The Portal, 2025 Style

[Boro33]

A huge percentage of 'recruiting' at this level is throwing darts at a board (blindfolded) - especially how some programs try and sign transfers.

The budgets are tight. I get it. Bringing in kids -- sight unseen -- is just such a risk. There are programs in this region that sign portal players who don't even visit campus or meet a coach in person. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it's a freaking disaster.

Just about any fool can fake their way through a Zoom call/interview. It's more difficult in person.

Regarding the 'small school' recruiting on the high school level ... it is tricky. Lots of diamonds out there ... lots of total duds, too.

Bringing in a portal player without meeting him in person is foolishness. Quality staffs do not go this route.

[Boro33]

Don't worry about me. I'm still recovering from New Year's Eve.

Must a been a wild one...

[Fightingscot82]

A huge percentage of 'recruiting' at this level is throwing darts at a board (blindfolded) - especially how some programs try and sign transfers.

The budgets are tight. I get it. Bringing in kids -- sight unseen -- is just such a risk. There are programs in this region that sign portal players who don't even visit campus or meet a coach in person. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it's a freaking disaster.

Just about any fool can fake their way through a Zoom call/interview. It's more difficult in person.

Regarding the 'small school' recruiting on the high school level ... it is tricky. Lots of diamonds out there ... lots of total duds, too.

College football recruiting and baseball scouting are still stuck in the world of the "eye test" and judging "upside".

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It turns out that judging guys against wildly variant HS competition is hard. And that doesn’t even get into the personality concerns.

A huge percentage of 'recruiting' at this level is throwing darts at a board (blindfolded) - especially how some programs try and sign transfers.

The budgets are tight. I get it. Bringing in kids -- sight unseen -- is just such a risk. There are programs in this region that sign portal players who don't even visit campus or meet a coach in person. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it's a freaking disaster.

Just about any fool can fake their way through a Zoom call/interview. It's more difficult in person.

Regarding the 'small school' recruiting on the high school level ... it is tricky. Lots of diamonds out there ... lots of total duds, too.

[TheBigCat2192]

I'd say to just remember it's not always the 'player' choosing to enter the Portal. It gets perceived that way, but players end up in there for a wide variety of reasons.

A lot of Portal entrants - in simplest terms - are free agents because they are currently homeless. They are no longer a fit and their current coach tells them they are no longer welcome. This happens all the time. It's a major reason why so many of these guys remain homeless.

Coaches miss -- a lot -- in recruiting. Some of these kids turn out to be duds -- athletically and/or academically. Some are just terrible humans and locker room cancers.

It turns out that judging guys against wildly variant HS competition is hard. And that doesn’t even get into the personality concerns.

[iupgroundhog]

This is a rather funny interpretation given that the loudest public voices for athlete’s rights (the “individual rights” you mention) are broadly left-wing like labor activists and “Squad” members like Cory Booker. Meanwhile a fair amount of college sports admins and writers felt that a Trump administration and/or Republican Congress (like Cruz and Tuberville in the Senate) would be more favorable to the NCAA and its quest for an anti-trust exemption and legislation specifying that players are not to be defined as employees.

Unfortunately, state houses don’t really give us a good idea of who might support what at the federal level because we’ve seen a fair amount of politicians across the board at state level support NIL and try to block the NCAA from enforcing its rules inside their borders.

You make good points. I guess my perspective is more a broader, philosophical one than a political one. Plus, to your point, I have never bought into the players as employees part.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

We could probably discuss this ad nauseum. I personally see it as conforming to right wing thinking because it is based on individual rights over the "common good" and , while everybody believes in individual rights, it is a cornerstone, or maybe the cornerstone of right wing thinking. It places "me" over all other considerations. It is, at its core, Ayn Rand, Edmund Burke, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan. Just my opinion. Happy New Year.

I'd say to just remember it's not always the 'player' choosing to enter the Portal. It gets perceived that way, but players end up in there for a wide variety of reasons.

A lot of Portal entrants - in simplest terms - are free agents because they are currently homeless. They are no longer a fit and their current coach tells them they are no longer welcome. This happens all the time. It's a major reason why so many of these guys remain homeless.

Coaches miss -- a lot -- in recruiting. Some of these kids turn out to be duds -- athletically and/or academically. Some are just terrible humans and locker room cancers.

[iupgroundhog]

Huh?

Don't worry about me. I'm still recovering from New Year's Eve.

[Boro33]

You are correct regarding Booker and other NIL supporters. My point is mine alone and I think the underlying rationale is oriented toward conservative thinking. Kind of doesn't matter because we have what we have now, anyway.

Huh?

[iupgroundhog]

This is a rather funny interpretation given that the loudest public voices for athlete’s rights (the “individual rights” you mention) are broadly left-wing like labor activists and “Squad” members like Cory Booker. Meanwhile a fair amount of college sports admins and writers felt that a Trump administration and/or Republican Congress (like Cruz and Tuberville in the Senate) would be more favorable to the NCAA and its quest for an anti-trust exemption and legislation specifying that players are not to be defined as employees.

Unfortunately, state houses don’t really give us a good idea of who might support what at the federal level because we’ve seen a fair amount of politicians across the board at state level support NIL and try to block the NCAA from enforcing its rules inside their borders.

