The NCAA’s Five-in-Five Proposal to Stop Its COVID-19 Eligibility Problem
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA's eligibility rules have become blurred. Players well into their 20s have found multiple ways to continue their collegiate athletic journey, taking advantage of obscure loopholes and undefined rules. It has impacted players, coaches, and college athletics as a whole. Four playing seasons in five years is the current eligibility standard for a Division I athlete. Of course, the extra year is dependent on numerous waivers and redshirts. With the additional COVID year granted to athletes, eligibility has become a complete mess. NCAA President Charlie Baker has devised a plan that will hopefully address this growing concern. His proposed plan is the five-in-five rule.
It is as simple as it sounds, on the surface. The NCAA would allow incoming athletes five years of eligibility over a span of five years. Using an age-based system, much like those used for youth recreational sports, incoming athletes would fall within a time window from high school graduation or from age 19. Baker believes familiarity will breed results. There are multiple goals behind the five-in-five rule. First, President Baker and the NCAA hope to eliminate the overwhelming number of redshirts and waivers that have accumulated in recent years. This has been a huge topic as of late and has been the main headline behind recent legal challenges for college sports. They are also looking to impact incoming players with professional experience before they become eligible. With the influx of international recruiting, many athletes arrive with multiple years of professional play under their belts and still retain full eligibility as 20, 21, and 22-year-olds. This issue would be directly resolved based on the age system discussed earlier.
The NCAA would like this newly proposed rule to come into effect as soon as possible. The hope is to have this done and in the book within the next few months, and ready for implementation by the start of the 2026-2027 school year. There is a belief among conference commissioners that this can have a positive impact. WCC Commissioner Stu Jackson went as far as to say, "This probably is the best option we have at this point."
What the NCAA is failing to consider is how this would impact seniors from the 2025-2026 season and how coaches plan to fill their rosters this offseason. NCAA Basketball, for example, just finished the portal window, meaning many programs are currently finalizing their rosters, as most of the best available portal players have committed to new schools. If the five-in-five rule passes, there could be a hiccup for seniors who lost their eligibility this season. Multiple athletes who have exhausted their NCAA eligibility under current regulations have transferred or stated their intention to do so as they await the possible application of the five-in-five rule, hoping for one more go-round in college athletics. This could mean completely different rosters than the ones seen currently. St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino said it best, "It would be pure chaos. Most teams have used 80% of their NIL. I'd love to have our seniors back, but our NIL is just about finished." The impact extends beyond the players.
College sports are changing. The NCAA is trying to get with the times, so they are not swept away in all the pandemonium. It has been no secret that the eligibility rules need to be tightened and clarified. There should not be 27-year-olds in college athletics. This is something everyone should be able to agree on. The five-in-five rule is a solid foundation that provides clearer, easier-to-follow guidelines. With the backing of conference commissioners, this could become a reality sooner rather than later. Only time will tell the immediate impact, positive or negative, that this will have on college athletics moving forward.
