Embracing the Portal

It’s a new world in college sports. After years of debate and lobbying, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) made two drastic changes in player empowerment and mobility: name, image and likeness (NIL) rights and the transfer portal, the NCAA’s database and application by which student-athletes can transfer schools.

Historically, college athletes have been prohibited from capitalizing on their names. And while they’ve always been allowed to transfer schools, they were required to sit out a season before they could suit up for their new institution. But in 2021, this changed. The first blow was the Supreme Court’s NCAA v Alston decision, which did away with the prohibitions on income earned by student athletes. The second was the NCAA’s retooling of the transfer portal which did away with the previous rules requiring student-athletes to sit for one full season. They can now play immediately for their new teams.

The effect of the retooling of the transfer portal has had a significant effect on HCU’s approach to recruiting says HCU Head Football Coach Jason Bachtel. “In the past, it was all about long-term high school recruiting cycles, but now you’re really running two processes at the same time—identifying high school talent for the future and evaluating portal players who can help right away.”

“It used to be expected that a player would matriculate as a freshman and be shaped in a three-to-four-year process by the coaching staff, team and school culture of their institution. But now, coaches must adjust their approach to recruiting.”

HCU Athletics Director Steve Moniaci says that “It has become increasingly harder to recruit a freshman athlete and expect to have them for all four or five years of their eligibility,” adding that coaches now increasingly target freshman recruits who are more polished and more prepared to make an immediate impact than before. “The philosophy that a coach can recruit a freshman, develop him or her, and then benefit from that development after two or three years of maturity is now not very likely. If we are recruiting a freshman, we usually have to be able to project that they can help us pretty quickly,” shared Moniaci.

This has introduced a new level of flexibility to roster construction, enabling more dramatic and immediate changes to player personnel. Athletes entering the transfer portal often bring valuable experience but need a change of scenery or to move closer to home. “The junior college pipeline, in particular, has been a fruitful recruiting field,” says Coach Bachtel, “Junior college players often had slower high school recruiting cycles, but gained valuable experience at the junior college level which they can bring to HCU for immediate impact. And, even better, they will be around for multiple years.”

In addition to recruiting from junior colleges, Bachtel said there’s now the opportunity to reconnect with players they pursued out of high school, players who “may not have had the success they wanted elsewhere and are ready to come back home to Houston and play in front of family and friends. In doing so, it also strengthens our connection to the city of Houston and reflects the pride we share in being part of the City of Opportunity.”

The exciting new possibilities afforded by the new transfer portal are not, however, without their challenges. “The portal moves fast,” Bachtel notes. “And you have to make evaluations and decisions in a matter of days. Furthermore, there is some roster attrition when players leave HCU, looking for opportunities to make money at other institutions that have lucrative NIL deals. “Managing the roster is difficult at times,” says Bachtel. “Each season brings the opportunity to have a whole new team.”

With the advent of the transfer portal, the landscape of college sports has become more fluid. Rosters shift more frequently, offering players greater opportunities—both financially and in terms of experience—and demanding increased adaptability from coaches. Yet in many ways, the essence of the game remains unchanged.

“The core of the game hasn’t changed,” said Bachtel. “It’s still about relationships, culture and developing young men to compete together. The fundamentals of hard work and accountability remain the foundation.”