Transfer Tactics: How NCAA Transfer Portal Rules Affect SVU
By Jex Mecham
Throughout the past two years, something game-changing has been going down in collegiate athletics. No, I am not talking about the name, image, and likeness legislation that allows athletes to receive payment for things like appearances, endorsements, social media posts and more, though that has been another big change. Rather, I’m talking about the introduction of new NCAA legislation that allows all NCAA athletes to transfer once in their career, and have immediate eligibility to play for their new school (NCAA tranfer rule change is here, and it’s game-changing).
This new legislation, introduced in 2021, has had a resounding impact on the NCAA Division I level — just ask Heisman trophy hopefuls Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr., and Jayden Daniels. All were good players at their previous institutions, but, since transferring, have been playing at elite levels. In Nix and Penix’s case, they’ve led their teams to the Fiesta Bowl and the College Football Playoffs, something that their previous teams, Auburn and Indiana, would have little chance of doing (Sportsnaut.com). All of this transferring has made for one of the more exciting CFB seasons in recent memory; that is to be expected with huge institutions who invest hundreds of millions into athletics, and, in return, expect to make a ginormous profit off of the money those sports bring in.
But what about smaller schools who don’t put the same kind of money into sports, or aren’t playing on the largest scale? What about NCAA Division III schools like Southern Virginia University? Schools that can’t lure athletes with promises of huge name, image, and likeness deals, who can’t offer athletic scholarships? It was along these lines that I set out to determine how SVU has been impacted by the transfer portal.
Compared to the flash and cash of the Division I level, Division III athletics operate on an entirely different planet. For Division III schools with football, the median generated revenue was around $348,000. For schools without football, the number was $116,000 (from 2021, most recent available NCAA report). Contrast this with the Division I level, where the median generated revenue was $61.4 million (Trends in Division III Athletics Finances — NCAA.org And Trends in Division I Athletics Finances — NCAA.org).
That’s a difference of a little over $60 million dollars between the median D1 and D3 programs.
No wonder then that for Division I schools the transfer portal seems more akin to free agency, and teams operate like professional — rather than amateur — teams. When there are millions on the table, teams and schools are going to do everything they can to keep a competitive edge. But for schools like SVU, there are not millions of dollars of athletics revenues on the table. Big name stars in the portal move on to big name schools, with huge NIL promises from collectives and full-ride scholarships — things that SVU and other programs like it can’t provide. So, what do the new transfer portal rules do for SVU? Well, it depends who you ask.
Coach Joe Dupaix
I met with Southern Virginia’s first-year head football coach, Joe Dupaix, to ask him for his thoughts on the portal and what he has seen with the new rules.
The biggest thing for the transfer portal: what people are finding is that they think there’s greener grass in the transfer portal and there’s not. And you have hundreds upon hundreds of kids [going] to the transfer portal that don’t end up with any opportunities out of the transfer portal. The biggest kids that end up with opportunities out of the transfer portal are those that are contacted and told “enter the transfer portal and then we’ll pick you up.”
Data from the NCAA backs up the idea that many athletes who enter the portal do not get picked up. According to the NCAA for Division I and II athletes (the only trend data available), only 57% of Division I athletes enrolled at a new NCAA institution, and at the Division Two level the number was much lower: a slim 30%. This means that at least at the D I and II levels, fewer than half of the athletes in the portal end up finding a new program to play for. The rest either stop playing their sport, leave school, or transfer to an NAIA or Junior College program.
How does this impact recruiting strategy for the football team? For Coach Dupaix, it is a blessing, but not for the reason you’d think.
You have all these high school kids who don’t have opportunities [due to schools recruiting from the portal], and so for us, if anything it’s a blessing. Because we can get better football players that aren’t able to go to these bigger schools, because they don’t have the same opportunities. So we provide an opportunity for kids to come showcase what they have, and what they can do…We can go in the transfer portal and look for kids, but for us here at Southern Virginia University we’re looking for, really we’re looking for the right kid, the right fit, right individual that you know is an individual that has Christ-centered values, that wants to graduate, that loves football. We want the full package, we don’t just want a, “one season come and play football [and] get out of here” we want a full package…For us, [we recruit] very minimally in the portal.
With regards to retaining athletes, Coach Dupaix stated that he didn’t feel there was much of an issue. He expressed, “If there’s an individual that’s so good that he could go play at a Division One school I’m gonna help him…the thing that we provide is the opportunity to come out and compete and play and actually showcase if you’re that kind of player.” For those with the skill to transfer up, Coach Dupaix wants to help his players achieve their goals.
With Coach Dupaix’s explanation of his recruiting strategy, I wondered if his philosophy and recruiting strategy toward the portal was shared by other coaches at SVU. It didn’t take me long to find out, as a little over a week later I had the opportunity to sit down with another Southern Virginia head coach and learn what he felt about the transfer portal.
Coach Trace Bevell
For first-year Head Men’s Basketball coach, Trace Bevell, the recruiting strategy is all about being a fit for SVU. “We’re still looking at, basically, returned missionaries and high school kids. You know, we’re trying to recruit kids for the environment here, and so you need to be careful of the type of kids who you recruit…We’ll be looking at the portal more than we did for sure this last fall.”
As for how he thought the portal would impact the ability of his team to compete with other schools, Coach Bevell feels that it’s too early to say.
