What was the NCAA thinking ????

 My take on the NCAA and "the Transfer Portal"

Really the NCAA reminds me a lot of the dad on Christmas eve You know the ones I am talking about. There is a bike cycle in a box with the words SOME assembled required and before you know it dad emerges from the garage wearing a toolbelt with a power tool in one hand and a toolbox in the other hand. Some dads should let mom do it!

Now I have never been a fan of this new rule. I also believed that the early signing  period coaches wanted would be a bad thing as well forcing student athletes to make a choice out of fear instead of letting the process unfold to national signing day where a student athlete could have made a choice with a clear head. So coaches now are excited they have locked up some in December and can focus on a few for February.

Than here comes dad I mean the NCAA and they have the new transfer portal rule. Next thing you know the recruiting process gets turned upside down. Coaches are out recruiting their weakness make offers only to find out when they get back to campus that the number two QB entered the transfer portal the starting QB broke his leg playing beer pong and there is no one to throw the ball to you newly offered receivers. 

So what is the transfer portal and how does it work ?

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.

Under the college transfer policy, when a student-athlete informs a school that he wishes to transfer, that institution has two business days to enter that athlete's name into a national transfer portal. Once the student-athlete's name is in the database, other coaches from any school can contact that individual. (thank you NCAA.org )

So it's no wonder coaches like Nick Saban of Alabama was concerned because it undid or opened the door to new problems when coaches thought the early signing period had locked up for them.

The transfer market has been growing steadily for more than a decade, and with it the concern for its unintended consequences. Alabama coach Nick Saban, as far back as 2017, advocated a "rule of civility" among coaches not to tamper with one another's players. "They have rules for that in the NFL," Saban said, "I think we should have rules for that in college football."

But a year later, the transfer portal went online, allowing players to formally signal their interest in changing schools and begin the process of recruitment. Then, in April, the NCAA approved a one-time waiver giving players the right to transfer once in their careers without the penalty of having to sit out a year of competition.

With that, the last guardrail was removed, the rules of engagement changed and the Era of Tampering began in earnest.

It's now blatant, the ACC assistant explained, and all the NCAA would have to do is check phone records to see what's really going on. But it won't, he added, because "I just don't think they want to do that stuff."

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz scoffed at the idea of NCAA oversight. It would need to open an investigation, he said, and what good would that do when it still hasn't punished the coaches implicated in the FBI's investigation of college basketball?

"What kind of ferociousness is behind the enforcement if you have people on tape admitting to violations and they're still actively coaching?" Drinkwitz asked.

 

SMU coach Sonny Dykes brought up those wiretaps, too. He said he believes the NCAA's inaction is reinforcing the old adage, "If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying."

"You want people in our sport to be ethical enough where they don't fall prey to that," Dykes said, "but ... you got to win and you got a high-pressure job and you have all these things and then all of a sudden, you look up and you go, 'Oh, they didn't punish anybody, and they're not going to punish me. So why not?'"

Stanford coach David Shaw has heard that rationale before, and he isn't buying

whether you go through a high school coach or a parent or a 'mentor' or street agent, I think it's disgusting," he said.

Bill Clark, who coaches Group of 5 power UAB, said his team played a game last season in which he knew for a fact that the opponent was actively recruiting one of his offensive skill players by reaching out to his former high school coach to signal their interest.

The player stayed, but a line had been crossed. Clark said point-blank, "That's tampering."

"We all hope we have a great culture," he said, "but you'd be lying to say it didn't worry you."

A Power 5 defensive coordinator told VanHaaren he wouldn't bother recruiting high school players if he was at a place like Ball State. If he helps turn that player into an all-MAC type, "A school like us is going to come take him."

Easier to avoid the heartache.

"Why spend all that time developing that kid only for him to leave me when I can go sign the kid who's unhappy as the fourth corner at a Power 5 school and he's a better player anyway?" he asked.

North Carolina coach Mack Brown said he's "absolutely" concerned about other repercussions.

