Blog Post 4
For our
final blog post, I am going to be investigating the failures of the new and
improved transfer portal for college athletes. The transfer portal is the same between sports. The transfer portal is a database of every player who has an
interest in transferring from his or her current school. To be entered into the transfer portal the
student-athlete must go to his/ her compliance department and tell them that
they want to be entered into the portal.
After that, the compliance office has two days for the request to be
fulfilled. Once a student has entered
the portal other coaches can begin communicating with that student-athlete. Just because a player enters the portal does
not mean that they are leaving, there are many examples where the athlete does
not leave, for example, Alabama’s basketball star John Petty Jr. just did that
this past offseason. For a long time, athletes have not entered the portal
because you will have to sit out a year if you transfer unless given special
privileges by the NCAA. However, with
the new rules passed athletes are granted a one-time transfer pass, where he/
she can leave one school and play for the next as soon as he/ she arrives on
campus. This new rule has caused many
problems for the coaches, current players, and high school athletes.
First, the new rule has caused problems for coaches by changing the way every coach runs his program. This can be from the way he recruits players, treat his players, or even managed his rosters. First, big college coaches used to go out to high schools and recruit young athletes and make their dreams come true. This is slowly dying off since college coaches can now get five-star athletes out of the transfer portal, who has some experience in the colligate level. Who is more appealing, two kids except one is 21 and has two years of a college experience, or an 18-year-old fresh out of high school? This has become an open door to cheating that was never there in the first place. This is due to coaches being able to recruit players off other teams’ rosters. If a coach notices that an athlete is not happy at the school he is at but could help out his own team then he may try to contact the athlete about coming to his program. Coaches have called this new rule the equivalent of free agency. If you are under free agency, then the player is under no constraint nor is responsible to any authority for his/ her actions. This is because if something happens then the player can leave without giving something up like a year of eligibility. Also, if a coach recruits a good player who has just is not fully developed and has to sit them behind someone else. That player may not understand why he/ she is having to sit and will quit giving effort for that team knowing they are leaving the next chance they get. This drops the level of competition between athletes competing for a starting spot. Ultimately dropping the level of competition on the whole team. In return making the coach suck up to his best players in fear that they will just up and leave. Lastly, the new rule of the transfer portal makes managing rosters very difficult because you cannot count on a player to be there from year to year or even tomorrow.
Next, this creates a problem for the players. If you are a player who has dedicated your whole three years at an institution sacrificing so much then you expect something in return, such as a chance to earn a starting spot. However, with this new rule, someone may just come transfer in and take your chance out of the blue. If this happens then there will be a sense of betrayal between you and your coaches. This would also affect the team chemistry by players coming and going at different times during the season. For the team to be successful players must be committed to each other and the team.
Last, high school athletes are getting the worst end of this new deal. Every high school player who has a real love for the game wishes to take their talents to the next level. If colleges do not need their position because they can access the same one from the portal, then hope is lost. These athletes are not even given the chance to show their real talents or true potential because coaches are not as interested in high school athletes as much as they are college athletes. This may force high school athletes to look toward junior colleges or NAIA colleges to get some college playing experience in hopes of a better opportunity in the future.
I feel as if the only way to make this right is to reverse the rule. Make it to where if college athletes wish to transfer then you must lose a year of eligibility, however, make exceptions to special cases.