NCAA announces new spring transfer window for Division I football calendar

The NCAA announced on Wednesday a tweak to the transfer windows for college football that were recently established and announced late this summer.

The original transfer window for the spring was set for May 1-15, but has now been moved up two weeks, essentially, and will run from April 15-30. The windows were created to establish a clearer timeline for coaches and players to know when flight to the transfer portal might occur. The latest tweak is designed to fit better with the football and academic timelines most players face.

“The Football Oversight Committee proposed the change to allow participation discussions to occur at the conclusion of spring football, while also providing football student-athletes with more time to go through the transfer process and arrive at a new school before the start of summer activities,” a release announcing the change read.

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The established windows from the NCAA are the prescribed timeframe for a player to inform a coach that they intend to enter the portal. They do not have to make a decision or transfer within the 15-day span, only inform coaches of their intent.

The football spring transfer window for spring has changed but the rest of the NCAA designated windows remain

From an NCAA press release on the rule change in August: “The board adopted the following notification-of-transfer windows: Fall sports: a 45-day window beginning the day after championships selections are made in their sport, or May 1-15. Reasonable accommodations will be made for participants in the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision championship games. Winter sports: a 60-day window beginning the day after championships selections are made in the sport. Spring sports: Dec. 1-15, or a 45-day window beginning the day after selections are made in the sport.”

In the same release, it is noted that the NCAA will not be adopting immediate eligibility beyond the one-time exception now on the books.

Per the release: “The board opted not to enact a new exception to the transfer rules that would allow student-athletes to transfer multiple times and be immediately eligible if they meet progress-toward-degree requirements at their new school. However, the board remains committed to continuing to study the impact of the new transfer rules in both the short and long term.”

On the infractions front, the much-maligned, mostly-inert Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) has been killed off after being created in 2019 in response to the federal investigation into cheating in college basketball recruiting.

But after placing a moratorium on new case referrals earlier this year, the NCAA has now decided not to bring it back.

Per a separate NCAA release: “During that time, the Transformation Committee charged the IPC [Infractions Process Committee] with considering overall changes to the infractions process. The IPC determined that discontinuing the independent process — when combined with the proposals to modernize the peer-review process — would streamline the overall infractions process and make better use of membership and national office resources.”

The release noted that further changes to improve the infractions process are being considered.