WEST DES MOINES — The Division I Board of Directors directed the Division I Cabinet to advance an age-based eligibility concept last month.
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz watches the football team during practice April 9, 2026 in Iowa City, Iowa.
After years of litigation and eligibility waiver drama, the potential change would give all athletes five years to compete at the Division I level the year after they turn 19 or graduate from high school. The policy would effectively eliminate redshirts and other avenues used by institutions and student-athletes to extend eligibility beyond the current four-year grant afforded by the NCAA.
"The time is now to reform the period of eligibility rules to provide Division I student-athletes and our schools clear and consistent standards that align with current college athletes' experiences," Tim Sands, president at Virginia Tech and chair of the board, said. "The board fully supports student-athletes receiving the unprecedented financial benefits now available to them and emphasized these changes would protect opportunities for high school student-athletes to access the benefits only college sports can provide, while delivering predictable outcomes for student-athletes and our schools."
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A recent clarification released by the NCAA indicated student-athletes who exhausted their eligibility or used their final season of competition during the 2025-26 school year would not be granted an additional year of eligibility and would no longer be eligible if the policy were adopted prior to the 2026-27 academic year.
During an event at the Polk County I-Club on Wednesday night, Iowa football head coach Kirk Ferentz and men’s basketball head coach Ben McCollum offered their thoughts on the potential change.
“I’m all for it,” Ferentz said. “I think it gave it a lot of clarity. I’m assuming the reason we haven’t had lawsuits or whatever, but it’s really hard to figure out who gets ruled eligible, who gets ruled ineligible on the medical stuff. And to me, that would be a simple way to clean things up.”
Currently, the five-year eligibility window concept does not address whether or not student-athletes could apply for additional years beyond the five in the case of extended absences from competition due to injury.
McCollum offered a similarly nuanced opinion on the policy change.
“If that passes, as long as they implement it the right way, I think it makes more sense,” McCollum said. “All the different things that they take to the NCAA to get an extra year, it just becomes overpowering and overwhelming. If you just knock it out with the five-for-five, as long as they implement it the right way, I think it could be a good thing.”
In addition to his thoughts on new eligibility rules, McCollum also gave his thoughts on the potential expansion of the NCAA Tournament from 68 teams to 76 teams.
“The expanded (tournament) doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” McCollum said. “But, I’m sure somebody smarter than me figured that out. I think the less people, the more prestigious it is to make the NCAA Tournament.”
The NCAA Tournament previously expanded from 32 teams to 64 in 1985, before adding one play-in game in 2001 and three more in 2010, bringing the field to 68 teams in the last 15 tournaments.
Ethan Petrik is a University of Iowa beat writer for the Lee Enterprises network. Follow him on X or send him an email at ethan.petrik@wcfcourier.com.