You are correct regarding Booker and other NIL supporters. My point is mine alone and I think the underlying rationale is oriented toward conservative thinking. Kind of doesn't matter because we have what we have now, anyway.

[TheBigCat2192]

We could probably discuss this ad nauseum. I personally see it as conforming to right wing thinking because it is based on individual rights over the "common good" and , while everybody believes in individual rights, it is a cornerstone, or maybe the cornerstone of right wing thinking. It places "me" over all other considerations. It is, at its core, Ayn Rand, Edmund Burke, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan. Just my opinion. Happy New Year.

This is a rather funny interpretation given that the loudest public voices for athlete’s rights (the “individual rights” you mention) are broadly left-wing like labor activists and “Squad” members like Cory Booker. Meanwhile a fair amount of college sports admins and writers felt that a Trump administration and/or Republican Congress (like Cruz and Tuberville in the Senate) would be more favorable to the NCAA and its quest for an anti-trust exemption and legislation specifying that players are not to be defined as employees.

Unfortunately, state houses don’t really give us a good idea of who might support what at the federal level because we’ve seen a fair amount of politicians across the board at state level support NIL and try to block the NCAA from enforcing its rules inside their borders.

[Boro33]

Shepherd is a better program than where Powell is going. Jokes aside it seems like this was a case where student/player and school/team just couldn’t make it work. It happens.

Agree. Program at Shepherd has better history. But the level of competition is a big step up. Weeks 1 and 2 are Vanderbilt and Coastal Carolina. Richmond, William & Mary, Eastern and and Western Illinois, Gardner Webb, the Citidel are common opponents. They played Florida State this year. Looking at scores, I believe they lost 4 games by 5 or fewer points.

[TheBigCat2192]

Shepherd has been having a run that a lot of D2 schools would like to have. After the way my school's program has been going the past couple of years, I'd just appreciate a decent season or two.

Shepherd is a better program than where Powell is going. Jokes aside it seems like this was a case where student/player and school/team just couldn’t make it work. It happens.

[iupgroundhog]

I'm not sure what is right wing about it.

I think athletes need to reclaim their student status and the ability to transfer as they see fit just like any other student is a big step in that direction. Yes, this provides chaos for the school but the same could be said if the star musician in a music department jazz band decided he wants to transfer. They go and find another trumpet player or whatever, they don't say "you promised us 4 years!" Coaches also have the ability to go as they please without penalty. The only saving grace is that nothing is guaranteed and way too many of the D2 players entering the portal end up nowhere - their only bridge burned when they requested a release. I think things will eventually settle down a bit.

If schools want to prevent this, they can give players more space to be normal students. Right now they are a football player taking classes from August to November (December for those late playoff runs). Let them make friends off the team. Choose the major they want. Give them time to work a job. Join a fraternity. The more connected they are to the campus beyond football they more they'll appreciate it and be less likely to leave.

Completely anecdotal, but my dad's fraternity at Edinboro in the early 70s was half football players. A former neighbor who played at Penn State was in a fraternity that was almost entirely football players. This is unheard of anymore - for a football player to join a fraternity or any other organization that does a lot on campus. When was the last time you heard of a football player on SGA? Programming board? Being an RA? All things that used to be pretty common are gone. They're football players taking classes. Occasionally getting a significant other. But almost never having anything resembling the experience of every other male student.

We could probably discuss this ad nauseum. I personally see it as conforming to right wing thinking because it is based on individual rights over the "common good" and , while everybody believes in individual rights, it is a cornerstone, or maybe the cornerstone of right wing thinking. It places "me" over all other considerations. It is, at its core, Ayn Rand, Edmund Burke, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan. Just my opinion. Happy New Year.

[Fightingscot82]

You are correct. The whole deal in college sports represents an overemphasis of the rights of the individual and takes away from the cohesiveness that results from the institution. It becomes chaos, which is what we have now. It's a right-wing thing produced by right-wingers. There has to be more balance between the rights of individuals and what we sacrifice for the institutions that make things work.

Groundhog Philosophy 2025.

I'm not sure what is right wing about it.

I think athletes need to reclaim their student status and the ability to transfer as they see fit just like any other student is a big step in that direction. Yes, this provides chaos for the school but the same could be said if the star musician in a music department jazz band decided he wants to transfer. They go and find another trumpet player or whatever, they don't say "you promised us 4 years!" Coaches also have the ability to go as they please without penalty. The only saving grace is that nothing is guaranteed and way too many of the D2 players entering the portal end up nowhere - their only bridge burned when they requested a release. I think things will eventually settle down a bit.

If schools want to prevent this, they can give players more space to be normal students. Right now they are a football player taking classes from August to November (December for those late playoff runs). Let them make friends off the team. Choose the major they want. Give them time to work a job. Join a fraternity. The more connected they are to the campus beyond football they more they'll appreciate it and be less likely to leave.

Completely anecdotal, but my dad's fraternity at Edinboro in the early 70s was half football players. A former neighbor who played at Penn State was in a fraternity that was almost entirely football players. This is unheard of anymore - for a football player to join a fraternity or any other organization that does a lot on campus. When was the last time you heard of a football player on SGA? Programming board? Being an RA? All things that used to be pretty common are gone. They're football players taking classes. Occasionally getting a significant other. But almost never having anything resembling the experience of every other male student.