I was sitting out by the pool in St. Petersburg, Florida, this past weekend, and I thought of a solution to the transfer portal that will finally solve its out-of-control nature. It was an idea so obvious to me that I’m wondering why I didn’t come up with it before.
Here’s the solution: Every athlete needs to spend two years of eligibility at the school they originally committed to. After that, they can transfer if they feel the need.
We shouldn’t be seeing athletes transfer and play for four years
at four different schools. I’m all for any athlete doing what they can to earn playing time. But transferring four times in four years? Is that really the best way to do it? I mean, I can’t imagine doing that myself.
Having athletes stay at least two years, during which they are eligible, will make it much more manageable for coaching staffs to recruit and build teams annually. It will also restore a lot of what made college athletics great before the advent of the transfer portal and NIL.
One of those things was the connections fans had with certain players, especially if they stayed for four years.
When I was a student at the University of Cincinnati, Gary Clark stayed all four years of his college basketball career. The connection he forged with the fans will never be forgotten.
Early on in his career, he wanted to come home because he thought things were too hard. His mother said, “Nope, you’re staying there.” He turned out to be one of the all-time fan favorites at Cincinnati.
We need more of that. Where players tough it out and become fan favorites and get rewarded for hard work and staying through early growing pains.
After two seasons of eligibility, transfer if it doesn’t work out. But to up and leave after one season, that’s not a good way to go about it. Playing four seasons at four different schools. How is that even possible, truthfully?
The advent of NIL should make it easier for any athlete to stay two seasons at a school. They can make money even if they’re not playing. That’s a buffer they wouldn’t have had even 10 years ago.
College athletics are out of control when it comes to the transfer portal. NIL; that’s something I’m not concerned about in that regard. But leaving after every season isn’t necessarily good for the player, and it definitely doesn’t make it easier for coaching staffs.
There’s a way to regulate the out-of-control nature of the transfer portal. It’s not completely going back to how it was before, but it’s ensuring there’s at least some order in something that, right now, has none of it. There needs to be a happy medium, and this could be it.
Most importantly, it would restore some element of what college athletics were before the advent of the portal and NIL. A lot of people, including me, would like that.
