The women's basketball recruiting process will change next year, following a Division I Council vote to modify recruiting rules in the sport.
During its meeting Wednesday at the 2022 NCAA Convention in Indianapolis, the Council revised legislation to contacts and evaluations, telephone calls, official visits and the recruiting calendar. The Women's Basketball Oversight Committee recommended modifications to the proposal before the approval, including changing the evaluation period in September to a contact period for seniors only and an evaluation period for all other prospective student-athletes and changing the effective date related to on-campus evaluations from immediate to Aug. 1, 2022.
"We learned a lot from recruiting adjustments in the pandemic, and we're excited to have this new model for our coaches and prospective student-athletes," said Shane Lyons, chair of the Division I Council and athletics director at West Virginia. "I commend our Women's Basketball Oversight Committee for its diligent work and collaboration with the Women's Basketball Coaches Association to revise the recruiting model for women's basketball."
A proposed change to the length of official visits was tabled and will be voted on in April after more discussion from other committees in the governance structure.
The Council also approved a proposal limiting a school's total regular-season playing schedule with outside competition during the women's basketball season to one of the following:
- 28 contests and one qualifying regular-season multiple-team event that does not exceed three contests per school.
- 29 contests and one qualifying regular-season multiple-team event that does not exceed two contests per school.
- 29 contests during a playing season in which the school does not participate in a qualifying regular-season multiple-team event.
Proposals were approved to reduce the number of recruiting-person days in men's basketball from 130 to 100 and eliminate the option for a student-athlete or prospective student-athlete to sign a written release declining the sickle cell solubility test before participating in athletically related activities.
Men's and Women's Basketball Oversight Committees
The Council adopted temporary emergency legislation in men's basketball to amend the July 2022 recruiting calendar to establish evaluation periods July 6-10 and July 20-24 with a quiet period for July 25-31.
A blanket waiver in men's and women's basketball that would have allowed student-athletes to compete in up to four regular-season conference contests without using a season of competition was defeated.
Modernization Legislative Track
The Council approved a proposal in the modernization legislative track that consolidates and simplifies the legislation that governs a staff member's attendance at banquets or meetings attended by prospective student-athletes.
Football Oversight Committee
Two recommendations from the Football Oversight Committee regarding physical contact for spring football practices were approved. One proposal limits full contact (tackling to the ground) to no more than 75 minutes in any one practice period that does not involve a scrimmage. The other prohibits practice sessions that include full contact from occurring on consecutive days. The proposals are effective for the 2022 spring practice period.
Transfer Waiver Guidelines
The Division I Council also approved delaying the implementation of the four-year college transfer waiver guidelines, set to take effect this month, to January 2023. Last May, the Council approved new waiver guidelines for student-athletes who aren't eligible for the one-time transfer exception. These guidelines apply to anyone who doesn't meet the criteria for the one-time transfer exception, including students wishing to transfer a second time.
The Council received an update on the transfer rates over the past year, seeing a significant drop in waiver requests since the council adopted a uniform one-time transfer rule.
Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports
Noncontroversial legislation was adopted to clarify that exceptions to the prohibitions on use of any substance in a banned-drug class may be provided to a student-athlete, as specified in the policies and procedures of the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. The recommendation was forwarded by the Division I Strategic Vision and Planning Committee from CSMAS.
NCAA Constitution
The Council voted to move all Division I legislative provisions (other than division dominant provisions) out of the NCAA constitution to appropriate existing or new bylaws.
