previous formula for determining signing dates will be applied to those written offers. Transfer prospects may be signed by a new school once their names are permissibly entered in the Transfer Portal. After a prospect signs a written offer of athletics aid, other schools that offer athletically related financial aid will be prohibited from recruiting communications with that prospect.

MTEs in basketball

The council received an update from the Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees, which approved a blanket waiver for the 2024-25 season for multiple-team event rules that otherwise limit each event to one team per conference and limit teams from participating in the same event more than once in a four-year period.

Both oversight committees will conduct a thorough review of MTE requirements in the next year, including whether to extend the blanket waiver for 2025-26.

Proposal for reclassification requirements

The council introduced a proposal that would change reclassification rules for schools transitioning from Division II or Division III into Division I. The proposal is expected to be considered for a vote during the council’s January meeting at the 2025 NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

If adopted in January, the proposal — which was recommended by the Division I Strategic Vision and Planning Committee — would reduce the transition period for schools reclassifying from Division II to Division I to three years (down from four years under existing rules). For schools reclassifying from Division III to Division I, the transition period would be four years (down from five under existing rules).

COURTESY NCAA COMMUNICATIONS