Shawn Gibbs backs transfer limits to curb roster churn in college football

North Carolina A&T’s rebuild runs straight through the transfer debate. After a 2-10 season and another 2-6 mark in the Coastal Athletic Association, Shawn Gibbs is arguing that college football needs rules that still allow movement, but stop the annual roster churn that can strip an FCS program before it ever gets stable.

Gibbs did not call for ending transfers. His view is narrower and more practical: let a player transfer once without penalty, then require a year in residence if that player moves again. That approach, he believes, would protect choice while discouraging the kind of constant movement that leaves coaches trying to fill holes every offseason. He also made clear that there is no perfect answer, saying any system will draw criticism and satisfy nobody completely.

The timing matters because the debate has moved beyond theory. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 3, 2026, aimed at reshaping college sports with a five-year participation window and structured transfer rules. The White House said the order would direct federal agencies to examine whether schools that violate transfer, eligibility or pay-for-play rules should keep their federal grants and contracts. It also framed the order as a way to protect women’s and Olympic sports in a system the administration says supports more than 500,000 student-athletes and nearly $4 billion in scholarships each year.

The NCAA has already tightened its own rules. On April 1, Division I adopted immediate penalties for so-called ghost transfers, including a suspension for a head coach equal to 50% of a season and a fine equal to 20% of the sport’s budget if a school signs or uses a transfer before that player is entered into the portal. Football also moved to a single portal window, Jan. 2-16, for FBS and FCS players, after more than 4,900 FBS players and more than 3,200 FCS players entered the portal in the 2024-25 school year.

That churn hits A&T with special force. Gibbs said after the season-ending loss at Elon on Nov. 22, 2025, that the program would begin “rebuilding, retooling and reimagining” the team. The Aggies signed 38 new players on Feb. 4, including 17 transfers and 21 high school recruits, with 16 signees from North Carolina, eight from South Carolina and seven from Georgia. That kind of turnover can help a coach reset quickly, but it can also make continuity hard to build from one spring to the next.

For Gibbs, the issue is not whether players should have freedom. It is whether programs like North Carolina A&T can survive long enough to develop them. In his second season, with recruiting focused on North Carolina, bordering states and the DMV, he is trying to build a roster that can hold together long enough to matter.