Transfer Portal

Good questions- I can only address #5,6. Three players have transferred from my daughters team. All three were allowed to continue to practice with the team and I was led to believe retained their scholarships until the semester ended. All left on good terms with the coaches. My take on the transfers were:
two-told there would be very little play time
one-closer to home

 

The coach is definitely not required to let the player keep practicing or competing with the team, though.

 

I assumed that and if I were the coach, in this situation, I would not have had two out of the three of the players practice anymore..

 

So as we come to a close of 2020/21 season and having a season like never before I wanted to know if anyone is seeing an uptick or decrease in transfers. Since the season is ending in May and the next season starts in August there is very limited time for anyone who wants to transfer to find a new home. Add in the fact that seniors are eligible to return next year it creates a tuff environment for the coaches and girls in the portal.

 

From what I've heard, the new transfer rules allow up to July 1st for transfers this year; however, going forward, the deadline will be May 1st.

 

I haven't got a look at the transfer portal --anybody?- but it wouldn't surprise me at all if there is a real jump in transfers this week. To many Srs are taking the extra year (covid) causing roster difficulties.

 

exactly. I was yelled at in the PSU thread when I said their fifth year star player was pawned off on Rutgers cuz it would set them behind in refining their talent for next season.

 

In case you're curious.
D1 Women's Soccer names in the transfer portal:
941 - now
709 - 2020 total
623 - 2019 total

Of those 941, 226 are 5th years, or 'graduate transfers'. In 2020, there were 76 5th year transfers so that number has tripled.

So, fair to say, the 5th year eligibility issue is significant, accounting for 24% of those in the portal, BUT compared to last year otherwise, the transfer numbers are not significantly up. Only 80 more underclass transfers in D1. So there is only a moderate upward trend of younger players seeking to transfer. Remember that some kids get into the portal and don't transfer. and I'm not looking at specific schools or conferences.

Of course, what is not captured at all in the portal are the so called "hold over" players who will use that 5th year at their current school and so not seeking to transfer. I think its very safe to say there are lots of those, maybe a few hundred perhaps, but no way to know until you see official Fall season rosters I guess.

IMHO - the sky is not falling! There is a pandemic effect with kids wanting to transfer or to stay and play that 5th year but it does not look as significant as many projected. At least not in women's soccer that is.
Of course there will be examples of groups of Srs staying on to "win the big one" and many other schools that will have no hold over players at all. Maybe starting "real life" is not as bad as they thought...

 

It definitely varies from school to school for 5th years. My DD's school (Pac-12) had eight seniors. Five will return, three are leaving. And two of those leaving were asked to come back but declined. That's the about the ratio I figured it would be.

 

Is there a site to see the transfers? The best I can find is the TDS transfer tracker, but I don't think that lists all of them.

 

If you have a .edu email and so have an ncaa acct, you can see the transfer portal.

In terms of public knowledge of who's moving to what schools, just like with player recruiting, you only know what you can find in press releases, social media, and sites like tds that are compiling that info.

The portal is interesting to observe in many ways. For higher profile sports, students come out publicly to say they "entered the portal" and so just them leaving is news, then news again when they land a spot at the new school. In mens basketball for example, the portal is another attention-getter that was not there in past years. It's basically free agency now in college sports and plenty of coaches have 'takes' out there you can read. Very many believe they now have to "recruit the portal" and make sure they have scholarship slots for transfers. Some recruit from the portal extensively and that certainly affects first-year player recruiting. There are soccer coaches that will write to just about every kid in the portal in their region they think might help their team.

Interesting to watch a coaching change - happens all the time. Coach gets hired away from School A to School B. Then several players from School A show up in the portal, and end up on the School B roster next season. In women's soccer maybe this is not so public but happening.

Also interesting when several kids show up in the portal from School A, then a few days or weeks later, the Coach from School A is 'not renewed' or resigns. So, you know there was a player meeting and a story there for sure.

The Ivy League spring athletes filling up the portal last Spring was interesting, especially in mens lacrosse. Several Ivy transfers featured prominently on other teams this Spring.

 

So, the D2 guy from GVSU gets the MSU job and the best player at GV, a 2-time D2 All-American forward who is 5'11'', shows up in the portal with a 'don't want to be contacted' tag. Hmmm

Can she score goals in the Big-10? I have no idea but I think we're going to find out.

