Jimbo Fisher reveals the biggest thing he wants to address within the transfer portal

The transfer portal is still one of the new additions around college athletics that comes with its good and its bad. When it comes down to it, though, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher just wants to see players using it for the right reasons.

Fisher addressed some solutions to the portal problems that coaches are having with media at the SEC Spring Meetings. He said that, if it were up to him, he’d just want to eliminate players from entering for the wrong reasons which, of course, isn’t realistic.

“Like I said, there’s reasons to transfer. And I think they’re great. You’ve just got to try and make sure guys are making good choices and not using the portal for the wrong reasons,” Fisher said. “(But) there’s reasons to transfer too. We all have done it. People do it.”

With that in mind, Fisher says the portal is something that programs are just going to have to continually adapt to. It has become a major part of the offseason and of roster construction. That’s why, when it comes to head coaches, he says they’re just trying to pick things up, learn, and come up with solutions the best that they can.

“You sweat your way through them. Transfers at all schools are going to be inevitable. I mean every year you’re going to have transfers. That’s just part of the game in today’s world,” said Fisher. “You just hope they’re doing it for the right reasons and for something that can benefit them. And they don’t get themselves caught out there without a scholarship sometimes. Or trying to leave for the wrong reasons. I think that’s the biggest thing about it.”

“Those are things we’re trying to address right now. Because this is all new on us too,” Fisher said. “Trying to monitor all those things? I mean I don’t know if there’s a perfect answer. In time, you’re going to continually shape those decisions until something is made.”

Fisher wishes he could find a way to stop tampering

Jimbo Fisher, like most of his peers, wants to see an end to NIL-fueled roster tampering in college football. During media at SEC spring meetings with reporters, the Texas A&M coach aired his frustrations.

Fisher pointed out that professional leagues manage to police things like tampering. While there are rules prohibiting contact players on other rosters and such, Fisher bemoaned how widespread and out of control it’s getting.

“The NFL deals with it, don’t they? Major League Baseball deals with it. That’s something that, I wish you could. Because I think that is an issue. I think that is a big issue. And it’s unfair to different levels of schools,” Fisher said.

Ultimately, Fisher seems to be upset with the overall lack of enforcement and policing.

“If you got caught cheating, it’s the same scenario. If you get caught, you get caught. However they can catch you and whatever they can do. And I think that’s one of the big problems we do have right now, is tampering. And it needs to be addressed,” Fisher said.