Since the inception of the NCAA’s transfer portal in October of 2018, many players have enter their name in. Over 1,000 student-athletes did so in it’s first year of existence, with many more following the path the past two years.
In an interview with the Winston-Salem Journal, Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson was overtly critical of the “transfer toilet” as he so eloquently called it. The topic was breached when John Dell asked about his former running back Kenneth Walker, entering the portal and subsequently committing to Michigan State.
“The joke in the ACC room is that sometimes we call it almost like the transfer toilet. There are players that go in there, and you never see or hear from them again. This whole idea there’s a portal and a one-time transfer (rule) and isn’t this freedom great? But you are still only allowed to have 85 scholarships, and you can still sign only 25 players a year. So you have all these players going in there thinking they can go anywhere and play. There are still scholarship limits,” explained Clawson.
He went ever further saying “a lot of those players go into the portal not being informed of the national dynamics of that portal, that there are 65 Power Five programs,” going back into his comments about scholarship limits.
Clawson does have some solid points, but transfers have worked for many players including Notre Dame’s Ben Skowronek (although a different case as a graduate transfer) and former Irish now Boston College quarterback Phil Jurkovec. It hasn’t worked for many also, citing Miami’s Tate Martell.
The argument here is that if coaches are allowed to leave freely, so should players and it’s a solid point, but to a degree. Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh thinks players should be allowed to have one free transfer, where they wouldn’t have to wait for the NCAA to make a ruling on being eligible immediately.
Cases like Martell’s don’t always makes sense, as he claimed due to Urban Meyer leaving after his second season that he should be eligible right away at Miami, FL. They granted it to him but said no to Luke Ford. The Illinois native played his first year at Georgia, but he wanted his sick grandfather to see him play. The NCAA denied his request, his grandfather passing away during his season where he had to sit out a year.
The “transfer toilet” needs more rules, the NCAA must have better criteria as to what grants a player immediate eligibility and what doesn’t. This year has obviously been different, with most transfers being granted eligibility right away.
Either way, Clawson got our attention comparing the transfer portal to a toilet bowl.
