The NCAA Division I cabinet on Wednesday approved major penalties, including head coach suspensions and football budget fines, for programs that seek to circumvent the transfer portal by adding players outside the designated windows.

FBS programs that add or sign players who withdraw from their schools but bypass the transfer portal window will have their head coaches suspended for six games, which equates to half of the regular season. That suspension includes a prohibition on all football activities (recruiting and on-field coaching) and administrative duties (team meetings).

Additionally, schools found in violation of the rule would also be fined 20 percent of their football budget, regardless of whether the head coach in charge during the time of the violation is still employed at the school.

The rule, which goes into effect immediately and is retroactive to Feb. 25 when the FBS Oversight Committee recommended the change, seeks to stop “ghost transfers” where athletes withdraw from one school and enroll at another without entering the transfer portal. That method, which was not previously prohibited, was utilized by defensive back Xavier Lucas, who transferred from Wisconsin to Miami, and quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who moved from BYU to Tulane last offseason.

Momentum for the rule gained steam as programs wondered what would happen this offseason without a second portal window. Since college football first instituted transfer portal windows during the 2022-23 offseason, there has been a winter window and a spring window, but this year, the NCAA eliminated the spring window. This year’s winter transfer window opened on Jan. 2 and closed on Jan. 16. Exceptions for head coaching changes outside the portal window remain.

“I am grateful the D-I Cabinet approved the FBS Oversight Committee’s recommendation to impose significant penalties on head coaches and programs who circumvent transfer rules, along with immediate accountability,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea, the president of the AFCA, said in a statement. “This is a necessary step to address a critical roster management issue facing our sport and to protect the integrity of football’s transfer window.”

Without a spring transfer window, many college football general managers and personnel directors who spoke with The Athletic suspected that players and teams would use the blind transfer method to change teams following the completion of spring practice if players were unhappy with their place on the depth chart or teams identified positional needs that weren’t sufficiently filled in January. But Wednesday’s rule passage appears to close that loophole.

“This change addresses gaps in the transfer and tampering policies that have allowed for abuse, but we acknowledge that there is more work to do,” said Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman, the D-I cabinet chair. “Thanks to the new, more streamlined structure for Division I decision-making, we were able to take a good idea that originated with practitioners, vet it and approve it, all in a matter of weeks. We believe closing this loophole simplifies things for student-athletes and holds schools accountable for their actions.”

How effective will this rule be in curbing non-portal player movement?

The nature of the penalties is significant enough that the new rule is likely to deter most programs from trying to add non-portal players to their roster. Of course, there’s always a chance that a school does it and tries to sue the NCAA to challenge the rule in court. Players are still not recognized as employees, and as long as that remains the case, placing restrictions on movement — which this rule does indirectly — is a sticky issue. Withdrawing from one school and enrolling at another is something traditional students do, and though this rule does not punish the player, the hefty sanctions placed on the player’s new team would make it an interesting case if challenged.

Until then, most coaches and front offices will likely be pleased with this rule change. Most FBS coaches pushed for having just one portal window so that they could have their rosters set and not have to worry about springtime player movement. This rule change now codifies that, for the most part, transfers who were signed in January will remain with their teams through the rest of the calendar year.

This rule doesn’t directly address the larger tampering issues. By rule, schools are prohibited from making recruiting contact with players on other teams unless they are in the portal. But coaches and personnel staffers acknowledge that the NCAA’s policing of tampering has been largely fruitless. What this rule does is curb that as it relates to possible spring transfers. There’s still a long way to go to solve that issue ahead of the actual portal window. Last year, multiple coaches and GMs acknowledged to The Athletic that conversations between teams and player agents were ongoing in December — and in some cases, deals were virtually done — well before the portal opened on Jan. 2.

One key note in Wednesday’s announcement was that the NCAA’s infractions process task force is reviewing the infractions process and penalties for NCAA rule violations, including enforcement and penalties associated with tampering.

If teams need to fill late roster needs, where will they turn?

Since Division I players are out of the question (the January window was inclusive of FBS and FCS), teams could turn to the Division II ranks. There are no windows in Division II, just a deadline that a player must enter the portal by June 15. The junior college ranks, which have largely been deemphasized in the last eight years, could also become a place schools turn to address spring roster needs.