"You play a team now and you don't go shake the coach's hand on the other side," Brown said. "You go shake the great tight end's hand. 'Hey, you look great, man. Aw, man, we should have recruited you. Wish you were here.'"

Brown paused.

"Well," he said, "now he can be. ( this information was compiled by Brandon Huffman who is the national recruiting editor for 247 sports and posted in an article titled HOW THE TRANSFER PORTAL CHANGED RECRUITING )

Many of you might still not seeing the point. So you coach Joe's college in no wheresville USA. Now for the first time you have got a team that can compete and your teams future is looking bright. So for what ever reason one of your future All Americans is unhappy so he bolts for what he perceives are greener pastures and enters the transfer portal and teleports to another team. Now your bright future looks pretty dim.

Student athletes use to learn many of life lessons from being involved in sports. Things like Leadership, Loyalty, patience, team work, dealing with adversity, getting along with different personalities, Team building, work ethic, rewards from your hard work. Now a coach is hard on you or you didn't get the starting spot or you were red shirted and now "I will just transfer" . That athlete I hope will still learn all those lessons but the way the transfer portal is set up today he can wait until he gets to the next school to learn those things. Please don't get me wrong I believe the student athlete should have the chance to learn and play sports at the school of his or her choice. I also believe a coach should not be able to stop a student athlete from entering the portal. I do believe the no deterrent's to entering the portal makes it so a student athlete doesn't have to sit down and look inside of themselves . That is where leaders are made, where you challenge yourself and you emerge with a decision that you clearly made looking at all the pros and cons. Those deterrents, rules, or whatever you wanted to call them removed makes jumping ship all to easy and in some cases sets an example to others that might not be good for a team.

On the coaches side of this I believe there is a very large % of schools knowingly breaking NCAA recruiting rules using pre portal contact to entice players to enter the portal to gain an unfair advantage in recruiting student athletes to their teams and schools . The NCAA rules committee has stated they will wait to see the numbers and kind of allow things to work themselves out. Basically telling coaches go a head and cheat, break all the rules you want because we have no Idea what were doing. Other coaches have to follow suit because they won't be able to compete and they will get fired for not winning games because Boosters and big business run college sports . There is no loyalty to the coaches that do it right. No job security for the Athletic Director (AD) that demand integrity from all his/her coaches. University Presidents turn a blind eye so they have a chance to leave their mark on the educational institution they serve knowing without $$$ college athletics bring in they would also be doing something else somewhere else.

Recruiting the High School student athlete. This is already a nightmare for parents of high school students athletes. In many cases parents feel forced to hire special coaches, trainers and nutritionists at the high school level to just give their student athlete a chance. Now these student athlete are not seeing as many recruiting visits from college coaches because ahead of them are players in the portal and players from 2 yr schools or Jr colleges and eve prep schools before they look at high school student athlete's. So mom and dad widen the recruiting circle by now adding Recruiters taking their student athlete to camps and combines out of state many across the country spending thousands of dollars in hopes their student athlete gets some looks.

So my question to my self is "did the NCAA look at anything before adding this one time no rules to transfer out of a school to student athletes ? There are a lot of if ands & but's to be looked at. Maybe some advance research studies. I mean no university changes their type of toilet paper they stock for school use without some insane million dollar study first. Yet with something this big it seems like at the pub around the corner from the NCAA headquarters there was a dart board with two business cards with a yes and a no written on them maybe a few beers to just blur things enough to make it somewhat challenging and a shady bartender in this seedy pub as the referee to the entire event. I mean in the words from Dr. McCoy "Spock are you insane"?

Here are some interesting numbers off the NCAA.ORG website. I will add because the NCAA broke out FCS and FBS numbers in their reporting and added the entire student body in the transfer portal data and used numbers already at their finger tips. So I will note where I change the numbers by pulling two line items together to give the reader a more transparent view of everything. Also 247 sports had numbers a year newer than numbers used by the NCAA so I also included their reporting to give the reader a true read.

