The Kadyn Proctor transfer saga is the exact scenario that has coaching staffs so frustrated, terrified

A day before Iowa was set to open spring practice Wednesday, Kadyn Proctor broke the Hawkeyes’ hearts again. 

In a bombshell move, the former 5-star left tackle from Des Moines, who joined the Hawkeyes’ program in January after his true freshman season at Alabama, will reportedly re-enter the transfer portal when the second window opens on April 16 and return to Tuscaloosa.  

Kadyn Proctor has confirmed his return to Alabama via his Instagram account

“I’m back” pic.twitter.com/rOlPdlDO0e

— Ryan C. Fowler (@RyanCFowler) March 19, 2024

Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz confirmed the news in a statement to ESPN, saying, “It is unfortunate that Kadyn has informed us of his intentions to leave our program today. We wish him well in the future.”

This is the second time Proctor has pulled the rug on Iowa, as the 6-7, 350-pound tackle was a longtime Hawkeyes commit in the 2023 recruiting class only to flip to Alabama just before National Signing Day in December of 2022. 

Proctor then started all 14 games at left tackle as a freshman, struggling badly early before playing his best games late in the season against LSU, Georgia and Michigan. 

The stunning news is certainly a blow to Iowa’s offensive line, which Proctor was set to anchor as the team’s left tackle. If he does indeed return to Alabama, it’s a boon for Kalen DeBoer’s program — and a rubber stamp on the early buy-in from the players on the team, as Proctor reportedly went on spring break with a bunch of former Alabama teammates just last week. 

There will be plenty of time to dissect what Proctor’s likely return to Alabama means for the Tide in 2024, but there’s a larger takeaway to be made today: This is exactly why so many coaches are screaming for guardrails around the transfer portal. 

It’s why more and more coaches are all for players becoming employees with collective bargaining and contracts. 

Kadyn Proctor was not the first multi-time transfer this cycle, but he’s easily the most marquee player to jump multiple teams — and he won’t be the last. 

We may see the damn burst a month from now when the second portal window opens. 

Players who transferred in January can up and leave again in April if they decide they don’t like their situation after spring practice or get offered a better deal elsewhere. The complete freedom of movement has caused total chaos for roster management. 

Proctor left Iowa without ever stepping on the practice field. That sort of stunning move wasn’t possible even four months ago. 

In the past, Proctor would’ve transferred to Iowa and been eligible to play immediately in 2024, but he would have to sit out the season should he choose to return to Alabama or play elsewhere. 

However, late last December, a federal judge in West Virginia issued a temporary restraining order against the NCAA that made all multi-time transfers eligible immediately. The NCAA then backed down, issuing a clarification to their transfer rules. Because the players are not deemed employees, the NCAA was forced to basically admit it could no longer require them to sit out a year following their initial transfer. 

The NCAA did this to themselves because they had a waiver system more arbitrary than the alphabet. 

But it comes with a cost — and now coaches and staffs will bear the brunt of those repercussions until there are real parameters around the transfer portal. 

As one head coach told me at the AFCA Convention in January, “We need to think about the whole, and not just the player. What everybody has done is sued to get what they want. The multiple transfers is because West Virginia basketball wanted that player eligible, and that’s great. And name, image and likeness came about because the Supreme Court said it’s not fair to use these guys to not pay them. And that’s great, too. But it’s total freedom, right? I’m not the smartest guy but the only thing I can see is we go to contracts.”

What if Quinshon Judkins decides he doesn’t mesh with Ohio State’s new running backs coach? What if Dillon Gabriel thinks Oregon’s coaches are a little too impressed with Dante Moore?

These are obviously hypotheticals, but a wave of multi-transfers is going to happen next month. Proctor was simply the biggest (literally and figuratively!) to make the move thus far. College football is the greatest schadenfreude sport there is, but coaches aren’t laughing at Iowa’s pain today because they know their team might be next.