NCAA Adopts New Reclassification Policy

The NCAA has amended its reclassification policy for schools looking to move up from Division 2 and Division 3 to Division 1. Included in the new policy is a shortening of the reclassification process by one year provided the schools meet the new criteria. From the NCAA’s release:

“Conferences inviting Division II and III schools to join Division I must confirm the school meets academic requirements, including being above the 10th percentile of Division I members in the Academic Progress Rate, Graduation Success Rate, or the difference between the federal graduation rates for student-athletes and for the general student body.

Reclassifying schools also must participate in an academic review, satisfy all Division I core guarantees and attestation requirements, complete an NCAA self-study program and meet new financial aid requirements, such as a scholarship offering that exceeds the 10th percentile of active Division I members.

Reclassifying schools also must participate in an academic review, satisfy all Division I core guarantees and attestation requirements, complete an NCAA self-study program and meet new financial aid requirements, such as a scholarship offering that exceeds the 10th percentile of active Division I members.”

For schools moving up from D2 to D1, the change allows them to become a fully eligible D1 member in three years instead of four, provided they meet the requirements. For D3 to D1 schools (only St. Thomas (MN) right now), the process is shortened from five years to four years, provided they meet the requirements. There are currently nine schools moving from D3 and D2 to D1 which might shorten the reclassification process by a year by achieving the parameters set by the NCAA’s new policy.

All three divisions have changed the reclassification process which can shorten the transition period by one year. For schools moving up to D1, it is now three years if a school is joining from D2 and four years if it is joining from D3. For D2 and D3, it is now as quick as two years if a school is joining. Any move is contingent upon achieving the standards outlined by the NCAA. A full listing of teams currently reclassifying or will start the process in the future is provided below.

The NCAA also changed its policy on single-sport conferences, which might be interesting for some sports. Conferences can have as many single-sport sponsorships as they wish but each sport will be considered separate. Furthermore, the single-sport conference must be active for two years before it becomes eligible for a postseason tournament. The new policy applies to all sports except football and basketball.

One example where this might show up is in men’s hockey, which currently has 5 independent schools with a 6th possibly the way. If these schools created a new conference for men’s hockey, it would have to play two active seasons (likely 2025-26 and 2026-27 with all six members) before it becomes eligible to receive an automatic bid to the hockey tournament. Based on the “becomes eligible” wording, there’s no guarantee a new single-sport conference is guaranteed to receive an automatic bid unless the Committee approves it. There are other criteria a potential new men’s hockey-only conference needs to reach such as having 75% of its membership in Division 1, which is currently not the case with Alaska Anchorage (D2), Alaska Fairbanks (D2), Lindenwood (D1), Long Island (D1), Stonehill (D1), and possibly Tennessee State (D1).

“Clarified the single-sport conference application and membership process to limit single-sport conferences to one sport and one gender. An entity may operate multiple single-sport conferences, but each new sport added under the entity’s umbrella would be considered a new single-sport conference for the purpose of NCAA rules. The conference must be active for two years before it is eligible for an automatic bid to the NCAA-sponsored championship.”

Summary and Thoughts

The reclassification policy change by the NCAA is sensible at first glance. Allowing schools to accelerate the process is a good move and what is outlined above is strikingly similar to what we’ve advocated for with FCS to FBS changes. Whether the NCAA amends the FCS to FBS policy anytime soon remains to be seen but given some of the changes implemented in 2023 it seems unlikely the FBS will make membership changes more favorable to hopeful FCS programs. The D1 reclassification change also makes sense considering the moves into Division 2 were accelerated from three years to two years beginning with the 2024-25 academic year if applicants meet specific criteria. There was no justifiable reason to penalize schools for reaching all the benchmarks set by the NCAA ahead of schedule only to make them ineligible for the final year. It’s good to see the NCAA provide an option that allows schools to participate in an NCAA championship sooner.

Photo courtesy of NCAA / NCAA Photos