According to the NCAA the % of both 2/4 and 4/4 transfers in Division 1 have increased each of the last three years. (2/4 & 4/4 is Jr college transfers to 4 year schools and 4/4 is from 4 year to 4 year school) The Up ticks in both 2/4 & 4/4 are occurring across a number of men's and women's sports.

After one down year men's Basketball has increased each of the last two years

2/4 transfers schools showed a large difference between men's and women's sports with 8.5% in men's sports compared to 2.8% in women's sports however in 4/4 transfer men at 7.5% and women at 7.3% was much closer.

Based off 2018/2019 numbers 2/4 men's Basketball 21.8% has the most athletes enter the portal Men's Baseball had 14.5% but adding FCS numbers and FBS together Men's Football came in # 2 at 18.8% Women's sports saw women's Basketball with 8.6% and women's softball with 5.7%

in 4/4 transfer portal numbers or % of

men's Soccer 18.6% men's Basketball 15.3% and men's Tennis at 13.8% and the NCAA goes on to list football at 4th and 6th place where football combine came in at 11.8% or third. On the women's side Beach Volleyball 18.4%, women's Tennis at 13.8 and women's Basketball at 11.7%

Now in 2 and 4 year schools combine the numbers or % of student athlete's in the transfer portal really start to show some big numbers. combined men's football comes in at 30.7% with men's Basketball at 29.8%

According to 247 sports as of last week there were 1500 FBS players in the transfer portal. 964 of them had some sort of ranking meaning the vast number 500 or so were walk on's. of the 964 about 60% or 588 student athlete's were at this time uncommitted to a program Of the 557 transferring from a power 5 school 299 of them took a step down. Out of the remaining numbers about 1/3 or 86 student athletes took a step up or traded across. There are some we don't know the number but out of the 259 left many will be out of football all together and now understanding "the grass isn't always greener on the other side'!

I want to thank

* NCAA.ORG for posting numbers on their site *ADU and Eli Boettier

*247 sports for such a great group of writer's. *Brandon Huffman who is the national recruiting editor for 247 sports

*247 sports for such in depth recruiting information.

My name is Kenneth W Grover recruiter/sports photographer for curiouseyes007. I have been Blogging about the in and outs of recruiting for the last ten years. I won't hold back how I feel about the recruiting process and I won't hold back how I see an athlete's recruiting path. Curiouseyes007 telling you what you need to hear and not what you want to hear.

The Time is Now and It's about Time Carl Nassib

                

 Well I am taking time out of my normal recruiting information to embrace a major development in the world of sports. This I believe will be the biggest forward movement for the LGBTQ community in a place we would not usually expect it to start. I also believe The Time is Now The Time is Right so lets take this ball and make sure we all score on this drive. 

announcement from a five year current NFL vet. Before I cover what most of you have already heard over the last few days I wanted to center on maybe some points that might be over looked or maybe not even thought of by many. A walk on at Penn State Carl Nassib didn't take long to show the coaches of the Nittany Lions that he belonged there. Not only did Carl earn the right to be converted from walk on to full ride scholarship player and a solid starter for one of the best defensive units in the country he was the hands down winner of the Lombardi award. This is given to the best lineman in the country. This by no means is the biggest impact  Carl Nassib would make.

  Draft day after two rounds of the draft Carl was still on the board almost unheard of for a Lombard winner. On day two of the draft in the third round Carl Nassib would hear his name called for the 65 overall pick of the 2015 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns. But wait this still isn't Carl's biggest moment. Carl would go on to impress coaches and fans with his athletic ability, drive and work ethic. Fast forward to today where we find Carl Nassib a fiver year NFL VET with a new two year contract playing for the AFC Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL. At five years he has already past many of the draft picks before and after his selection that are no longer in the NFL. Wait we are still not at his biggest moment! 

