Recently I was scrolling X/Twitter and saw an interesting tweet from the Athletic Director at the University of Central Oklahoma, Stan Wagnon. It provided some context to the ever-evolving nature of the Transfer Portal. It went on to state that “Only 27 percent of @NCAADII scholarship athletes who enter the transfer portal end up receiving a scholarship from another institution. This is a story that needs to be told. Do the math. 73 percent give up a scholarship to enter portal, then don’t get one to replace it.” Thanks to my friend Stan Wagon, AD at UCO for this amazing stat! It’s a tremendous stat!
Some of you might think, that’s great Bryan but what about those big D1 schools we watch on ESPN? How does the portal effect them? Stan followed it up with this tweet “In D1, 59 percent of scholarship athletes in portal receive a scholarship at the next school (includes transferring to schools at other levels).” Folks, that is nearly HALF of the prospects that enter the portal (on their own or processed) give up a scholarship! I knew that number, but its sobering to look at on paper!
What strikes me is that this is the type of data that we need to be educating student-athletes, parents and now agents on. As my grandfather told me a few thousand times, “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side” that that is perfectly clear when it comes to the transfer portal. The focus here as its been for the past 25 years + I’ve been around college athletics should be “retention”. Retention of your roster, retention of the academic progress student-athletes are making at the school, retention of the relationships your building and now retention of the brand your a building with NIL. Just hopping from place to place only works for a VERY small group of student-athletes. Yes, sometimes its best for all parties to move on. We get that and understand that for sure (coaching changes, homesickness, etc.) But for the most part, unless you have a MASSIVE amount of production, transferring comes with significant risk.
Food for thought, but I thought people should see the data first hand. Thanks for sharing Stan! If we can help you navigate the craziness of recruiting and the portal drop us a comment below or visit http://www.recruit-route.com.