I really don’t know how it’s going to impact us much per se. I don’t know how many kids we can attract from the portal. How many of our players will go in the portal, it’s just an all new realm for me as a coach…You know Division III is non-scholarship…kids go in the portal looking for a better situation, usually you know financially or a better chance to play. So, as I go through the portal on Division III kids, I don’t know how good they were at their current program to enter into the portal, and I don’t know why they want to go into the portal. The thing about SVU is you’re recruiting to an environment, so it has to be kids that fit in the environment, understand the environment, and appreciate what we have to offer academically, spiritually, and basketball wise as well… it’s kind of a unique recruiting situation here from the portal itself.
Coach Bevell voiced that since he was a new coach at SVU, he really hadn’t spent too much time looking in the transfer portal. What struck me was that his recruiting strategy — and thoughts about the portal — closely reflected those of his football counterpart. For Dupaix and Bevell, recruiting from the portal or high school doesn’t matter so much as the athlete being a fit for the culture and environment of SVU. And conversely SVU being a fit for the athlete.
Deidra Dryden
Deidra Dryden is in her fifth year as the Athletic Director (AD) of Southern Virginia University. Since her career as the AD has spanned the NCAA rule change, I asked her what impact she had seen with the rule change.
I have noticed a little bit of an impact for good and for bad. So, I think the pros have been that we try to be really loyal to our student-athletes, and so you know it’s actually an advantage in some ways to not be giving athletic scholarships because we just feel really loyal to our student athletes. So, if we recruit you, you’re ours. We will help you, develop you, not start looking on the fences. To go in the transfer portal and replace you — no. We’re always looking for great athletes, but we are really invested in the capacity of the whole person, so we have high interest in retaining and graduating our student athletes…Another pro for us is, because I think some really great high school players are getting overlooked, because programs are looking in the transfer portal rather than looking at these great high school players, and so I think that’s helped us a little bit.
Though outweighed by pros, cons persist, and Director Dryden acknowledged them.
I think it’s hurt us a little bit because students think that the transfer portal will solve their problems. So, if they don’t get to play enough, or they, you know, maybe they’re unhappy, they’re like, “I’m going to get in the transfer portal. Someone else is going to appreciate me.” You know, and I respect that right, but I think almost always there’s probably a healthier way to solve that problem. Figure out what it is that you need to get better at. I’d say that’s the only con though, I think it might feel like, to a lot of student-athletes, that it’s just super easy to transfer.
What AD Dryden said reflects the thinking of most people concerning why an athlete may decide to transfer. Though at the D I level, other aspects such as name, image, and likeness deals play a factor for athletes going into the portal — not just playing time or program fit.
For SVU coaches and athletic administration, the prevailing sentiment seems to be that the portal is a positive phenomenon. However, I wanted to know what the thinking was from an athlete’s point of view.
Arianna Hall
For Junior Arianna Hall, transferring to SVU to play softball was a decision that she counts as a blessing.
I didn’t really have a good experience playing for [my previous team] . I didn’t get a lot of playing time, and I was treated poorly by the coaching staff, and so I thought that it would be best for me to exit that situation, and find a better one. Which I did.
For Arianna, transferring has been a win both for her, and her new team. In the 2022 season, the team won only three of their thirty-six games. The season after, they went twenty and twenty. So, what changed? Transfers, says Arianna.
I think that me and…the other transfers that transferred in that year — I think it has caused a huge positive impact on the team…Saw it as a huge positive impact for me transferring and then the other girls that transferred over from other schools. So, I think our team is a great example of a positive impact from transfers.
From an athletic and academic perspective, Arianna believes that the NCAA’s one free transfer rule is mutually beneficial. Schools can get good players to make their programs more competitive, and good players can get more playing time and have a bigger role on their new teams. As for the future of the softball team in regards to the portal, Hall says:
I think it’s going to really, positively impact our school [SVU], because I’ve known other people that have transferred in [to play for other teams]. I think it is going to bring a lot more, like, different faces to SVU and different backgrounds and different stories…It’s going to make it so our school is even more diverse in just every aspect, because there’s so many people transferring in that are from so many different backgrounds. I think it’s going to help the teams for sure. I mean, my team obviously has had a positive impact [with the transfer portal].
Conclusion
One would think that for a small Division Three school like Southern Virginia University, the transfer portal would overall be a negative, or at best a net-neutral for the athletics program. But, time and again, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, at least according to SVU’s coaches, Athletic Director, and athletes. For coaches, the portal means an opportunity to recruit high-level players out of high school, who other schools pass on for current collegiate athletes in the portal.
For athletes, it means a chance to go somewhere they can be appreciated. That’s not to say that the grass is greener. As shown in statistics from the NCAA, over 50% of athletes don’t find a new program to play for. However, athletes who are able to go to a new school tend to find a better situation for themselves.
As for the future of SVU athletics in the transfer portal era, the path is not totally clear. By utilizing the portal, a team’s entire roster can completely change within the span of a year, adding to the murkiness of what the future holds. But hopefully, in Division Three, where things happen on a much slower time scale, where athletes play for the love of the sport and not for seven-figure NIL deals, the portal will continue to provide for Southern Virginia’s teams, athletes, and fans.
Sources:
Transfer Portal Data: Division I Student-Athlete Transfer Trends — NCAA.org
Transfer Portal Data: Division II Student-Athlete Transfer Trends
NCAA tranfer rule change is here, and it’s game-changing
Trends in Division III Athletics Finances — NCAA.org
Trends in Division I Athletics Finances — NCAA.org
Southern Virginia University — Official Athletics Website
Interviewees:
Head Football Coach, Joe Dupaix
Head Basketball Coach, Trace Bevell
Athletic Director, Deidra Dryden
Softball Pitcher, Arianna Hall
