Closer Look: Transfer Portal Changes NCAA? - By Bella Bunnage

The transfer portal is one of the most argued topics regarding college sports right now. The transfer portal was made specifically to help young athletes perform and thrive where they are, but maybe it's more harmful than people think. There are many different opinions regarding the portal. Some coaches think it's a good thing, whereas others think it's detrimental to the future of collegiate athletics. Not only was there a rising concern amongst coaches about the portal but more concern regarding families and players. Many athletes believe the portal is a new way to ensure happiness for players. Still, some believe that it's not fair to the upcoming athletes in their recruitment year when a school's main focus is creating powerhouses of teams to compete with.

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Before seeing the coach's opinions on the portal, understanding where it originated and how it worked seemed more beneficial than jumping right into it. The transfer portal came about in the fall season of 2018. NCAA stated, "The Transfer Portal was created as a compliance tool to systematically manage the transfer process from start to finish, add more transparency to the process among schools, and empower student-athletes to make known their desire to consider other programs." It was created to ensure athletes find the right fit they are looking for but some seek this advantage to be outweighed by its many disadvantages. Something that interested me about the transfer portal is the time frame they have to publish themselves and then get recruited. This time window is 45 days, which may seem like a lot to some, but when you have 45 days to decide to reflect on your future, it can become really stressful. I had a chance to talk to Kendal Smith, Bomber alumni, who transferred from a division two school to Central Washington University, about how she felt the time frame affected her "When I entered the transfer portal and only had 45 days, it was obviously overwhelming and stressful, and anyone that's ever been in the recruiting process knows that it sucks but entering it was really easy you just fill out a form with your compliance officer and then you're in." Intuitively, the time frame has affected Kendal and all athletes entering the portal. This also would heavily affect coaches, considering they only have so much time to convince athletes to choose their schools.

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The portal looks a lot different from a coaching standpoint. Some view it as an opportunity to help athletes find a place that works for them, whereas other coaches abuse the portal's power and only recruit from there. One of the number one reasons coaches all across the board disagree with the portal is because it takes away drastically from high school recruitment. The Big10 network released an interview about the University of Colorado Boulder having a specific staff for recruiting out of the portal. Universities will save a lot of their scholarship money for the transfer portal; this money saved is the money that won't go to those high school kids who were never given a chance.

Conversely, coaches find the portal helpful when looking for certain positions that are needed on the team. For example, if you need a defensive end, it's easy to look on the portal and find a solid division three kid who would die for an opportunity to play at Alabama or Ohio State. The portal allows college coaches to shop online for their next recruit. In the same interview I watched, they talked about the history of the portal and how you weren't eligible for a year of playing. 

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In contrast, now you can transfer and still get the eligibility without taking any time to sit on the bench. While researching more about his topic, it was difficult to find the positives coaches felt towards the portal because many believed it was a corrupt resource just to build powerhouses out of collegiate athletics. A few other flaws coaches felt with the process were tampering with players and losing players that impacted programs. The portal encourages coaches to tamper with other players they want on their team and convince them to simply jump into the portal. The most interesting view of the coaches' opinions of the portal was that even though they have so many deficiencies with it, they all still use it and encourage their players who aren't fit for their program. 

This brings the most important purpose of the portal to the discussion, and that's how athletes feel about it. The original purpose was to help these athletes find a home, but did they help them or make it worse because every team constantly changes. Family members and athletes are hopeful because they know at least they have a backup plan when it comes down to it, but some think this is never an option. Many athletes believe that when you commit to a school, that's the school you are saying yes to, no matter what. The portal creates trust issues with teams because they know someone could be gone at any moment. Although there are mixed opinions on whether the portal benefits collegiate athletes, some see it as an opportunity rather than a limitation. Athletes who don't abuse the power of the portal view it as a helping hand to leave negative situations and give a better outlook for the future of their sport. Ultimately, the portal can be a very dangerous tool, and it's up to the coaches and players to decide how they utilize it. The portal can either be used as a weapon or a helping hand in the future of collegiate athletics. The road we are going down is not a good outlook for athletics.