“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” – Bobby Unser
I posted a video yesterday on Tik Tok, and it got a fairly dramatic response…more positive than negative. I had just gotten off of a podcast interview with another NCAA Division I coach who spoke to the power of the portal. He was clear like all scholarship coaches I have interviewed over the past few months that the portal is simply the best way for them to build a talent-laden program very quickly.
When I asked about developing younger players, he again mirrored the same response I have heard from most coaches in that he prefers to develop players from freshmen year through senior year, but it has become more and more realistic to start with the portal for a couple of reasons:
1. The portal is loaded with talented kids who can help you win a championship immediately.
2. Why develop an unknown product when you can bring in a transfer who has proven on film and with stats that they can compete at the top level against the top competition?
3. Why bring in a freshmen to get them bigger and stronger and develop a collegiate work ethic when you can bring in a transfer who someone else has already developed in the weight room and taught them how to be disciplined?
4. Most kids who are going to quit their sport, do so within the first year of their collegiate career. Transfers have already proven they can survive a full year plus of a college sport, and they have proven a resilience to stick with their passion for the game…even if it means transferring to find a better fit.
Even though I have emotionally fought the idea of the portal since the beginning, I am slowly coming around to the logic of building your program through the portal, and using smart, long-term high school recruiting to fill out your remaining needs of your roster to develop. The recipe for success has very much flipped in the last 10 years. The smart path used to be to load up on high level freshmen each year and then bring in transfers only where you need them. The world has changed…
The hard part of this for me is that I am professional college recruiting adviser. I help high school kids get recruited, so they can start that journey. I preach and teach a significant approach to recruiting, so my clients pick schools that they love a part from the sport they are getting recruited to play. I have had great success at helping them find a conclusion to their recruitment that enables them to stay at one place and never have to worry about the portal.
However, I have learned that I must educate my clients on the trickle down, and sometimes trickle up, effect of the portal.
UConn baseball (D1) made it deep into the college World Series this year with 9 D3 transfers.
Derrick White of the Boston Celtics was only recruited and offered by 1 4-year scholarship program (D2/UC-Colorado Springs) coming out of high school. He would transfer after his Sophomore year to the University of Colorado (D1) and 2 years later get drafted in the 1st Round of the NBA Draft. He won a Gold Medal this summer for the U.S. Men’s Basketball Olympic Team.
7 D3 basketball players have committed to a D1 through the portal this year alone.
So, my advice for all of you parents and high school athletes with big dreams to play at the D1 level?
1. Go for it! Do all you can to make that dream come true (i.e. camps, showcases, high level travel/club, etc.), but…
2. Look hard at the D2, NAIA, D3, and JC/CC levels.
3. Find an opportunity with a coach that believes in you and can give you playing time and a great education.
4. Give it your all at that school and for that program.
5. If you find yourself dominating that level, and you have opportunities to play higher, than use the portal to your advantage.
At the end of the day, I will again share the advice I keep hearing from college coach after college coach, “go where you are appreciated and not tolerated”!
Interested in Coach Rogers’ Book on College Recruiting? You can find it here: https://coachmattrogers.com/book/
Want to schedule a free 30-minute strategy session with Coach Rogers? You can do so here: https://coachmattrogers.com/contact/
