Challenge of balancing NCAA Tournament, transfer portal is ‘distracting,’ ‘disappointing’ for coaches

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — College basketball coaches across country have spoken out about the timing of the transfer window clashing with the NCAA Tournament schedule. The message was no different in the Memphis region, where Clemson, Texas A&M and Nebraska are among the staffs balancing multiple duties.

Under the current NCAA guidelines, the spring transfer portal window for basketball opened on March 18, and will remain open for 45 days, closing on May 1.

Clemson head coach Brad Brownell is part of the NABC committee and has been part of conversations surrounding the issue.

“Distracting,” Brownell described the situation. “I was adamantly against this for this very reason. It’s a hard time of year for everybody, players, coaches, the whole nine yards.”

It is important to remember that the 68-team NCAA Tournament field is not the only segment of the 362 Division I teams impacted by when the transfer portal window opens. That seems to be the sticking point for change.

“There’s a lot of coaches, especially at mid-major schools, whose tournaments end earlier and they were very vocal about, the longer we have to wait, the harder it is for us to have to figure out what to do,” said Brownell. “I understand why there’s a segment of our coaching fraternity that wants that, but I also think this is really — I don’t think this is the right time.”

Staffs taking different approaches

As of Thursday afternoon, 735 men’s basketball players have entered the portal. Nearly 450 players entered on Monday alone. That leaves a lot of scouting work to be done in a short amount of time. Add in short-rest gameplanning for a win-or-go-home NCAA Tournament game and the whole staff must be on board.

Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg has largely trusted his staff to handle that side of the business while he focuses on maximizing the March Madness run.

“It’s not a lot of fun,” said Hoiberg. “I’ll be honest with you. It’s a big part of the job, and you have to be on top of everything early in the process or you won’t have a chance.

You want to be preparing obviously 24/7, but you have to be on top of that. And our staff does a good job with it.

“But at this time of year, for us, for me, it’s all about doing everything I can to prepare the team and put a game plan together to give us a chance to beat, again, one of the top teams in the country here these past six weeks. And we’ll worry about that. When this journey ends hopefully not for a while, we’ll get on top of it, but our staff is doing a good job right now keeping everybody in the loop on what’s happening on that front, at the same time staying very focused on the task at hand.”

Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich experiences the transfer portal differently than his high-major counterparts. He simply cannot get away from the recruiting trail for that long.

“It’s disappointing because you want to really enjoy and be present in this moment, but literally down the hallway I was just talking about recruiting with two assistants,” said Aldrich. “So that, I think, does take away. This is such a complicated mess — and I think that’s the right word, mess — because there’s competing factions and considerations that have to be taken into account.”

Something must change

No matter which head coach you ask, something is wrong with the transfer portal windows. Not all agree on the exact problem and even less will agree on the proper solution, but it is something they all feel must be resolved quickly.

Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams is hesitant to criticize the people in power but warns that the frustration could have more negative consequences.

“Closed mouths don’t catch flies, so I’ve got to be careful what I say,” said Williams. “The timing is hard. I’m not critiquing it. All the smart people make all the decisions. I’m not in that group, nor should I be.

“I don’t want to critique it because there’s kids that are here that came from the transfer portal, but there probably needs to be a group of smart people that try to figure out a better calendar. We’re still following some archaic rules in a different model that probably are not congruent with where we’re at in 2024.”

That need for speed was echoed by other coaches, who feel that it is a disservice to both the coaches and players to have such upheaval.

“I think it will continue drive good people out of the profession, out of coaching,” said Aldrich. “We really need to have a thoughtful and quick, in my view — I say quick, over the coming year or two — solution to how we’re handling this because I think we are transforming the landscape and not necessarily in a positive light.”

The NCAA continues to look for solutions and pass new guidelines in an attempt to adapt. They recently sent an updated portal memo, allowing multi-time transfers this spring to play at a new school in the 2024-25 year without securing a waiver.