 

She can play and she can make an impact. Even if she isn't a prolific scorer she will draw defenses to her and can open up others.

 

Agreed-She can play and will make an impact. Two Big East girls(in the portal) on MSU campus this week for a visit. He will need to shake things up in East Lansing-It has been a dumpster fire there for years.

 

So, you win some you lose some for Mich State? This seems like a big L
Chris Henderson keeps track of some of these moves @chris_awk
I read Soccerwire for this news as well.

Duke women’s soccer signs Michigan State transfer Bria Schrotenboerhttps://t.co/JGiaIN8fkl

— SoccerWire (@TheSoccerWire) June 22, 2021

 

Just wanted to complete the circle on this one. Maybe it's a net loss for MSU with the good young defender going to Duke. This GV forward has only one season left but I guess any goals she might score for a 1-win team will be huge. Assuming she was going to stay to play at GV, it's a big loss for them but something tells me they will be just fine. Will be interesting to see how it plays out. I wonder how much she will like flying to places like Rutgers or Maryland for a mid-week game!

Welcome to East Lansing, Ava!!

▪️NCAA active career goals leader(76)

▪️2019 NCAA Div. II National Champion

▪️2019 & 2018 Unanimous All-American

▪️4x All-Conference selection

▪️2017 GLIAC Freshman of the Year & Unanimous All-Region pic.twitter.com/QxMipRLQkq

— Michigan State Soccer (@MSU_wsoccer) June 25, 2021

 

She was playing D2 and now getting a chance to play in the BIG10. I’m sure she will be ecstatic to fly to places like Rutgers and Maryland for mid week games

 

Curious do you know this player?
You have any idea why she chose to stay in Michigan in D2?
You ever hear college coaches or players complain about scheduling congestion and the rigors of travel requirements in the P5?

I think "sure she will be ecstatic" is a bit of an assumption. Maybe that's what you'll here in social media but I think it's clear this coach is using his connection to this player to save himself from serious embarrassment in his first year at MSU. Good thing that never happens

I don't know this player but I think it's fair to assume GVSU is recruiting and fielding a team of very good D2, maybe good D1 level players, because they can compete for National Championships right there in Michigan. This player has been a National Champion. She's coming from a team that lost 8 total games in her 4 years to a team that just lost 9 in the shortened Spring season!!

Her experience at MSU will be very different in many ways. I hope it works out for all parties. At least she will have great stories to tell and lots of green Nike gear. And maybe a degree from Mich State that maybe she wanted.

You often hear lots of 'grass is greener' type talk with many transfers but I think it's good to realize that in almost all these transfer cases, there's a player on the other end being replaced, not playing as much, maybe losing some money or no long even being recruited at all as a results of these transfers recently made much easier by the NCAA.

 

Could someone with portal access let me know if any Penn State players are in the portal right now?
I've gotten mixed reports and want to verify. Thanks.

PS - Please DM me with the info.

 

Knowing what the NCAA rules say, what percentage of players who enter the portal have something lined up prior to entering the portal? I have a kid that is considering entering and have no idea how it all works. I read the rules, but I have a feeling what really happens is not 100% by the rule book. It's a big risk to tell your coach without having anywhere to go. There is a chance that you could be left with no where to play if you enter and no one is interested. That's a very tough situation for someone already not having a good go of it in their current situation.

 

You are correct that the player is taking their chances. But I mentioned before, very many coaches reach out to lots of players in the portal that are "above them" in the soccer pyramid. So a P5 kid might hear from mid-majors, who might hear from small d1s and regional d2s and so on. Some d3 coaches write to nearly every kid in the portal.
Typically, just as with first-year player recruiting, it's good to use the club coach to get some feelers out there if the player wants some idea they have options. There should have been a 'back up school' or 2 that the player would have been willing to play at. Moving UP the college soccer food chain is a bit harder, unless she was a regular starter, especially if money is an issue. Almost no one has the same money for transfers as they do first-year players unless the program is in transition or just a mess.

 

Any way to see who is in the portal? Heard there are already some good players either entering the portal or in there,...

 

I only spent 10 minutes googling this, but the first three sources state that only one coach per staff and school compliance offices have access to the portal. Which would agree with what you said and would be contrary to what Eddie K posted upthread.