Before You Head to the Transfer Portal, Read This

Over 14,000 NCAA student-athletes have entered into the transfer portal as of the day this piece is being written. This means 14,000 programs across the country may look a little different next season if every athlete once committed to their team, chooses to move on to greener pastures. Unfortunately, as the adage goes, the grass is not always greener on the other side and I am ultimately less curious about the numbers in the portal than I am interested in shedding a little light on how and why this trend is growing every year.

With all the conversations surrounding athletics and the buzz words of athlete abuse, coaches being let go, athlete rights and likeness and imaging debates, I believe now is as good a time as any to talk about the crucial system that unleashes speculation on all of the above like no other. This system is known as the NCAA transfer portal.

If you are a current college athlete, parent, coach or just a college sports fan, please read up because I have something for each of you.

Over the last five years the transfer portal has become somewhat famous for its ever-expanding allowances. You have likely heard parents, athletes and the critics of college sports rejoicing on the latest freedom from the alleged insufferable rigidity of having to commit to the same program for four consecutive years.

The celebrations in unison over the ability to jump ship are alive and well while simultaneously, and with their own set of good reasons, groans from college coaches and compliance officers can be heard. As we are seeing commitment to programs become as fragile and non-existent as equity between genders for weight rooms at the NCAA Basketball Tournaments, there seems to be no balance or reasoning in sight.

All jabs to the NCAA aside, the annual explosion in the student-athlete transfer portal should not be so unexpected. At least in the coaching community, it's widely understood that athletes are becoming harder to satisfy each year. Not to mention a sneaky little thing called COVID-19 that has created unprecedented obstacles and uncertainty.

What was even more surprising to me is the fact that we are still seeing this transfer phenomena in full force despite still being in a year of global pandemic. This begs the acknowledgment of two points.

First, athletes transfer each year regardless of whether there is a deadly virus sweeping the world. Second, given the circumstances and all the chaos, dissatisfaction for the entire athlete population was and is unavoidable.

Despite all this, the optimist in me thought just maybe the majority of student-athletes still had a chance to grasp the full abnormality of this year and therefore would realize that leaving an experience they haven't really fully had, might be premature.

From the looks of the portal, I was dead wrong.

I want to be clear. I am not advocating for the disappearance of the ability to transfer nor judging all 14,000 athletes for exploring the market. I acknowledge that this global pandemic occurred during one of the four or five years of these athletes' time clocks which, ultimately taints 25% of their college career. Compounded with more than a year of masks, limitations, social distancing and cancellations of anything even remotely cool that defines milestones in college, I concur that this is all disheartening. However, if you are considering transferring or support someone who is, allow me to share some facts that may offer clarity.

First, this year has been an absolute disaster in athletics and higher education at every level since March of 2020.

Even championship wielding teams had and have to scratch and claw to preserve their own sanity regardless of whether they will admit it publicly or not. If you are leaving or considering leaving your current program because the team was not a fit for you, you didn't feel a connection with your program, didn't have a winning season or didn't jive with your coach, I have news:

1. No one's team was "a fit" for them in this COVID year.

2. Program connection for athletes and their teammates was/is at an all time low.

3. Regardless of W's, no team truly had a "winning" season and achieving any kind of normal and consistent coach-to-athlete relationship during COVID, was/is downright impossible.

4. Also, it is not just you. The majority of athletes in all divisions were unsatisfied with their sports experience this year.

5. The teams you see on Instagram in their socially distant pics and TikToks seem to be having the time of their lives despite the virus, right? Wrong. This year for those teams sucked too, so convincing yourself that another school would have done it better during pandemic is futile. No school executed the COVID year with flying colors.

6. The level of suck has been epic and there was absolutely nothing you, your teammates, your coach or your institution could have done to change that. The relationships and connections you would normally build began with a serious set of challenges that no one had or has an answer for. Even now as you think your current program isn't the place for you, keep reading.

7. Our system in higher education as well as the rest of society, had zero playbook for this global catastrophe and the fact that maybe you didn't like your roommate in quarantine, didn't win or even compete for a conference championship or didn't like the coach, could have all easily been contributors in a non-pandemic year but, the fact remains that this year was/is chaotic. As an athlete, you did not experience any kind of college sport to its fullest potential and I advise you to be weary of any conversations being offered to you that suggests another school or coach could have done it better.

8. Your experience in '20-21 was full of remote learning, team zooms, isolation, quarantine, schedule changes, non-stop testing, uncertainty for competition, limited training sessions and every activity where you couldn't even see your teammate's or coaches faces made this year virtually impossible for anyone to gain a true college athletic connection.

9. There was nothing fair or consistent about this year. While transferring may feel as though it can offer you some certainty at the next school, when it comes to academics and athletics, neither were given a fair shot.

