Despite opening transfer window, U Sports pleasantly surprised by limited uptake

As U Sports loosened its transfer restrictions for this new school year, student athletes gained more flexibility than ever before to move between Canadian universities. But the governing body has been pleasantly surprised at the low number of transfer requests.

Last September, U Sports announced it would start allowing student athletes in their first or second academic year to transfer between Canadian universities without facing the old barrier of sitting out a season, starting with the 2026-27 school year.

U Sports says its pool of athletes in their first two years of eligibility is approximately 10,000 students, and just 278 submitted an intent to transfer for this school year. The most came in men’s soccer, basketball and hockey, then women’s basketball.

“I think it would be concerning if we were looking at half of them, but we’re looking at less than 3 per cent, so we’re pretty pleased with that number,” said Tara Hahto, who U Sports recently promoted to chief operating officer. “Because it shows that a lot of student athletes are showing up to our campuses and are ultimately happy with their experience.”

The policy change is relatively fresh, so just like its 58 member institutions, U Sports is curious to see if that number changes in years to come as athletes get more familiar with it.

Student athletes request transfers for many reasons. U Sports says the most common is a desire to move to a university closer to home. Some aim to pivot to a different academic program offered elsewhere. Others didn’t get the playing time they expected or dislike a coaching change or another aspect of the experience.

Previously, non-graduating student athletes who transferred had to sit out for 365 days from their last date of competition, unless they were making forward academic progression, or competed in cross-country, swimming or track and field – sports that already had exemptions.

This new policy eases the path for student athletes in all sports in their first two years, when the number of academic credits is typically still nimble enough to transfer. Students who don’t meet the criteria may try the compassionate-appeals process to get the 365-day wait waived, or transfer and sit out the year before suiting up for their new school.

“Ultimately this is a really positive rule because it is very student-centric. It applies to a time when there’s a lot of change happening for younger students,” said Jayne Blank, UBC’s associate director, athletics and student services, while adding the school had just one incoming transfer and one outgoing under the rule change.

“When students find that sense of belonging, they’re going to thrive and be successful both athletically and academically, and sometimes that takes a couple tries.”

When announcing the move last September, U Sports said the policy change was a direct response to the reality that a meaningful amount of transfer activity was taking place during the first two academic years, as students sought to find the right fit. U Sports was seeing an increase in compassionate appeals from athletes asking to transfer unencumbered – an onerous process involving review by a panel.

“For a long time, I think there was a sense that if you’ve made a commitment, you must honour it, and I don’t think that really reflects systemically what Canadians think is fair any more,” said Hahto this week. “Yes, you should honour commitments, but sometimes it’s just not what’s best for you. We should be making policies that are a good balance between what’s fair to the institution and the coach from a roster management perspective, while also being fair to a student athlete, who just wants to go play somewhere else.”

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This transfer exception is for student athletes who are making the move prior to their third academic year and haven’t previously used the exception. They submit a form intending to transfer, and then both the departing and receiving university must approve the move.

“It provides student athletes with a capacity to not feel imprisoned, or they have to sit down a full year at an age where they are performing at their very best,” said Daniel Méthot, director of sports programs at McGill University. “At the end of the day, I’d rather the athlete be happy in the situation they’re in. … Our job is to deliver the best student athlete experience, and we feel if we do our job right, we’re not going to lose very many.”

The way a student transfers in U Sports is not to be confused with how school changes take place in American college sports. The NCAA has a much-discussed online transfer portal into which thousands of its current athletes looking to switch universities enter their names, and then wait for other coaches to start calling. It’s worth noting that some of those NCAA athletes never find a new home, and they fall out of college sports entirely.

The U Sports process is far less splashy. It’s private and puts the responsibility on the athlete. Once the student decides they want to leave, they submit their form, visible only to the athlete and their outgoing school – athletes in fall sports by Dec. 15, and winter sports athletes by April 15. Their university then receives it and either supports their departure or not. It’s rare that a school opposes it.

The student athlete reaches out to coaches of the program to which they want to transfer. The new school must notify the outgoing university that the athlete has reached out. That e-mail time-stamps the new school’s ability to start talking to that athlete.

“It has not had a big impact so far for us,” said Maxime Gagné, who heads student athletics at Université Laval. “But to change the rule to give this flexibility to the athletes is [a] good thing.”

He said Laval had just a few transfers out and a handful transferred in for this school year under that new rule, scattered across the football, basketball and soccer teams, plus some to the new women’s hockey team, which is debuting this fall.

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Having the athlete do the initial outreach is an effort from U Sports to prevent its coaches from using this as a new recruiting avenue. There are rules in place to keep U Sports coaches from actively poaching talent off each other’s current rosters.

“There’s always that risk that some individuals may try to use the rule to their advantage, but the anti-poaching rules remain in place, so I think we maintain a reasonable level of control,” said Gagné. “I trust the integrity of my colleagues.”

Knowing that athletes now have an easier path to transfer early in their university careers puts extra emphasis on coaches recruiting the right athletes and communicating frankly about their long-term plans for those students. McGill’s Méthot reminds his coaches to be constantly upfront with athletes about where they stand.

“This rule does provide more flexibility and liberty, and we want to be sure that we deliver what we promise, but if we can’t, tell them along the way, ‘This is what’s going on right now, this is your position and we see long-term potential for you, but you gotta persevere here,’” he said. “We trust our coaches to be able to identify potential student athletes and to be truthful right off the bat.”

The U Sports process to repatriate Canadian student athletes from U.S universities remains unchanged – a one-time unencumbered transfer to a U Sports school at any point in the athlete’s university career, so long as they still have remaining eligibility.