Over 3000 players entered the Transfer portal in the first two days
- Thread starter jivecat
- Start date
That's nothing. Last year college basketball was something like 30%-40% of all eligible players were in the portal. College football will quickly become what college basketball has become. AAU. In that each year, you will have almost a whole new team.
I am hoping it all melts down spectacularly and we are back to some sense of normalcy within a few decades. I doubt it.
it's wierd, but something we'll have to get use to. The way we look at how programs can buid and the timeline it takes is changing.
Or interest in college football/basketball could wane given I don’t think a lot of fans (outside of the fans of a select few programs at the top) will get used to it. I’ve already gone from attending Pitt football games to going out of my way to watch all of them on TV to watching them if it is convenient (maybe 4-5 games a season). I stopped watching all other games where I would usually catch a few non-Pitt games a week.
On the flip side I watch way more NFL now than I used to. Used to just watch some Steelers games but now I’ll watch whatever is on (especially the night games). Just a much better product.
I think a lot of people have made a similar shift over the last few years. Why care about college football if it has become nothing more than a substandard pro league and you can instead watch the real thing?
I’ll get off my old man soap box now.
The shame of it is, is that some kids will wind up nowhere, and goodbye scholarship. Actually, a lot of kids will find themselves in this situation.
I wonder if the days of seeing a group of kids grow with a program are coming to a end. Does Fields, Young and Blair group stay at Pitt for 2-4 years in this era? what about the Pat White WVU teams. Does white play all 4 yrs at that school or go somewhere else after his sophomore yr in this kind of landscape? I like the players having more control with these transfer rules/NIL, but their is a cost to it
Funny how that works. With freedom to make decisions comes consequences of those decisions. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not.
the same people were saying this decades ago when free agency hit nfl, mlb.
" I wonder if the days of seeing a group of players stay with a team like the 70's steelers are coming to an end. Does, Bradshaw, greene, lc, harris, swann, stallworth, ham, lambert stay on the steelers in this era?"
The answer is no, they dont. times change, good or bad (varies on who you ask). we adjust or we change the channel.
Truthfully, it does suck for fans. i mean it does, but it offers opportunities for players and well i think the toothpaste is out of the bottle and you arent getting it back in. once you give a freedom like this to an amateur athlete, you just cant take it back because fans are upset.
So what happens when a bench player enters the portal? Can the school just boot them immediately and be off the hook for the scholly? Can they empty their dorm and put their belongings on the curb? Have security escort them from class?
I would think many coaches would want that scholly to use with immediate effect.
USN, that's a great question. would love to see how many players enter portal but end up staying at their school..
i can imagine it happens a lot but also, i can imagine sometimes that player no longer has that opportunity because the coach filled it with other transfers.. if you enter portal, a coach has no obligation to hold that scholarship for you.
I’d imagine a fair number who strike out in the FBS sweepstakes could get taken by FCS schools. That impedes on borderline guys on those FCS teams of course…coaches will be pushing those guys out to make room…maybe these guys can go D2…and on and on, down to the high school kid who thought he was going to be able go to Westminster to play for a few shekels, but finds out they filled their roster…yeah this is good stuff 🙄
Difference is in pro sports you have contracts. Pro sports with yearly free agency and one year contracts would be equally disastrous and kill interest.
NCAA has got to find a way to put restrictions around transfers. Going back to sitting out a year unless transferring down a level would probably do the trick.
the only real victims here are the fringe high school D1 recruits IMO. everyone else just kind of poaches from schools just below them on the totem pole. a trickle down effect..
It appears that many of these guys are betting a free university education playing at the roulette wheel called the transfer portal. Dealer usually wins.
no debate here. i agree with all of you, this is a cluster F and needs fixed asap. i just dont have much faith in the ncaa doing this...
i sure hope they do cause like you guys said, just dont see how the portal or nil trends are sustainable.
The new reality of processing kids who aren't contributors is what hurts the most. In the past, you could have a relatively non-productive guy who by the time he is a senior is a real contributor, and that was OK. Nowadays, if you aren't seeing the field in a productive manner by sophomore year, you are in danger of getting the talk, and that's a shame. But it comes with the territory if you are going to throw money at them.
The NCAA, aka the schools themselves, are deathly afraid (most of them) of being forced into paying open salaries to football and male basketballplayers (and all that will lead to … equal pay for women sports and non revenue sports…players unions … etc etc).
So they are fine with all this clandestine stuff … for now.Perhaps only the TV networks will think all this craziness will somehow hurt interest and ratings (when even the Bamas and Michigans have entirely new rosters every season). They may order some kind of clamps on it (though not sure just what that would entail).
Ultimately only the big football / basketball schools breaking away to their own quasi-pro league will end (most of) this for all the others who remain in the “NCAA”. This would settle it down in our ranks (should we continue football), IMO.
