What Thursday’s NCAA Rule Changes Mean for College Softball

On January 11th, the NCAA’s D1 Council officially made changes that directly affect college softball.

Effective July 1, 2023, college softball staffs can expand to a total of four paid coaches. The new rule eliminates the volunteer coach designation and now allows the 4th coach to be included among countable coaches. Those now in volunteer roles will now be in position to be school employees, receives salary and benefits, and be able to recruit freely.

Importantly, the proposal to expand to *five* paid, countable coaches was rejected.

Volunteer coaches are common across Division I, from Power 5 teams to mid-major programs, and the new legislation had received some heated debate as it was being considered for this vote. Power 5 programs were particularly in favor of the rule change, as it gives them more flexibility with their staffs. Some mid-major coaches, though, had decried the legislation as serving to only deepen the divide between programs able to financially take advantage of the new rule and those who would not be able to do so.

The coaches currently in the volunteer roles are the biggest winners here; no longer will they have to pay for their own health insurance or get their salary from camp funds. Ratifying the 4th paid coach rule change while rejecting the 5th paid coach proposal also presents an interesting predicament; had coaching staffs been able to move to five paid coaches, it could have dramatically shifted the tides on the coaching carousel.

Remaining at a cap of four paid coaches does likely mean some shifting opinions on how that fourth spot is filled; right now, many programs fill their volunteer role with recently-graduated players or someone who fits a certain bill – perhaps, at times, as simple as throwing batting practice a certain way. Some volunteer coaches may also hold that role for a specific reason – perhaps alongside another, full-time position in the private sector or as a side “gig” after their full-retirement, for instance.

Those considerations and criteria for filling the 4th coaching role are almost guaranteed to change across the board for programs with this rule change.

The consideration of what this rule change means for smaller-market programs is a very real question. Small college softball programs certainly cannot take advantage of the rule change like those at larger, high-profile schools. In fact, many small-market programs do not even currently have a full, 3-member staff and make do with just one assistant and, in places, others who “show up to help” when they’re able.

A common refrain among those in opposition to the 4th paid coach proposal was “deepening the divide between the haves and have-nots”. The sentiment is fair, but the overall conclusion isn’t; there are absolutely things going on that do serve to draw a line between athletic departments that are well-off financially and those that do not have the same means, but ratifying the 4th paid coach legislation doesn’t truly belong on that list. Schools that have resources at their disposal have always boasted deeper coaching staffs and had more personnel at their disposal; the most crucial piece and takeaway from Wednesday’s D1 Council decision is that those coaches can now be paid and receieve benefits like any employee instead of truly being volunteers.

Also on Wednesday, the D1 Council closed a loophole that will no longer allow softball players to transfer at the semester break and be eligible to play in the spring for a new school.

College baseball already had a similar rule in place, basically requiring players who transfer during the fall or winter to sit out the immediately-following college season. College softball, though, did not have such a rule in place until Wednesday.

The inclusion of the new transfer windows – which go into full effect in 2023 – already limited the time period during which a college softball player can enter the transfer portal, but the new rule change eliminates the potential for a player leaving one school in the fall and playing for a new one in the spring. The practice had become commonplace over the last few years.

Mid-year roster additions will no longer come from the transfer portal.

Players electing to enter the portal and transfer for a second time were also addressed by the D1 Council on Wednesday, as the group limited the criteria under which those players can acquire a transfer waiver. Now, the only potential criteria to receive a waiver include “a demonstrated physical injury or illness or mental health condition” and “exigent circumstances that clearly necessitate a student-athlete’s immediate departure from the previous school”.

Provisions for athletic reasons, such as lack of playing time, and academic preferences will no longer warrant waiver relief in such situations; according to the D1 Council’s release, “all other guidelines will no longer be used for waiver requests” in this scenario.