The NCAA transfer portal is causing significant changes in college athletics. Football was hit hard this off-season as there were hundreds of transfers. In particular, the Group of 5 was hit very hard. 200+ players from G5 schools transferred this offseason to the Power 5 – the ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac-12, and SEC. Bruce Feldman and Max Olson wrote about the ‘increase’ in tampering in the sport and how coaches believe it can’t be stopped any longer.
“It certainly crosses your mind that we’re becoming a Triple-A farm system,” one Group of 5 general manager told Feldman and Olson via a tweet by Olson.
It’s a difficult thing to deal with. Any sensical person can believe that tampering has always existed in the sports (and, at a more significant level, the business) level. So to be surprised by all this, if you’re on the outside looking in, is more revealing.
The trouble is what the coaches and the programs have to deal with. But, considering how often coaches leave programs behind them for better jobs, you can argue the players should have every right to explore their options. And they have resoundingly. That might perturb some, but expecting any other conclusion was always foolish.
Tampering is a difficult thing for the Group of 5, but just another way of life for them now.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022