The pro league colleges, all of which have more money than God for their sports, will adopt above the table salaries and player contracts and mutual non tampering policies. Though under the table payola and poaching from the lower levels by the big boys will certainly still occur in some form. So not a perfect scenario by any means.
Not looking forward to it, as a Pitt fan. In the meantime I actually think the portal overall helps us to get talent we wouldn’t have normally gotten from high school recruits, so I’m not griping.
Not one of these players seems to be in it for the education anymore. Maybe I'm just naïve thinking it used to be but at this point it is school sponsored free agent team that wears your schools colors with little to no allegiance to the school.
No wonder during NFL introductions many are stating their elementary school since that is probably the last time they went to a school where they hadnt been recruited to go to.
No wonder during NFL introductions many are stating their elementary school since that is probably the last time they went to a school where they hadnt been recruited to go to.
Something we haven't really talked about is that increased numbers of players in the portal could beget increased numbers of players in the portal. If schools continually go to the portal to fill out their roster (either as starters or key backups) are they actually encouraging their underclassmen to transfer? This gets to the issue of how the numbers break down in the portal. I suspect that you really have 2 types of players in the portal. Type 1 is the player who is looking for more PT (or even a better playing situation like a higher level of competition). Type 1 is probably the largest number in the portal. Type 2 is the superstar player who is in high demand and is looking to either optimize their NIL or play at a higher level program (probably both). Jordan Addison is a prime example. Reality is that there are only a handful of players who really are at this level. Most are guys who may contribute, but aren't going to be program changers.
It will be interesting to see how the use of the portal works out long-term for various programs. If you develop a reputation for constantly over-recruiting through the use of the portal, how does that impact your high school recruiting? Also, how does the recruiting of the superstar through the portal effect morale when a new guy waltzes in and grabs a multi-million dollar NIL deal?
Cruzer
It will be interesting to see how the use of the portal works out long-term for various programs. If you develop a reputation for constantly over-recruiting through the use of the portal, how does that impact your high school recruiting? Also, how does the recruiting of the superstar through the portal effect morale when a new guy waltzes in and grabs a multi-million dollar NIL deal?
Cruzer
I think we’re already seeing that our high school recruiting is starting to crater for higher star prospects. I see us eventually taking only depth level players (the ones we “beat out MAC schools for”) from high schools, and increasingly using the portal for many of our starters, particularly highest impact skill players. The trend is already going that direction.
This is crazy! Whatever happened to the days when a kid went to college primarily for an education? If these kids graduate, they have credits from two, three, or four schools.
It's hard to believe Terrelle Pryor wasn't swayed by the video of that dude that was holding up his Penn State degree explaining that the best reason for him to commit to Penn State is he could get one of his very own.
The difference is baseball has salary caps and the cost of attending games has reduced the attendance. Many games are played at half full stadiums, if that.
Collège football has entered its Mercenary Age where loyalty and love for one's school and teammates is a thing of the past..
Attendance is cake frosting. The TV money is the thing. With that paradigm shifting to streaming, that part of it is going to be interesting, is the save money going to be there? And if there still is such as thing as Networks, are they going to see erosion in viewership for games when the teams turn over almost entirely from one season to the next? I am not going to predict one way or another, but too much of this insanity might have that impact. Unless it’s purely about watching my color of laundry (which it might well be).
Man I used to consume as much cfb as possible dating back to my hs days in the late 80's early 90's....whether its been Maction tueadays....Friday night games. Loved Thursday nights and didn't watch any Thursday night NFL unless the steelers played. The last 10 years have really changed for me. I don't go to many Pitt games anymore and I am ashamed to admit i have fallen asleep and napped during about 1/4 of our games the last 3 years. I don't watch any other cfb games any longer. The game is dying in my eyes. I have zero interest in the espn non stop sec big 10 drama series/love fest that takes place every single season. Espn is unwatchable unless they have a Pitt game on. Bowl season has lost its luster, i would watch about 80% of those games every year. I may see parts of 1 or 2 now plus Pitts game. It's been a tiring drawn out 30 year decline that I blame espn and the ncca for.
I am slowly moving into your territory. Last year was fun with PITT. The NIL and transfer portal convinced me that any money I give to PITT should exclude the athletic department. It’s not their fault, but college football is quickly getting ruined.
This is definitely an unspoken dilemma for all ADs. It’s outright foolish to donate to the actual school AD now if there’s primary interest in football or basketball success (which, let’s face it, is 99% the interest of most donors). Yet giving to some shady underworld NIL entities with questionable legitimacy and no accountability is dubious as well.
I have been to more non Pitt bowl games than actual Pitt bowl games. I guess is suck
Non Pitt bowl games
Rose
Las vegas (5 times)
Insight
Fort worth
Pitt
Liberty
Pinstripe
Fiesta
I wouldn't consider a non Pitt bowl game even if I didn't have to travel and was GIVEN tix
Looked at sun bowl tix this year, easy flight and my wife loved the idea as she had a blast at the pinstripe. Don't know if I will go yet