10. Your exposure to education as a hybrid or remote model is not the typical college academic experience. Much of the residual stress from being cooped up had a direct effect on your enthusiasm for your classes. Your professors may have felt one-dimensional and/or less involved. When you are charged with crafting remote lesson after remote lesson, it takes a toll on your energy. I ask you to consider all of the above when rendering your academic experience a dud for the year. When academics feel shaky and uninspiring, it has a tendency to weigh down all your other experiences...including athletics.

11. You have not been given a fair shot in experiencing your typical athletic program. Your exposure to athletics as hybrid or zoom training model is not normal. Much of the residual stress from being separated from your team, quarantined, written up for being in another teammate's dorm room, or not being able to even sit face to face with your coach to share your needs is not the typical college athletic experience. Your coaches may have unintentionally come off as one-dimensional or distant but know that they are dealing with a fear of COVID on top of crazy schedules, their own families and a sheer lack of answers from above to be able to create a top notch experience for you. I ask you to consider all of the above when rushing to label this year's athletic experience as an all-around loss caused by one person.

12. While there are certainly good reasons to transfer away from your current program, consider the growth year you have experienced without recognition. If you and your team could stay together through COVID, what other amazing things could you achieve together in competition in normal times? You may never know the answer if your dissatisfaction leads you to a quick decision based on uncontrollable factors that plagued every institution in the country.

PARENTS: Support your athletes by providing or adding perspective to their decision

I get it. Your athlete hated these last few semesters. They called home every night to share their level of dissatisfaction and misery. I'm here to tell you that they weren't lying, it was awful. On the bright side, it won't be like this for the rest of their career. This year was difficult for everyone and your child's college experience hinged so much on whether or not athletics was a place to escape to or a place they wanted to escape from.

Listen to what they have to say and support your athlete as you always do, but know that the average 18-22 year old struggles with perspective outside of their own experience regardless of pandemic. So many of the issues they faced this year were not unique to the institution they chose which makes 20-21 a bit of an biased litmus test.

This was a year of perpetual boredom for your young adult and full of restrictions in what is supposed to be a passage of freedom for them. This boredom has left our athletes with much time on their hands to scroll through their social media feeds and watch friends and strangers who appear to have it better everywhere else. This practice has created the illusion that happiness is everywhere that your child is not. As you help them parse out fact from fiction and offer perspective, you can be encouraging without feeling as though you need to rescue them from the adversity that every other student in the US faced.

COLLEGE COACHES: It's not you, it's COVID (and youth sports)

If you have athletes seeking to enter the transfer portal or already have, especially freshmen, it's not you.

Please do not think for a minute that you could have done more during COVID. Let them go. Wish them well and work with the team members who want to fly the colors of your program and have weathered this storm to the best of their ability. Most of us are too exhausted to fight this wave of dissatisfaction but, that doesn't stop the nagging what-ifs from creeping in when you look at your roster for next year with approximately zero time left on the clock to find replacements. I get it. I am with you.

Remember, in a non-pandemic year, athletes were already trading up left and right not just because they may have picked the wrong school but because there is an entire generation of PSA's who have been raised on rapidly expanding youth sports environments that feed on travel team "showcase" athletes and their families. Twenty years ago you had two choices, play for your high school or play for the local rec team or both.

Today in 2021, if you decide to play travel ball and your team loses too much for your liking, you can drive 30-45 minutes further and always pay and find another winning team to play for. We we are staring down the barrel of a gun loaded full of athletes who can trade their teammates and coaches in at the blink of an eye because in reality, showcases are not actually for teams to showcase their collective talent, but orchestrated events of chance for an individual to gain exposure to college.

By the time, the athletes get to us at the college level, the odds are high they have already traded up and around their local options for years so why should their patterns stop with higher education athletics?

I'm not claiming every athlete has this history but, it is certainly a trend that has nothing to do with whether or not you stand on your head for your athletes to sign with your program or don't. This habitual behavior in young athletes is trending which is thinning out the concept of loyalty not only within programs and coaches but to the athletes they play alongside. If you are asking yourself why it seems like team culture or "team bonding" is so much harder to develop than it used to be, it's because it is. This generation, though not entirely their fault, has had so little practice in being held to non-negotiable standards and core values while not having established relationships with one continuous group.

For the fans and non-sport outsiders looking in

If you are gobbling up the headlines and click bait on the latest new names or schools with players in the transfer portal, take a breath and be kind. Perhaps hold off on that tweet that assumes every athlete is leaving because they were abused, they hate their coach or the culture is assumed to be toxic. COVID has been crushing for everyone and many of the decisions being made now will have no rhyme or reason. Steer clear of projecting on this topic as I have yet to meet anyone in pandemic that can truly explain the "why" of any of this madness, especially within athletics.

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