Mailbag: Should the NCAA just allow recent graduates a fifth year?
Plus; U.S. Collegiate Selects coaching staff; assistant updates at Princeton, St. Cloud, and UConn; Brad Berry isn't going to Youngstown; and a lot more notes
Opening Faceoff
Today’s edition of College Hockey Insider is a mailbag. Topics from today’s mailbag include:
What is my take on recent grads not getting a fifth year?
Should NCAA hockey move back the recruiting calendar?
Thoughts on Tynan Lawrence’s freshman year?
Are assistant coaches under contracts?
Would I advise a lower-line D-I player to play D-III?
Should there be sports-specific caps on rev-share?
We don’t just have a mailbag today. Other topics in today’s newsletter includes:
The U.S. Collegiate Selects announced its coaching staff for the 2026 Spengler Cup.
Brad Berry won’t be the new coach in Youngstown after the sides couldn’t come to terms.
Princeton is searching for a new assistant coach, while St. Cloud State and
UConn announced hirings.
Notes on Penn State’s fiscal report and radio broadcasts being simculast from television.
The NCAA announced a new national coordinator of officials.
Cornell blew a fundraising goal out of the water.
The latest commitments, including a goalie to Merrimack, and players to Vermont and St. Thomas.
Mailbag: Should the NCAA just allow recent graduates a fifth year?
Q. What is your take on a fifth year for players who recently graduated (the 2026 graduates)?
Honestly, it seems silly to me that the NCAA is digging in its heels on this issue.
The players before this class received COVID waivers and had five years. Now, with age-based eligibility, everyone after this class will have five years. Why not grant an additional year to these athletes?
It’s not a slippery slope, as some have argued. You could simply apply age-based eligibility to recent graduates. If these graduates entered college as a 20-year-old freshman, they wouldn’t receive an additional year. If they entered as an 18- or 19-year-old, they would.
Seems simple to me.
