How Declared works
An independent transfer portal and recruiting platform for small-college sports. Athletes who are transferring create a profile, which puts them in the portal, and coaches at every level search, watch, and message them.
The core rule
To be on Declared you must be a real athlete who is truthfully transferring, or a coach at a real program. Signing up is declaring. There are no hidden or private accounts. Everyone on Declared is a signed-up user who entered their own profile. There is no scraped roster and no seeded player.
Independence. Declared is not affiliated with, partnered with, or endorsed by the NAIA, the NCAA, the NJCAA, or any other athletic association or conference. It is a separate service, not an official portal. Athletes and coaches are responsible for following their own association's transfer rules before signing up.
Signing up
A player
- Starts their own school's transfer process first. NCAA athletes notify their compliance office. NAIA athletes inform their athletic director. NJCAA, CCCAA and NWAC athletes follow their own association's process. Declared does not replace this.
- Confirms they are 18 or older and agrees to the Terms when creating the account.
- Enters their school, position, academics, what they are looking for and their last college season: the stats, or Redshirt or Did not play if there are none. Film is optional. Submitting means they are declared and in the portal. A profile with no season is not in the portal until one is added. A profile signed up with a personal email is reviewed by Declared before coaches see it.
- Chooses, from their Account page, whether their email and phone are shown to coaches. Private by default.
A coach
- Signs up with their school .edu address. Personal addresses are refused.
- Picks their school from the list and subscribes their program for the year: $100 for NAIA, NCAA D3 and JUCO programs, $250 for NCAA D1 and D2, plus sales tax where it applies. The exact total is shown before paying.
- A coach whose school email is not on file with Declared yet is confirmed before paying or seeing athletes. Every level is welcome: NAIA, NCAA D1, D2 and D3, and JUCO.
Everyone signs in with an email and password. Signup sends a confirmation link; passwords can be reset by email. You can be signed in on up to 2 devices; a third signs out the oldest.
What a player can do
- My Dashboard: their home page: status (in the portal, days in) and the commit button, editing their profile and photo, what they are looking for, their messages, a profile checklist, and their profile exactly as a coach sees it.
- My Stats: season stats and best games, self-reported.
- Programs: every program on Declared in their sport, grouped by level, with the coaches on it. Messaging a coach opens a private conversation.
- Recruiting Needs: the openings coaches have posted, searchable and filterable.
- Messages: private conversations with coaches.
What a coach can do
- Players: every declared, available athlete in their sport, searchable by position, class, eligibility, GPA and state, with a tab for athletes coming from NCAA or JUCO programs. A JUCO athlete who declares is visible to NAIA, NCAA and JUCO coaches alike.
- My Recruiting Board: a recruiting board with stages and private notes, and the week's new declarations.
- My Program: their home page: the seat's status, seats, description and billing, with the board at a glance, posted needs and unread messages.
- Post a Need: the positions the program is recruiting for. Athletes in the sport see them and can get in touch; other coaches never do.
- Messages: private conversations with players. A coach messages a declared player directly.
The lifecycle of a player
- Signs up, so they are declared and in the portal. Coaches can find and message them.
- Commits. Coaches see them as Committed and can no longer contact them. Their account is deleted 30 days later unless they come back to declared or delete it sooner.
- Stays active. A profile with no sign-in for 30 days is hidden from coaches until the athlete confirms they are still transferring.
Privacy and safety
- Every message between a player and a coach is private to those two people. No one else on Declared can see it.
- A player's contact details stay private unless they choose to share them. The first time each coach takes them, it is logged, and the player can see which coaches have them and when.
- Everyone in the portal is a declared, signed-up athlete, so every contact is with someone who chose to be here. There is no way to reach an athlete who has not declared.
- All athlete data is self-reported. Declared does not collect it from schools or third-party sites.
Sports
Same everything, different players and sport-specific stats. More sports can be added later.
The money
Coaches pay per program, per year: one subscription covers every coach seat for that sport (3 for football, 2 for every other sport), with no paid add-ons.NAIA, NCAA D3 and JUCO programs: $100 a year. NCAA D1 and D2 programs: $250 a year. Plus sales tax where it applies; the exact total is shown at checkout before anything is charged. Declared never sells ranking or placement in search.
The rules in full: Terms of Service · Privacy Policy. Questions: garrett@declaredgroup.com.