We are officially in the offseason, which means college basketball writers like myself get to pitch ideas on ridiculous concepts related to collegiate athletics. This week, I’ll tackle the issue of the current transfer portal structure.
The transfer portal is out of control. There is no loyalty nor logic in what players choose to do with their eligibility now.
Senior guard Meechie Johnson Jr.’s career sums up what modern-day college basketball is like quite well.
Johnson Jr. began at Ohio State and after two years, he transferred to South Carolina, where he had two productive seasons with the Gamecocks. This past year, he decided to transfer back to Ohio State, but his numbers took a dip and now he’s heading back to Columbia, where he’ll spend his sixth season of college basketball with South Carolina.
Maybe he just keeps getting confused between Columbus, Ohio and Columbia, South Carolina and forgets where he enrolled each offseason. They are kind of similar-named cities.
Whatever his reasons are, the transfer portal is a ridiculous succubus of talent and money, all leading to a whole lot of poor decision-making.
Not to fret, though, because I have a solution to fix collegiate athletics. I have previously crowned myself czar of collegiate conference realignment, so it feels just as necessary to fix this issue as well. My concept is simple, but it feels necessary to implement in this turbulent time.
I propose a one-time transfer rule, such that every single athlete gets to transfer schools one time with no questions asked or hoops to jump through, but that’s it. There would be, of course, exceptions, such as if a coach is fired or leaves on their own terms— then the athlete gets an exemption for another free transfer.
I use the word “free” because, in my system, if a player were to want to transfer for a second time without being eligible for an exemption, then the player or the school they are transferring to would have to pay a release clause. This is a system that professional soccer uses to help the little guys out. Yes, the big programs would still get the good players, but the small programs would at least be compensated for developing the player in the first place. Grambling State’s head coach Mickey Johnson suggested this a few weeks back, and it feels sensible.
The one-time transfer rule would almost certainly help stop the rampant increase of players entering the portal. Athletes would have to be more considerate with their decisions, since there’d be a real possibility of buyer’s remorse if they made a rushed decision. This would also hopefully encourage players to sit and develop within a system, learn more and become a better player overall, instead of just bouncing to the first team that offers more playing time or a bigger offensive role.
However, as previously mentioned, there are valid reasons that players should be able to leave a program without using their free transfer or paying a fee, namely if a coach leaves the program in any capacity. I am of the firm belief that players commit to coaches, not schools. If the coach leaves, it should not be on the player to stick around for someone for whom they didn’t choose to play. This would allow players to go anywhere else to find the right fit for them and not be forced to play in a system that wasn’t built around their attributes.
And the final small complexity I’d add to fix the transfer portal? It needs to open later in the year.
It is a bit more difficult for athletes who play fall sports to transfer for the next spring, as they have to enroll before classes begin in a shorter period. But this year in football, the portal opened before the College Football Playoff began; this forced some teams to lose key reserve players before the games, as those athletes wanted to find the right fit elsewhere.
However, for winter sports, specifically basketball, it would be much easier to push the date back as registration dates are not an issue. This year, the transfer portal opened before the men’s Sweet Sixteen began and caused a frenzy, distracting from March Madness. As transfer czar, I would push this date back until after the NCAA tournament ends to allow teams to focus on the basketball at hand, and nothing else.
The transfer portal is very flawed, and NIL is a partial culprit for sure, but some of these simple edits could make college athletics, and basketball specifically, a whole lot better.
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