we must not lose sight of the fact that College, for almost all, is more than just soccer. Transfers can occur for many non soccer reasons as well.
CPThomas, in the example you mentioned I would understand. A coach takes over a debacle and has to quickly get rid of a bunch of kids that can't play at that level somehow and they end up on the portal. I could see your example being the case for a high amount of transfers for the first 1-2 years. What I wouldn't expect is for TWELVE transfers to occur in years 6-7. That is a big red flag. Club coaches and parents will be very wary of that. The recruiting process is hard enough as it is, why go through it again? I agree that the example Eddie K mentions is more prevalent. Coaches with the high transfer rates like a West Virginia will bring a bunch of kids and then they ship out the ones that don't pan out by the end of freshman or sophomore year. Coaches that care about their kids typically do a good job to evaluate them in the recruiting process and then make their experience a worthwhile one once on campus.
Transfers are about money too, if the initial coaching fit is not working but they are still picking up conference achievements as a 1st or 2nd year, what are their chances of finding a better fit for the remainder of their eligibility on another P5 conference team?