NCAA Transfer of Division I Teams (PDF)
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released a report detailing the transfer composition of Division I student-athletes for the 2015-16 academic year. A study of both four-year and two-year transfers in the Academic Progress Rate (APR) of Division I, men’s water polo ranked high in two-year college transfers with four-year transfers near the bottom for the sport. Women’s water polo ranked in the lower half of both two-year and four-year transfers compared with all other Division I sports.
In men’s water polo, 5.3% of the total student-athlete population were transfers from two-year programs. The number ranks fifth among Division I men’s sports with only baseball (19.2%), basketball (14.7%), football bowl series (8.8%) and football championship series (6.2%) ranking ahead of men’s water polo. Golf (4.4%), track & field (4.0%), soccer (3.8%), ice hockey (3.4%), volleyball (2.3%), tennis (2.1%), cross country (2.1%), wrestling (1.6%), swimming (1.1%), gymnastics (1.0%), rifle (0.9%) and lacrosse (0.8%), with skiing (0.0%) and fencing (0.0%) ranking below one-tenth of a percent.
The number changes dramatically for four-year institution transfers as men’s water polo ranks third from the bottom at 2.6% as only gymnastics (2.6%) and baseball (2.0%) stand behind the sport. Soccer (13.7%), basketball (13.0%), tennis (12.6%), skiing (9.8%), track & field (7.6%), golf (7.0%) football championship series (6.8%), cross country (6.7%), ice hockey (5.1%), wrestling (4.8%), football bowl series (4.1%), volleyball (3.9%), swimming (3.7%), lacrosse (3.6%), fencing (3.1%) and rifle (2.7%) all rank ahead of water polo.
Unlike men’s water polo, women’s water polo ranks in the lower half for both two-year and four-year transfers.
Among two-year transfers, women’s water polo comes in at 0.6% to rate higher than swimming (0.5%) and lacrosse (0.3%) with skiing, gymnastics, fencing, ice hockey and field hockey all rating at less than one-tenth of a percentage point (0.0%).
11 teams hold higher two-year transfer numbers than women’s water polo as basketball (8.6%), softball (5.8%), beach volleyball (5.1%), volleyball (3.6%), track & field (2.3%), golf (2.1%), soccer (1.6%), bowling (1.3%), cross country (1.2%), tennis (1.1%) and rowing (1.0%) top the list.
Similarly, women’s water polo rates 15th in four-year transfer percentage at 3.3% to stand above ice hockey (2.8%), fencing (2.7%), lacrosse (2.2%) and gymnastics (1.7%). Beach volleyball (14.1), tennis (13.4%), basketball (9.9%), skiing (9.8%), volleyball (8.8%), bowling (7.6%), golf (7.3%), track & field (6.7%), soccer (6.7%), softball (6.0%), cross country (5.7%), swimming (3.9%), field hockey (3.7%) and rowing (3.4%) lead the list.
Overall, 88.1% of the NCAA Division I student-athlete population are non-transfer students, with women (90.7%) holding a slight lead over men (85.9%). Two-year transfers make up 5.4% of the population (7.6% – men; 2.7% – women), with four-year transfers comprising 6.5% (6.5% – men; 6.6% – women).
