If you follow WVU or Marshall sports, seemingly not a day passes anymore without Metro News sharing the announcement about one student athlete or another posting on social media they are entering the transfer portal. The player states they are basically a free agent and ready to find a new home. So, is the transfer portal a good thing for college sports?

If youáre not entirely sure how the transfer portal works, let me see if I can help. In the last couple weeks, I have been researching and talking to some college contacts to figure out the impact the transfer portal will have on the stateás universitiesá future recruiting successes.

The transfer portal is a relatively new recruiting tool developed 3 years ago. It was designed to give college athletes the same freedom that college coaches have enjoyed for years which is being able to leave a school with no penalty. Prior to the portal, athletes had to sit out a year if they decided to transfer, and in some cases, coaches would block transfers within their own conference. Since the inception of the transfer portal, it has grown to a major recruiting tool for all college coaches across the country, especially the Power 5 conference schools. Coaches can now spend most of their day watching the portal to see if a kid appears that can fit into his or her system.

But whatás happening at power schools is their coaches are suggesting college bound athletes go to a smaller school for their first couple years to grow and gain experience. Then after the investment from a small division 1 school, the athlete can enter the transfer portal and move to their original school of choice. Itás like the NCAA has created a farm system (like in baseball) without calling it a farm system. It makes me wonder how big of a threat it is to the gameás competitive balance.

A perfect example is Coach Lincoln Riley, one of college footballás biggest brightest names. He was a very successful coach at Oklahoma until Southern California came calling. Riley went 55-10 in five seasons as head man with the Sooners, winning four Big 12 titles and making three College Football Playoff appearances. During the height of the 2021 bowl-game season, Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for USC as their new head coach. In a matter of a few months many blue-chip athletes followed Riley via the portal, including USCás new crown jewel, X-Oklahomaás starting quarterback, Caleb Williams, a strong NFL candidate.

Since the end of the 2021 season over 2,000 FBS players have entered the portal. This is an average of 15.4 per school. When you combine the portal with the NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) rule, it opens Pandoraás box to brand-named boosters who can now identify a player they want at their Alma Mater and entice them with endorsement opportunities. Smaller schools canát compete with this, and it is destroying their ability to participate at the highest level. West Virginia, for example, has lost starters in football and basketball to the portal. I donát believe it has to do with how the players are treated. It is just the fact they can move freely to another school while banking on greener pastures.

WVU Basketball Coach Bob Huggins has gone on record multiple times complaining about the changes. He doesnát like them, and believes they are lousy for the game. I understand that. It is unsettling to learn that the system under which you have worked all your adult life and been highly successful running is suddenly old fashioned. Huggins believes the answer may be found in a âportal window,ã meaning a limited amount of time to transfer, and in NBA supervised transfer portal camps. Blue and Gold Nation shared Huggins views on transfer camps, âIn the end, every entity could benefit from this idea. Coaches could gain a better gauge on which athletes may fill their teamás needs, while the athletes themselves could gain more ä and better ä guidance before making the jump to a new school or the professional ranks.ã

Another very successful area college coach is Ben Howlett, head basketball coach of the West Liberty Hilltoppers. I spoke with Ben on his thoughts regarding the portal and how it has affected West Liberty. âIt has its benefits and its disadvantages. It provides a safety net for kids that might change their minds after arriving at a school,ã explained Ben. He went on to say mid major schools can use the portal to convince athletes to come to their school with the promise they can get them to Division 1 in a short period of time through the portal, if the athlete proves to be good enough.

When I asked Ben about how it has affected recruiting, he shared, âMy assistants and I spend countless hours every day watching the portal for possible players for our squad. There have always been transfers, itás just now more visible.ã

So, there you have it. Is the transfer portal a good thing? For now, schools like WVU are in uncharted and rough water. Obviously, times have changed. So has the money and thatás how we got in this shape. Rivalries will take on new meaning, and team rosters will become more unpredictable. For fans like you and me, all we can do is hope for the best. And donát get too attached to any players, because even though we want them to love singing Country Roads with us, they will choose schools with the clearest path to their ultimate destination.