[Sly Fox]

I think most you have seen the stories the past few days talking about the Wild West that has come as a result of the Transfer Portal this offseason.

Tampering has arrived in college football, and it looks like NBA free agency

May 24, 2021
Alex Scarborough
ESPN Staff Writer

It was late December, not yet the end of the season, and already the wolves were circling. An assistant at a high-level Power 5 program knew two of his school's best young players -- one on offense and one on defense -- were being actively recruited by other programs. In fact, he said, it was "unbelievable" how many coaches were reaching out to players on his team's roster.

"The cheaters," the frustrated assistant said, "just keep cheating."

Tampering officially arrived in college football this offseason, leaving coaches to both lament the current state of the game -- and try to keep up.

Click Here for Full ESPN Story

Essentially it is open season on quality players from non-P5 schools with internediaries from P5 staffs reaching out to HS coaches and through old HS teammates to recruit players to go to the transfer portal where their decision is esentially a foregone conclusion. It is tampering gone amuck! And there is ZERO enforcement right now from the NCAA who can't even enforce the much publicized basketball scandal.

So what does this all mean for the Flames? Tough question. So far we have been spared the exodus of talent that many G5s & Indies have experienced. But that may not last forever. Could this create some scheduling opprtunities for us with P5 guarantees? Maybe.

[ballcoach15]

What those Coaches are saying, is the same thing I've been saying for a couple of years about the negative aspects of the Transfer Portal.
I don't monitor the football portal, but I monitor the softball portal. As of yesterday, there are 555 players in softball transfer portal. Some are bench warmers, but many are starters, and in some cases, superstars . Whoever invented the transfer portal should be_____________at high noon.

[Purple Haize]

What those Coaches are saying, is the same thing I've been saying for a couple of years about the negative aspects of the Transfer Portal.
I don't monitor the football portal, but I monitor the softball portal. As of yesterday, there are 555 players in softball transfer portal. Some are bench warmers, but many are starters, and in some cases, superstars . Whoever invented the transfer portal should be_____________at high noon.

Are you aware LU has a transfer at QB?

[JK37]

To spend upwards of 2+ years recruiting a student-athlete, only to have them bolt in 1-2 years, would be exhausting

I don’t miss it.

That said, I don’t see an easy solution.

[tyndal23]

Transfer Portal is great for LU near term. If you have a coaching staff that develops and G5 talent ( where a P5 recruit feels like he can start right away ), you can grab a lot of 2nd team P5 players. The flip side is we typically aren’t going to recruit and develop many that auto start for BAMA. ( provided we insist on staying the G5 level indie route ). We get way more Malik Willis stories coming our way than vice versa.

[Sly Fox]

At the same time, if you have a young star emerge like a Kei-Trel Clark the P5s will notice and he'll be gone in nothing flat. With the one-time transfer rule in effect, the temptation to tamper is just too much for coaches with big fat contracts dependent on winning.

[Cider Jim]

Sources say that one of our LU softball players just entered the transfer portal.

[alabama24]

At the same time, if you have a young star emerge like a Kei-Trel Clark the P5s will notice and he'll be gone in nothing flat. With the one-time transfer rule in effect, the temptation to tamper is just too much for coaches with big fat contracts dependent on winning.

Is there any rule from a P5 coach telling an "iffy" prospect, "Go to [insert school here] for a year, work your butt off, show your stuff, and we'll take another look at you then..."?

[Chippy]

Sources say that one of our LU softball players just entered the transfer portal.

Wouldn't surprise me if it was one of the 6 pitchers given 2 more are on their way. Belagorska never suited up this year (injury/redshirt?).

[ballcoach15]

Belagorska has been in portal for at least a month, while redshirting. A position player entered portal today.

[LUOrange]

At the same time, if you have a young star emerge like a Kei-Trel Clark the P5s will notice and he'll be gone in nothing flat. With the one-time transfer rule in effect, the temptation to tamper is just too much for coaches with big fat contracts dependent on winning.

Is there any rule from a P5 coach telling an "iffy" prospect, "Go to [insert school here] for a year, work your butt off, show your stuff, and we'll take another look at you then..."?

I don't know about rules on this scenario, but I'm sure it's going to start happening.

[phoenix]

We're going to see some Seth Curry stories from football before too long, I'm afraid -- unless we sell them on the LU experience and culture, they'll have no reason to stay once they start getting P5 interest, no matter how third hand it might be.

[olldflame]

We're going to see some Seth Curry stories from football before too long, I'm afraid -- unless we sell them on the LU experience and culture, they'll have no reason to stay once they start getting P5 interest, no matter how third hand it might be.

