What sets college sports apart from the pros is culture. College teams pride themselves on the foundation of their players and their growth throughout the years. That’s what makes being a fan so special, and why being a collegiate athlete is such an honor. College teams were a family, but the portal has ripped all the culture from the programs.
I am Bridget Durkin, sports editor of the Evanstonian and an athlete. I’ve been an avid fan of Ohio State athletics my whole life and will be a Division I soccer player at Northeastern University. Sitting in front of the television, I’ve watched key players abandon what should have been their home. I’ve also felt the portal’s impact firsthand, competing with a 20-year-old for the final roster spot of a dream school and losing.
The transfer portal, created in 2018 to manage transfers, once came with restrictions. Most athletes had to sit out a year before playing at their new school. In April 2024, the NCAA scrapped the rule, which was the last thing preserving college culture.
Nick Saban, legendary Alabama coach, said it best:
“We have no rules.” With the portal wide open and NIL money everywhere, athletes understandably chase schools offering the most cash. You can’t blame an 18-year-old for wanting millions, but you can blame the system for allowing constant movement.
Saban is not shy to highlight everything wrong with the portal.
“Guys are looking to where can I develop value right now … Nobody talks about the college experience anymore,” Saban said on the Pat McAfee Show.
This problem stretches beyond football. In basketball, 2,700 men and 1,300 women entered the portal in the past year. Mike Krzyzewski, one of the greatest college basketball coaches in history, the man known as Coach K, warned, “If there’s neither transparency nor some type of limit, this is going to keep going, man. I don’t know where it’ll end.”
It says a lot that the most respected coaches, those who built dynasties by staying loyal to one team, agree that the portal and NIL are ruining college sports. Yet the voices of people who understand college athletics are ignored.
The damage isn’t just to programs but to athletes themselves. Players lose the chance to grow in a stable environment because they are constantly in search of the next opportunity. Like children in unstable homes, they face worse outcomes. A college should feel like a home. The portal strips that away.
As NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton put it, “I don’t like the transfer portal, it’s bad for humans that play sports.”
The reality is this: athletes have no home anymore. Every player is a free agent. College is just another professional league now. Coaches can’t build culture when nothing lasts. As a fan and a future player, it’s sickening to watch and even worse to think it won’t change.
