Greg Byrne on concerns about Alabama losing key players to transfer portal

Several Alabama players have entered the transfer portal after Nick Saban announced he was retiring as the Crimson Tide’s football coach. On Wednesday, two of Alabama’s most promising young players, Caleb Downs and Kadyn Proctor, increased that number to eight.

Since the initial transfer window opened back on Dec. 4, a total of 25 Tide players have entered the portal, with many of them landing at Power 5 programs. Alabama is currently under the limit of 85 scholarship players, but new coach Kalen Deboer has lost key pieces.

UA athletic director Greg Byrne appeared on The Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday, and he was asked about the school’s concern over losing some significant contributors to transfer.

“You absolutely don’t like it. You don’t like it for the team,” Byrne said. “… Alabama is such a special place. The investment that we make in our young men and young women across the board for our sports and what we do from academic support, medical support, mental health, nutrition, across the board is as good as any place in the country. 

“We’ve had young men and young women transfer in here from very prominent universities and say, ‘My gosh, I had no idea how good I was going to get treated at Alabama compared to where I came from.’ And we have young men and young women who have transferred out of here who have called back and said, ‘I didn’t know how well I had it at Alabama.’ 

“Obviously, we don’t want that. We understand why young men and young women at times explore their options. and we try to be very transparent and honest with them during that time. That’s the best thing that we can do. But we say it with all the good intentions and the truth that we think this is the best place in the country for a student-athlete to come to school and compete at the highest levels in everything that they do.”

In the interview, Byrne was wearing a gray Yea Alabama pullover. That is the university’s official NIL (name, image and likeness) program, which announced via Twitter that it now has contributors from all 50 states following the hire of DeBoer as the new football coach.

When discussing the transfer dilemma, Byrne said, “NIL is part of it.”

“We have tried to be progressive with our NIL approach,” Byrne said. “It’s reality. I’m wearing my Yea Alabama pullover right now, which we’ve had almost 1,000 new members just since we announced Coach DeBoer. We have to continue to get people to sign up and be a part of that because it’s a reality of the world we’re facing. And Coach Saban did such a great job of continuing to adapt to what the realities of the world are. We’re going to continue to do the same thing. 

“So if a young man goes into the transfer portal, we try to be very transparent with him and talk with them through that and be strategic with him. And at the same time, too, we certainly won’t fault somebody if they are interested in it. But we also are very confident we think this is the best place in the country, by far, for anybody to go to school.”

Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!

Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $9.99! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!