As the second half of the 0-0 draw between Iowa and Texas drags through the middle portion, a substitute checks in. The clock stops. The head coach pulls out Texas' all-time leading scorer, Trinity Byars. For new fans of the sport, seeing a star check out at such a crucial moment would be strange. After all, in the professional leagues and on the collegiate men's side, she wouldn't be allowed back in.

However, the rules allow for substitutes to re-enter in the second half. Byars checks back in with about ten minutes to go. It doesn't matter; despite Byars' rest, Texas still misses a hatful of crucial chances, ultimately drawing the match.

The NCAA amends its soccer rule book every two years, governing Division I-III for both men and women. This year's changes address everything from time wasting and ball pressure to substitutions. Notably, the latest rule book has a separate ruleset about substitutions for DI men, for the first time.

The new rule set eliminates second-half re-entry substitutions and allows DI Men's soccer to align more with the International Football Association Board (IFAB) general rules. IFAB is the governing body that sets the soccer rules worldwide. Each competition's rules are then written in compliance or with differences from that IFAB baseline.

Denison University men's head soccer coach Brandon Bianco will serve as the committee chair this upcoming year, having previously represented DIII interests on the committee.

"For the first time, which has been a long time coming, there's a little more autonomy in the NCAA process to allow for some variation between the different genders as well as the different divisions, which I think are positive," said Bianco. "Things that are happening at the Division I level might be very different than the wants or needs at the Division II or III level."

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The rule itself is not a point of contention, as mirroring international standards was the generally preferred path among men's Division I coaches. Women's and Division II and III coaches preferred leaving substitutions as is.

Tim Cuppello is the head men's soccer coach at the University of California Irvine and just finished his term serving on the committee this year. On his way out, he explained some of the discussions from his last cycle.

"There's a lot of conversations, a lot of back and forth to figure out how we can accomplish the objectives we had within all the six different groups, three divisions, and two different genders." Said Cuppello, "So DI men were able to create some things that we felt worked for us. And the other five, you know, didn't feel the need to jump on board."

Coaches at the Division II and III levels generally point out the necessity of large squads to keep up enrollment and interest in the school's athletics. Coaches on the women's side of Division I may have had an additional fear of transfer portal chaos, especially if smaller squads mean fewer minutes to go around.

Rich Grady serves as the NCAA Secretary Rules Editor, who helps guide and support the rules committee discussions, though he doesn’t have a vote on the committee himself.

"[DI Women’s Coaches] feedback a lot of the time was 'we carry a big roster, please don't do anything to make it harder for us to get players into games, because that will make players transfer," said Grady, explaining some coaching concerns.

The entire process goes through two-year cycles, with a rule change year and a non-rule change year smushed together.

The committee reviews survey results from each of their constituencies before seeking to represent their fellow coaches throughout the meetings. Once the committee has the proposals that appear most often, they discuss changes and send them out to the NCAA coaches for a comment period before finalizing.

New this year, however, is the ability to 'federalize' or divvy up the rules for different genders and competition levels. This new federalization allows the NCAA to have its cake and eat it too, with DI men getting to mirror the international game, while the DI Women's and the other divisions were allowed to keep their preferred rules as they are.

"Our committee does a really nice job of hearing all voices," said Bianco. "The context and dynamics around Division III for example, are very different than what is happening for Division I men and Division I women."

There are a handful of other new rule changes. The simplest is the adjustment around ball pressure. Whereas the ball previously had to be pumped up between 8.5 and 15.6 psi, all balls will now be pressurized to the manufacturer's recommended standard.

Another key change centered around Video Review which experimentally allowed referees to review a penalty in the 18 yard box that was called a foul on the field. This structure incentivized referees to call any close play in the box a penalty, because this allowed them the flexibility to call it either way.

The new rules allow referees to review non-calls, thereby removing the incentive to call them only for review's sake.

Many of the changes center on professionalizing the game and improving the amount of time that the ball spends in play. One of these changes stops the clock during the last 15 minutes of a tied game or when the leading team makes a substitution. This is one of a few changes as the committee continues to examine ways to limit time wasting.

"We're not providing that incentive for the losing team to sub," said Grady. "We're providing a disincentive for teams to use substitution as a tactic to run out the clock."

Whether or not to allow re-entry will likely remain as a key point to be examined by the committee going forward, as the National Women's Soccer League and United Women's Soccer League offer more routes for talented collegiate women to play professionally.

Referees will implement this year's changes as the committee monitors their consequences. They'll reconvene again in January to hear feedback, feedback that will guide their viewing for the following year's changes. For the moment, substitutions and bench decorum will remain in the committee’s focus. Nothing is permanent.

"All we care about is making college soccer better, and I think we did that this year," Bianco said.