Purdue HC Matt Painter Isn’t Sold on NCAA’s New 15-Day Transfer Window

The NCAA has finally taken note of the collegiate teams’ outcry to revise the transfer portal guidelines. This reflects on its latest provision of a 15-day transfer portal, starting immediately after the NCAA Championships match in April. Although it brings out fairer regulation than the previous 30-day transfer portal, which used to begin in mid-March, Purdue head coach Matt Painter isn’t completely conceding to the idea.

The preceding rule posed a formidable challenge to the teams competing at the NCAA Championships, especially those competing in the business end of the tournament. For instance, last year, the men’s national championships concluded on April 7, while the transfer portal had opened in March. 22, offering a limited time to the teams competing during this period to explore the players in the portal.

The new rule eliminates a particular gray area and addresses some of Painter’s complaints against the NCAA. However, he feels the rules don’t completely eliminate the hurdle. “This will be better. It’s not fixing it, but it’s just the semantics of things, and it’ll be a little bit better,” Painter said in his recent press conference after the IOWA win.

Although the time for the transfer portal has been reduced, Matt Painter believes that teams that don’t get ranked for the NCAA Championships have had a fair idea of it for a few months. Thereby, they will still have a prolonged time to prepare for the roster as compared to the ranked teams. “70 percent of people are done starting the second week of March,” he said.

“People play conference tournament games on Feb. 27th and 28th. So, like you go all the way in the tournament that’s a lot of time. So, now as it hits, they were giving them six weeks, then they got four weeks, and now they’re getting two weeks. But a lot of them know like late November, early December, what they’re doing,” Matt Painter added further.

According to the new rules, the transfer portal will open on April 7, 2026. It will follow the conclusion of the women’s and men’s championships on April 5 and 6, respectively. However, there’s more to the new rules than just delaying the portal.

What NCAA’s Transfer Portal Delay Means

The latest development in the transfer portal is the third change to the originally 60-day portal announced in 2022. While the shortening of the transfer portal is the main crux of the new guidelines, several other nuances may catch the fans’ attention. For instance, the new rules also prohibit mid-year transfers to play for an NCAA school during an ongoing season if they had previously competed for an NCAA school before the transfer.

Interestingly, the 15-day transfer portal also has a provision in place when there’s a head coach change in a program. In that scenario, the respective program will have a 15-day transfer window, five days following their new head coach’s appointment. This five-day gap ensures a brief period for the new head coach to settle.

“If a new head coach is not announced within 30 days of the previous head coach’s departure and the 31st day after the head coach’s departure is after the championship game, a 15-day window will open, the statement issued by the NCAA further states. However, there is no restriction on the timeline of commitment for the players who have officially fulfilled their paperwork during the window. With these guidelines, has the NCAA been able to cover the grey areas around its bylaws?

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