  Now on 6/21/21 Carl Nassib through an Instagram post announces to the world that he is gay. This would be to many a big moment. This would be news so many were waiting for. This announcement wasn't to keep him from getting cut or to be on some reality TV show or to make a name for himself because Carl has done this all his life Carl has done this all thro High School, college and into the pros. Carl felt he had a reasonability to himself the ones to follow in his footsteps the ones that blazed the trail before him. Yet Carl still isn't taking the spot light. Taking the time to let everyone know this wasn't for fame or fortune for himself and he wish he didn't have to but again for others he wanted to say I am gay I have a great life and partner. He has the love and support of great family and friends and he has the best job in the world. But like all the first and great accomplishments Carl Nassib has accrued through his football life he still hasn't hit the biggest eye opener yet. Understand walk on to scholarship player, working into the starting line up in power five football to the best defensive player in the country and than to be selected 65 overall in the third round of the NFL draft to a five year NFL VET. 

Now with the world ready to embrace Carl, ridicule him, many would praise him and just as many would turn their heads. Than Carl would do what I believe was and will be his biggest moment Carl took the spotlight off him being the first current GAY NFL football player in the NFL and shared with everyone something called the TREVOR PROJECT . This is a group helps 1.8 million LGBTQ youth with suicide prevention. Founded in 1998 for many this was the first time they would hear about it. Yes Carl Nassib again proved to everyone how special, athletically talented, unselfish and humble he is and always has been. Putting the TREVOR PROJECT front and forward than giving a $100,000.00 donation. This would be Carl's biggest moment todate. Something tells me he isn't finished yet. 

Now my thoughts on the opportunity we have in front of us. Many of you will follow and donate money to the Trevor Project. That's great they will need it. But for our youth our LGBTQ youth this is the time for Mom's and Dads to connect with their student athletes and not ask are you? Its time to say ITS ok to be you . Its ok to be LGBTQ its your time to teach your children about working with, playing with and going to school with members of the LGBTQ community. Dad's and coaches you are the mentors to our youth and you don't want to be the parent that says I DIDN'T KNOW or I DIDN'T SEE THE SIGNS or I DID'T MEAN MY KID. It doesn't have to be to late. When I heard the news I took to social media FB, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn asking coaches and trainers to talk about this. The ones I know have pod casts I messaged this needs to be talked about and shared embraced and celebrated. This is the wall between East and West Germany, or the Peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. Today June 22 2021 can be our biggest moment in bridging the gap between the LGBTQ community and your community. A moment so ready to be addressed in what is the largest homophobic stage there is SPORTS Professional Athletes and the coaching ranks. A stage where men and women are judged by their Manhood or womanhood by their ability to reduce their opponent into submission and stand above them as  conquerors. Its about ones ability their right to compete and their right to be who they are with no fear of backlash or retaliation because of their sexually preference or chosen lifestyle. 

After I post this BLOG I am going to contact the Trevor Project and see how I can make a positive contribution for their organization. I know as I visit High School student athletes and their coaches, college athletes and their coaches and athletic Directors at all levels I will be asking what has their program done with this once in a life time opportunity for change and how are they communicating it to staff and players. People like me can offer workshops(with the guidance of the Trevor Project) to ensure we have the right information, resources and knowledge to be a positive voice for our LGBTQ community with the focus on the youth. I am so excited this is happening now. I am proud that Carl Nassib a Penn State Nittany Lion stood up and said hey I am a NFL football player and I am gay. I am even more proud that he than said let me tell you about the TREVOR PROJECT. Carl I know you don't want the spotlight on you. I am here to tell you that's not a spotlight that is a guiding light and that is something special only to be shined on someone special.

Kenneth Grover is a sports photographer, Recruiter, Championship Ring Designer and father of three student athletes. Working with current and former NFL players and coaches and high school student athletes and their coaches I know the time was right for this. I believe there are far more people ready to have these conversations than some would lead you to believe. Please remember the church doesn't rule you. Its the people that make up the church. Its the people that take to the the community and share their thoughts and lead by example by loving everyone . While I know there will be some that try to make themselves appear to be strong and in numbers  it will be all smoke and mirrors. Follow your hearts open your hearts talk to our youth start the conversation. Call the Trevor Project for information on how to facilitate. You can reach the Trevor Project at 1 866 488 7386.