CHANGES TO NCAA TRANSFER PORTAL WINDOW

The Transfer Portal has had an increasing effect on high school recruiting over the last three years and will likely continue to impact recruiting opportunities in the future. On Tuesday, October 8th, the Division I Council approved changes the transfer windows in men's and women's basketball from a total of 45 days to 30 days. This change is effective immediately.

According to the NCAA, "The changes 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."

In basketball, the transfer window will be open for 30 days, starting the day after the conclusion of the second round of each NCAA Division I Championship. For this year, the window will be open March 24-April 22 for men's basketball and March 25-April 23 for women's basketball.

According to the NCAA, "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."

One exception to this new timeline, is if a head coach leaves a student-athlete's current school, that athlete would continue to have an additional 30-day transfer window beginning the day after a coach's departure.