Joel Klatt hearing a new 'panic' from college coaches regarding spring transfer portal

The spring portal cycle opened today with players free to transfer elsewhere if they so choose. However, this one feels a bit different to many, including Joel Klatt. That feeling is why he can sense that coaches across the nation are as anxious as ever about the portal.

Klatt made the point early on in an episode of his show on Monday. He said that he gets the feel that coaches are dreading this window of the transfer portal more than others because of where college athletics is at now compared to the last one.

“I’ve talked with everybody and at no point during the course of the last couple of years have I sensed the level of panic that I’m starting to hear from coaches about this spring transfer portal period,” said Klatt. “I think it’s indicative of where we’re at.”

Klatt explained that much of that has to do with the recent court cases against the NCAA. With them no longer being as involved as they were, if really at all, programs both feel free to poach any player they please while also feeling concerned that their roster could also be picked from.

“The NCAA has given notice to the schools and to the programs that they are just not going to enforce even current, on the books rules,” Klatt said. “They’re just not going to do it based, in large part, due to the fact that the rules that they tried to enforce against Tennessee, which we talked about a few months ago. Tennessee turned around and said, ‘Hey, what are you doing trying to penalize us? Everybody is doing it.'”

“Everybody was right, by the way, in that. Tennessee was correct. Everyone was doing it. You can’t just penalize us and target us. The NCAA was right because, yes, technically, all of these things fall under existing rules and are, technically, against those existing rules,” Klatt explained. “So, what did the NCAA do? They’re like, ‘Well, we don’t want any more litigation so have at it’. They threw their hands up like they’ve done with everything. They’ve basically said we’re not going to do anything. At this point, this spring transfer window is going to be a free for all.”

That’s why, as Klatt noted, this portal window is different. As he pointed out, the previous spring cycles haven’t included players that would necessarily make a massive difference on Saturdays

“If in the past, in the last year? Like, last year – let’s just give an example. Last year in the spring transfer window, it was more in line with guys that lost position battles in spring ball would maybe try to go find a new place to play. So, last year at this moment, coaches were actually, I would just say, like, not that excited about the spring window because they thought to themselves that there’s just not going to be a lot of great players in there,” said Klatt. “We’re not going to transform our roster, even if we have an area of need. Maybe we’ll go get somebody if it’s an area of need but it’s not going to be anybody that’s, like, super impactful. That was their thought before the spring transfer portal window last year.”

Now? That’s no longer the case.

In this spring edition of the portal, players, who are just as unchecked as the programs are, are making business decisions. Every one of them is able to negotiate and, if their wishes aren’t met, can look to transfer and see if another school will meet what their present one won’t.

“This year has become something totally different. It lies in the vein of the NCAA throwing their hands up and creating this atmosphere where it’s no longer a one-time transfer, where everyone can transfer basically unlimited times,” said Klatt. “Here’s what it has become. Any transfer portal opening up, any window that we have in the transfer portal becomes a leverage point for players. It is free agency for every single player every single transfer portal window.”

“The coaches are in a full panic, a full panic about the spring transfer window. It’s not just one. There’s a lot of schools worried about a lot of players on their teams. They feel like trying to retain their own roster becomes like another bout of free agency,” Klatt contined. “Even guys that are getting NIL deals, and healthy ones, at their school can, are, and will come up to them in the next week and say, ‘Hey, I want more money or I’m going to go over here because this school is offering me that’. The maddening part about that is that that is illegal! You can’t have an inducement, there can’t be tampering and yet that’s running rampant right now.”

That brings us to what the next two weeks will look like within the portal. With where it currently stands, Klatt fully expects to see a game-changer, if not several, test the transfer market. That could then lead to a move that may very well change what college football could be like next fall

“I feel that, the next 15 days, we could have some transformative names jump into the transfer portal and change the balance of power in some conferences and maybe even in the country in terms of what we think of these teams and how we will rank them in the preseason going into the fall of 2024,” Klatt opined. “That’s interesting to me. That’s incredibly interesting to me. I don’t know who it’s going to be but I guarantee you there’s a big name or two. The reason is is that it’s a leverage point for the players. “

This is just the new reality for college coaches. They can go add anyone but, on the flip side, they could also lost just about anyone.

They’re now, whether they like it or not, along for the ride with everyone else as the portal opens today and remains that way through the end of April.

“Every player is a free agent over the next 15 days, starting on Tuesday,” Klatt stated. “That’s terrifying for coaches. It’s totally terrifying for coaches and you can see why. You can absolutely see why.”