Selling athletes on "the LU experience and culture" is what our coaches (in all sports) need to be doing every day, starting with their first recruiting contact. I think they all are (to various extent and with various degrees of success). Ian needs to have Ritchie McKay facilitate an in-service on this for all of his peers. Carey Green and his staff need to sit in the front row.

[thepostman]

Seth transferring to Duke had more to do with him having an opportunity to grow as a player in a strong program like Duke under Coach K than it did with LU's culture. I am not saying it had nothing to do with it but it wasn't the main reason. So yeah, I can see the possibility of players doing similar things more often now that it is a little easier.

But RM and HF do a great job, it seems, at being straight up with players about our culture. That hasn't always been the case.

[LUOrange]

This doesn't appear to be a problem among most of our programs, especially with football and MBB where you;d think it would be more common or more likely to occur. And as OldFlame points out it only appears to only be a problem for WBB. Hopefully, Green and McCaw can right that ship real soon.

I, also, don't know the entire situation with Seth Curry, as I didn't follow LU sports as closely back then. But it appeared to me that there may have been other circumstances outside of McKay's control back then, on top of the obvious of it being Duke and Coach K, that contributed to his decision.

Now that Freeze and McKay have had sustained success and national attention, so hopefully the defections will be minimal. Besides, many of the recruits highlighted in Manson's profiles indicated that they liked or preferred our culture. And hopefully, we'll get more athletes like Khristian Zachary, DJ Moore, and others who essentially sought us out or held out for us.

[JK37]

We're going to see some Seth Curry stories from football before too long, I'm afraid -- unless we sell them on the LU experience and culture, they'll have no reason to stay once they start getting P5 interest, no matter how third hand it might be.

Selling athletes on "the LU experience and culture" is what our coaches (in all sports) need to be doing every day, starting with their first recruiting contact. I think they all are (to various extent and with various degrees of success). Ian needs to have Ritchie McKay facilitate an in-service on this for all of his peers. Carey Green and his staff need to sit in the front row.

You don’t think the WBB staff sells the LU experience and culture?

[olldflame]

We're going to see some Seth Curry stories from football before too long, I'm afraid -- unless we sell them on the LU experience and culture, they'll have no reason to stay once they start getting P5 interest, no matter how third hand it might be.

Selling athletes on "the LU experience and culture" is what our coaches (in all sports) need to be doing every day, starting with their first recruiting contact. I think they all are (to various extent and with various degrees of success). Ian needs to have Ritchie McKay facilitate an in-service on this for all of his peers. Carey Green and his staff need to sit in the front row.

You don’t think the WBB staff sells the LU experience and culture?

I think they try. It appears that not all of the players are buying.

[paradox]

Seth transferring to Duke had more to do with him having an opportunity to grow as a player in a strong program like Duke under Coach K than it did with LU's culture. I am not saying it had nothing to do with it but it wasn't the main reason. So yeah, I can see the possibility of players doing similar things more often now that it is a little easier.

But RM and HF do a great job, it seems, at being straight up with players about our culture. That hasn't always been the case.

Duke in that context is certainly an offer you don't refuse.

LU was not a factor, but I believe the Big South was. They seemed to have an every man for himself mentality, with the exception of LU. In other words, collusion to keep us down. It's just my opinion, but I don't see us getting McKay back either without a concrete plan in place to severe ties with the Big South. Ian is really the game-changer for us.

[Sly Fox]

I'm not sure our new hous is any diffreent than our old house.

[paradox]

Nashville...Louisville...Jacksonville...Fort Myers. Just to name a few reasons. But mostly, we are welcomed here.

[SumItUp]

McKay returned before Ian was on the mountain.

[paradox]

We had one foot out the door by then. Also, never credited Ian with McKay rehire. You're gonna have a hard time convincing me that the Big South for good for LU. And that remaining there wasn't holding us back.

[ballcoach15]

Getting out of BSC was huge. Very weak conference, barely a D1 conference.

[olldflame]

Nashville...Louisville...Jacksonville...Fort Myers. Just to name a few reasons. But mostly, we are welcomed here.

We were.
Now I suspect some of them are starting to feel like the woman in Trump's snake poem.

Don't get me wrong, I think having Liberty makes things better for the ASUN conference.
But it also clearly makes things harder.

[olldflame]

Getting out of BSC was huge. Very weak conference, barely a D1 conference.

If you weren't so enamored with your road trips to Florida you would realize that the ASUN is really not much of a step up.