As you root for your favorite Division I football and basketball team, do you realize that many of the starters are portal transfers who are currently playing at their third university?
“AJ” Storr, a current Division I basketball player, has transferred a total of eight times in his basketball career. He played at four high schools, and he is now on his fourth collegiate team. His self-centered journey has taken him to St. John’s, Wisconsin, Kansas, and now Ole Miss. This is an example of an individual chasing NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) money, a national championship ring, and a career in the NBA.
Another example of how the portal is affecting a team can be witnessed in the Iowa State football team. Their head coach just accepted the Penn State coaching job, and now one starter and 16 other players remain on the Iowa State roster out of 105. That makes 88 players who have entered the transfer portal.
So much for cheering for the “home” team.
Increasingly, players are hired guns who have little, if any, regard or esteem for the institution where they are currently playing. These schools are just a cog in the wheel facilitating their self-obsession.
The portal has changed college sports. Some players are using the portal to pull themselves out of poverty and to support their family, but many players today are unwilling to stay the course on the same team when they don’t get the desired attention, the playing time they demand, or the opportunity to win a title. We live in a “serve it up for me” culture, and players say “if I don’t get what I want, I’m out. I’m going to the portal.” Such athletes are all about shopping their talents around to the highest bidder. This is the “Wild West” free-agency debacle created by the NCAA. It has become a national issue, and President Trump and U.S. senators and members of Congress have vowed to step into the fray.
What are we teaching young athletes? We all know that the marketplace awaiting these students does not operate this way.
There are many unforeseen consequences of the NCAA transfer portal. But one of the most crucial casualties of the portal is the elimination of life lessons learned through a developing and predictable depth chart. Yes, sitting the bench.
In life there is no better coach than the bench.
These portal jumpers move from one starting position to another. They have no conception of team loyalty, sacrifice for the betterment of the program, or team-first attitude. Instead, they have only a perspective of “what’s in it for me.” These self-absorbed athletes consider it out-of-the-question to sit the bench, contribute to a team culture, devote themselves to others, and climb up the depth chart. The portal undermines traditional athletic values.
The character development that occurs by warming the bench and working your way up to a starting spot is life altering. It prepares an athlete for the challenges to come and develops essential personal qualities. How many of us have sat the bench and now realize the personal growth and critical realizations which took place through those experiences? Playing the hardest role on the team prompts the growth of mental toughness, patience, perseverance, dedication, character, being able to handle setbacks, resilience, and the ability to make a commitment to something bigger than oneself. Maturity is cultivated. Humility is grown by busting your tail in each practice, preparing the starters, and sincerely congratulating them upon their success. There are life lessons in learning to focus on the things you can control: work ethic, attitude, moving beyond your perceived limits, respectfully accepting and benefiting from criticism, and being content but not complacent. As a non-starter, there is less temptation to find your identity in your sport.
The NCAA transfer portal has detrimentally affected the lives of many Division I athletes by feeding their egos. But the unpretentious view from the end of the bench prompts the most valuable and important life lessons, which do not have obvious and immediate rewards. Splinters in the rear end hurt at the time, but my fellow bench warmers now look back with grateful hearts for the tough, character-building circumstances. Many times, the biggest heartbreaks ironically result in the biggest blessings.
Athleticism and championships are fleeting. But one’s character remains forever.