You get what you get and you don’t get upset. The universal message taught to kindergarteners around the world when they did not get their favorite dessert after dinner. Parents discipline their children and make sure they continue to have the power in their respective household.
While it seems like most kids are taught this lesson at a young age, the stars of Division One sports gloss over this unwritten rule, choosing their collegiate destiny through the transfer portal. While not a physical portal, this tool allows players to travel from one school to another, choosing where they will have the most success. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) lets their athletes walk all over them, picking where they want to continue their collegiate career, no matter the condition.
This damaging behavior was recently brought into the spotlight with the retirement of Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL. With Saban and Harbaugh gone, both programs lost many of their top players to the transfer portal. Not wanting to face a big challenge, these players showed their true character and who they really are.
“It is impossible to keep a team together. The old days of a player waiting it out and working for an opportunity are over,” college sports fanatic and SPFHS sophomore Darren Edelman told The Fanscotian. “Nowadays, [players] leave the team they are on and go to a better opportunity without having to work as hard.”
The likes of defensive back Caleb Downs, lineman Reece Atteberry, quarterback Kyle McCord and quarterback Dillon Gabriel all got out of the situation they were in, by entering the portal. Knowing that at another school they would easily succeed, these select players decided that it was time for a change.
Though all entered the transfer portal, each had different reasons to leave their respected school. McCord and Gabriel, both starting signal callers, left their respective schools due to the fear of being benched, and went to universities that penciled them as the starter for the upcoming season. On the other hand, Downs and Attebery transferred due to a new coach at the helm, instead of the legendary coaches before them who were no longer.
Downs is viewed as one of the most impactful college football players around the country, playing as a strong and athletic downhill safety, who said goodbye to his teammates in Tuscaloosa after Saban’s retirement. This move shows how detrimental the transfer portal can be in college sports.
“If a player is not loyal to their school or loses interest, they can decide to go elsewhere,” Villanova basketball supporter and SPFHS sophomore Reid Buehler said.
With the snap of a finger, a college team can be flipped upside down due to this execrable idea of giving the players what they want. The few upsides of this creation, giving athletes new beginnings and a chance to make it to the pros, are heavily outweighed by the negatives.
Even though the transfer portal is harmful to college sports, fans have become accustomed to this human transporter and will not think anything of this recent trend. The selfish behavior translates into professional sports as well, with players demanding more money or new teammates after something does not go their way.
But it all traces back to the collegiate level. Jalen Hurts, star quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, sensed he was not going to play for the Alabama Crimson Tide so he transferred to the University of Oklahoma. Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow had a similar college experience, losing the starting job at Ohio State which led to him transferring down south to LSU (Louisiana State University).
The transfer portal was created in 2018 to help athletes fulfill their desire of switching schools, and while it fills this need, precautions need to be put in place so players do not abuse the system. In today’s world, the transfer portal is just another corrupt part of the NCAA’s system, especially paired with the NIL.
“Not only does the transfer portal stop hard work and waiting for one’s chance to come, it hurts the team that the player leaves,” Edelman said.
