Should HBCUs Be Compensated For Losing NCAA Portal Transfers?

Coaches Robert Jones and Mickey Joseph speak candidly on the affects of NCAA transfers on HBCUs.

Should HBCUs Get Paid For Transfers? | HBCU Legends

HOUSTON — Power 4 and G5 conferences are the "Raiders of the Hidden Gems" in collegiate sports. Let's be honest. HBCU coaches have long acknowledged that competing with the resources of P4 or G5 schools makes it difficult to retain their best players.   

Here's another point of honesty: HBCUs and P4s/G4s have been guilty of doing the same to JUCOs for years!

Ice Cube said it best on his Death Certificate album, "It's Big Bank Take Little Bank." HBCUs and JUCOs are the developmental leagues for the Big Boys of College Sports.

Auburn Tigers women’s basketball coach Larry Vickers is introduced by athletic director John Cohen at the Woltosz Football Performance Center in Auburn, Ala., on Monday, March 24, 2025. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The NCAA accepts ransacking lower-tier schools as a practice that has become the norm of collegiate sports. Instead of the governing body establishing new standards to compensate HBCUs for significant losses, it's ignored and allowed — it's expected.   

THE FRUSTRATIONS FROM HBCU COACHES

As the frustrations among HBCU coaches come to a crescendo, tensions boil over. As coaches jump ship to lucrative paydays, this complicates matters for athletic directors and administrators as they navigate the retention element at HBCUs.

Dec 28, 2024; San Antonio, TX, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders reacts with an official after a play during the second quarter against the Brigham Young Cougars at Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

We won't get sidetracked as to why former Jackson State coaches Deion Sanders (Colorado) and Tomekia Reed (UNC-Charlotte) left for better deals in Division I, but it happened for good reasons. This year, Norfolk State's women's basketball coach Larry Vickers accepted the position at SEC powerhouse Auburn University, a team his Lady Spartans defeated earlier in the season.

COACH ROBERT JONES' TAKE

To add more texture to the complexities of this matter, read the bars that Robert Jones laid down after the Spartans' NCAA Tournament exit last week:

"This this is now a glorified JUCO," Norfolk State men's head basketball coach Robert Jones expressed his sentiments on the issue. "This is like Norfolk State 'Community College.' Because it's like when I say that, not because of the people or things like that, but it's just the way it is. JUCO coaches, I have so much more respect for them these days, because they're able they have to get a new team every year or every two years or something like that. Right? Now we got to get a new team every year, every two. So we are basically a " Glorified JUCO"....Until mid-majors get the money that high majors have, we're never going to be able to keep kids here for a long time. I'd say it's easy to get them. It's hard to retain them...A lot of kids want opportunities. But once they get the opportunity and then they blow up, it's harder to retain them because now the big boys are gonna come."

Norfolk State’s head men’s basketball coach has some powerful words about the transfer portal and mid-majors:

“We basically a glorified juco”
“It’s easy to get them, hard to retain them”
pic.twitter.com/nhCC2rU8m6

— Blake Levine (@blake_levine) March 25, 2025

COACH MICKEY JOSEPH'S TAKE

Grambling State's head football coach, Mickey Joseph, recently proposed an interesting idea to counteract these losses. Keep in mind that Joseph is not just an HBCU coach, but has FBS experience from the University of Nebraska's football team.  

He suggested that when a P5 or G5 school recruits HBCU or Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) talent through the NCAA transfer portal, the schools losing these players should receive a "buyout" for their losses.

"We understand," Mickey Joseph said. "I think the kids understand if they're here, and if they're sophomores and they have a big year, in a group of five or power five [will] approach them. They have the finances to pull them out of there, and I can't match the finances...they're going to go. That's that's part of it."    

WATCH: @GSUFootball01 HC Mickey Joseph on Transfer Portal and interesting solution🤔:

"There needs to be a buyout. If they move up from me and go G5 or P4 I should get compensation for that."

Should there be a buyout method for the #NCAA Transfer portal? #Grambling #HBCU pic.twitter.com/xp7DNoDczC

— Jeremy Bryant 🎥 (@tvtimewithJB) April 2, 2025

Here's where Coach Joseph points out the obvious, "But I also think they need to be a buyout. If they move up if they move up from me and go to group of five and power five, I should get kind of a conversation for that, you know. So NCAA, if you're listening to me, I need a buyout."  

The bottom line for P4s and G5s is to approach any HBCU player in the portal, make an offer, and send funds to the institution the player exits.

This concept is not farfetched and could be a plausible solution to address the ongoing financial challenges that HBCUs and FCS programs face.

Mar 21, 2025; Raleigh, NC, USA; Norfolk State Spartans head coach Robert Jones reacts during the second half against the Florida Gators at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: Zachary Taft-Imagn Images | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

THE NIL LEGISLATION AFFECT ON HBCUs

In January, NCAA president Charlie Baker requested that Congress step in and set mandates for college athletics, especially regarding NILs (name, image, and likeness). The NCAA and its conferences — the SWAC and MEAC included — must pay out $1.2 billion over the next 10 years as payback to the student-athletes for unpaid use of their names, images, and likenesses.   

The HBCU conferences are handling severe financial issues at most of their institutions. Under the NCAA distributions payout schedule, the SWAC, MEAC, and other smaller leagues must set aside a little of $2 million as their share for the settlement. CIAA commissioner Jacqie Parker-McWilliams conveyed to HBCU Legends that the more significant issue is for HBCUs to begin considering student-athletes as employees.

Charlie Baker approached Congress to "eliminate" the possibility of athletes becoming employees of schools," as the Dartmouth and USC lawsuits to request unions have been withdrawn.   

Any enforced legislation of this nature could ultimately bankrupt some HBCU institutions and lead others to discontinue specific sports programs due to the financial strain of providing benefits for student-athletes who would be classified as the school's employees.   

As an overview of Coach Joseph's proposal, it would make sense. However, would the NCAA force more prominent and more powerful conferences like the SEC, Big 10, and Big 12 to pay HBCUs for the loss of players? Not as it currently stands. However, if these student-athletes become employees of their said institutions, then HBCUs may have a contractual case against losing talent.   

Who, other than the commissioners, will champion the fight for the HBCUs' rights in the future?

We shall see.

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