Rutgers guard Paul Mulcahy announces plan to enter NCAA transfer portal

Rutgers guard Paul Mulcahy has announced plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal. He announced his intention to enter Friday in a social media post.

He would be the second Scarlet Knights starter to enter the portal this offseason along with Cam Spencer, who was also one of the team’s leading scorers.

Mulcahy spent four seasons with Rutgers, including the last three as a starter for the program. He was named as a Big Ten honorable mention after this last season.

He averaged 8.3 points on 41.6% shooting, including 37.0% from beyond the arc, with 3.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.

“In 2018, a kid from Bayonne committed with goals to turn around a basketball program, elevate a University impact the community, and earn a college degree,” Mulcahy said. “I love Rutgers University, the entire community, and all who make up the Basketball program. I have taken much pride in representing my home state of New Jersey.”

Thank You Rutgers ❤️ pic.twitter.com/qUXhp11fjU

— Paul Mulcahy (@paulmulcahy_4) June 9, 2023

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name like Paul Mulcahy shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.