I believe you are reading it correctly.
I doubt all players will want to play for 5 years. Some will want to graduate and get a job. Unless the coach is offering them money to stay a 5th year (Mens water polo is first semester) I think 50% will leave after 4. Some may transfer to a graduate program for the 5th year, lots of options and uncertainty for sure. But simple math with 24 man rosters, old classes of 6.25 athletes per year would now be 4.8.
I’m sure this was all spearheaded by Football, so that some players can add a 5th year of Proffesional NCAA football to their earning years.
Wait until you start seing players that are cut by NFL teams, go back for another year of college
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What is beyond obscure as well, and quite entertaining to read about in other places, is where this fits within the JuCo world. Will it be 2+3 (I’d think so) or 2+5 .
Not to mention the lack of clarity as to what happens in case an athlete gets hurt and has to skip the season. The devil’s going to be in the details but the discussions are going to be entertaining for sure !
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Proposed new rule: The new model would allow student-athletes up to five years of eligibility beginning the regular academic year after they turn 19 or graduate from high school, whichever happens earlier.
Scenario 1: A 17-year-old graduates from high school and takes a gap year. Enrolls in college as a 19-year-old. Under the new rule, they’re only allowed 4 years of eligibility.
Scenario 2: A high schooler turns 19 in May of their senior year and enters college in August of the same year. Under the new rule, they’re allowed 5 years of eligibility.
Scenario 2 athlete is older than the scenario 1 athlete AND gets one more year of eligibility. Is my thinking correct?
Yes this is correct assuming they both graduate HS in the same year. I would comment the 19 year old likely spent their entire life being a year older than everyone since they started kindergarten late.
Bottom line with the new proposed rules, no reason to take a gap year and no redshirts. Everyone gets 5 years once they graduate HS.
Edit: I suppose a gap year could be beneficial for a player not expected to play right away - you could go to Europe gain valuable experience and then come back and have 4 years of eligibility remaining.
Correct and so you are not really loosing anything. You would have had 4 years of eligibility under the old rules and now, if you take a gap year, you still have the 4 yrs of eligibility. You don’t have 5 yrs like others might, because you made the choice to take a gap year off.
Under this rule anyone that would be less than 19yo at HS graduation should “reclassify” in order to try to compete with the Euros who may or may not have to comply with these rules.
I’m sure the Euros, the Aussies, the Canadians, ect ect will all have to comply to the same rule of 5 yrs after you turn 19.
In other words, nobody that is older than 24 should be playing in NCAA sports correct?
I know there are some exemptions for Olympics training, religion pilgrimages, injuries and maybe others.
I hope they really make it clear what is acceptable as an exemption for National team training. What if somebody takes 2 years to go play in Europe. Comes back to US and makes the Olympic team, for another year of training, and then claims those 3 years were all part of his training for the National team
So, female polo players who turn 19 sometime during their senior year of high school will only get 4 seasons in college? I guess what I’m asking is are the spring sports more impacted by this?
Suppose a water polo player turns 19 on Jan 1 of their senior year. If a boy, they have 5 years from that point and will get 5 college seasons. If a girl, the 5 years from that point will have 1 HS season and 4 college season. Yes?
EDIT- Nevermind
In the proposal, an athlete’s eligibility clock will begin in the academic year after they turn 19 or graduate from high school — whichever comes first — and will end in five years.
I disagree. Beyond the obvious loss of a year of eligibility, kids who may not feel ready for college will feel pressure to go straight to college after high school. That will not end well for some. As you say in a later post, “nobody that is older than 24 should be playing in NCAA sports correct?” In my scenario in my earlier post, both players would be 24 by the end of a fifth year but only one of them gets a fifth year of eligibility. Football and basketball, which see more reclassifying to an earlier grad year than gap years, are driving this rule change, and little thought is being given to other sports.
Oh yes, we all know what sports are driving this rule change, and all the rule changes we have seen over the last couple years, in an effort for them to maximize their earning years. You can’t blame them, if the money is there available for them, might as well get as much as you can, specially all those athletes that will not make it to the pros.
I think the way the NCAA is presenting this however, is that this new rule is an 'opportunity" to get a 5th year of eligibility, but some kids will be better suited for the old 4 yrs of college sports and then move on into working life, scenario.
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Yes, many players will opt to play 4 in 4, graduate and start their career. I could see more men’s water polo players staying one more semester since they could take one or two easy classes, practice and play one more season (first semester sport). Some would transfer for graduate school, some would get scholarships at other schools to play that one last year (we see that now). Girls would need to enroll for a full year, so walk on players even some scholarship players would opt to graduate and move on. My guess is if you make it to your 4th season (maybe 75 percent of college water polo players, would love to see that number) about 60 percent of the men would stay for 5 and 30 percent of women would stay. Coaches would beg impact players to stay, maybe that is the first year they get a scholarship, and probably not allow some to come back so they can make room for new recruits.
This popped up in my feed — interesting interview with Patrick McEnroe by Megyn Kelly about collegiate sports. I didn’t fact check but he said 60% of collegiate tennis players are international. Doesn’t sound like he knows about the proposed 5 for 5 that starts a clock for age. Sounds like 5for 5 could be good for many sports.
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FYI, there’s a longer interview, this is just a clip. Haven’t had a chance to listen to the whole thing
I tried to post the longer version yesterday and it got hidden by the moderator (not sure why - maybe because link from X). seems like lot of parallels with NCAA water polo.
Two interesting points in this article that I’ve not read elsewhere:
- It also would give flexibility to currently enrolled athletes with eligibility after the 2025-26 academic year to apply the age-based model or continue previous eligibility rules, whichever is more beneficial to that individual.
- The NCAA Eligibility Center also would review any prospects who graduated high school before spring 2026 but are not yet enrolled in college. (Gap year athletes?) All other high school prospects would have to adhere to the age-based model.
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That is my question…what about the international students? I have heard the…well, you will be competing for a spot with X player from Italy, he will be a freshman but he’s 23. How does this potential new rule apply to them? If technically a US athlete will be finished competing at age 24, does the same apply? And if yes, does it allow more US athletes opportunities to compete?