NIL Is a Good Thing, but the Transfer Portal Needs a Sweeping Change
NIL has been the talk of college sports recently. While that's not a bad thing, there have been some issues that have come along with it.
With NIL changing the way it has, the transfer portal has also seen an insane uptick. Just a few years ago, student-athletes couldn't even transfer to a school and play for a full year, depending on the situation.
Now, student-athletes can transfer with essentially no issues. They can come in and play, hit the portal again, and do whatever they want.
The transfer portal is a good thing. It was unfair that some student-athletes couldn't transfer before these new rules and go show their talents off for a different program.
Many college athletes commit at a young age. When they get to college, things change for many different reasons.
However, when a student-athlete starts transferring three or four times in that many years, it becomes an issue.
At the end of the day, it's unfair to judge a kid who hits the transfer portal for any reason. The reason for that? Coaches leave any chance they get for more money.
Jim Schlossnagle left Texas A&M a day after his team lost in the College World Series championship to take the Texas job. That caused an uproar, and rightfully so. The thing is, if a coach can leave at any moment, why shouldn't a kid be able to?
So, how can the NCAA change this? Should they even touch it, considering the craziness of it all?
Perhaps there could be a rule that if a student-athlete transfers more than twice, they'd have to sit out for a year. If they did that, they also need to figure something out regarding coaches doing the same thing.
Schlossnagle coached at TCU until 2021 and will now be the head coach of three different programs since then. Could the NCAA put something in contracts that doesn't allow coaches to leave an amount of jobs, unless they were fired, in a certain period of time?
That leads to some issues. If a coach is only hired for a year or two, it'd be unfair for them not to land a new job after their contract ends.
Still, there are plenty of issues, and at some point, it needs to see a slight change. It's awesome that kids can find other opportunities, but when a player goes from one top-five program to another, it leads to some questions.
It's a tough situation but first, the lack of loyalty from coaches needs to change. When that happens, then it'll be time to talk about the young men and women.
JON CONAHAN
Jon Conahan has been covering all major sports since 2019. He is a 2022 graduate of the Bellisario School of Journalism at Penn State University and previously played D1 baseball.