The one-time transfer rule is now official.
Ratified by the NCAA Division I Board of Directors this week, the rule will allow all athletes who have not yet transferred the ability to do so one time in their college career and be immediately eligible to play.
Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson, for one, has already taken full advantage of the new rule. The second-year head coach, whose team opted out of the 2020-21 season early, has signed seven transfers since Duke’s season ended: Nyah Green (Louisville), Celeste Taylor (Texas), Lexi Gordon (Texas Tech), Imani Lewis (Wisconsin), Amaya Finklea-Guity (Syracuse), Jordyn Oliver (Baylor) and Elizabeth Balogun (Louisville).
The proposed legislation, which was previously available to some athletes but not all, was adopted earlier this month and made official on Wednesday. NCAA athletes who have not yet transferred can benefit from the ruling starting with the 2021-22 academic year.
The exception to the rule will be athletes who decide to transfer after graduating.
Previously, graduate students were permitted to transfer and be immediately eligible. Now, if an athlete has already used their one-time exception as an undergraduate, they will have to seek out and be granted a waiver to become automatically eligible as a graduate transfer.