Tom Izzo on NCAA's transfer portal: 'It's bad for the kids'
Thousands of collegiate athletes are currently in the transfer portal in both NCAA D-I Football and Men's Basketball, and the number continues to increase year by year.
With discussions about reforming the current state of the portal popping up across the country, Michigan State head basketball coach Tom Izzo was asked about his opinion on the subject during a recent interview on ESPN's 102.5 'The Game' — a radio station out of Nashville, Tenn.
“I don’t think it’s great for the game and I think there’s drawbacks,” Izzo said. “I think it’s bad for the kids. … I think kids are making a lot of bad decisions because we’re teaching them that the minute something goes tough, to get the hell out of dodge."
It's more than fair to call Izzo and 'old school' coach. ESPN's Jay Bilas did just that back in early March, but said 'I mean that in a good way'. Bilas went on to say that he may disagree with Izzo on certain topics, but that he had no doubt that Izzo had the best interest of the players in mind.
During the radio interview, Izzo said he heard CBS college basketball analyst Clark Kellogg say, 'To grow, it takes rain and sunshine'.
"If you translate that, it means, if you just have all sunshine, the plant doesn’t grow. If you just have all rain, it doesn’t grow," Izzo said. "You’ve got to fight through some adversity. You’ve got to have some tough times. You’ve got to have some rainy days. Those are illegal now. If there’s a rainy day, I’m getting the hell out of dodge."
Izzo also lamented the fact that many players enter the transfer portal with little to no idea where they may transfer to, and oftentimes players who enter the portal don't find their new homes until spending a year or more in the portal.
Players choose to transfer for a number of different reasons — some selfish, and some legitimate — and it's not anybody's right to tell a player what he should or shouldn't do with his or her athletic career.
But most of us can agree that the sheer volume of names currently taking residence in the portal was not the intended outcome.
“We’re afraid of competition and competition is what you do everyday of your life. You guys are competing with some other radio station there," Izzo said. "You have to learn how to compete. So I’m sure there’s a positive here and there. I really am. But the unintended consequences of what we’re left with, to me, are going to be hard on the game a little bit. But nobody cares about that."
Greater than his concern of the game of basketball or football, Izzo is concerned about the affect this unrestricted use of the portal is having on players.
"I think it’s going to be worse on the players. You’ve got guys at two, three different schools. Four different schools. Where does he hang his hat at the end? ...90% of the transfers are not pros," Izzo said.
"That’s the reason I struggle with it. I struggle with it because I think it’s going to affect the players and the kids. I think most people think it’s giving them freedom. My dad didn’t give me a lot of freedom. I know that and I turned out okay, so we’ll see what happens.”
Izzo isn't one to say one thing and act out in a different way. The head coach has used the transfer portal in his program very sparingly, with only two players transferring to Michigan State since 2018.
The Spartans had two players enter the portal following the conclusion of the 2021-22 season, scholarship recipient Davis Smith and walk-on Peter Nwoke.
During his weekly press conference on Monday, Michigan State head football coach Mel Tucker was asked to share his opinion on Izzo's comments regarding the transfer portal.
“I didn’t see the comments, and I didn’t hear his comments, so I can’t really comment on his comments," Tucker said.
The football coach has previously been quoted as saying that his program embraces the changes in college athletics in recent years, including the transfer portal and players' rights to their Name, Image and Likeness.
Obviously, the Spartans made a big splash in the transfer market last season, landing tailback Kenneth Walker III, who was one of the best players in college football and went on to win the Doak Walker and Walter Camp Awards in 2021.
Michigan State football has seen the other side of the portal as well however, as 19 Spartans entered the portal from September 2021 through February 2022.
“The portal, from my standpoint, is here to stay," Tucker said. "It’s not going anywhere, and the emphasis on a net-negative or net-positive, I think it just depends on the individual situations. Everyone’s situation is different. Every program’s situation is unique.”
Tucker and his staff added eight players via the transfer portal in their 2022 recruiting class.
