Editor’s note: George Scott played men’s basketball at New Mexico in 1982-83 and 1984-85 and is an Albuquerque resident.
The Transfer Portal. I hate it. I woke up this morning to find out that now Birima Seck has also entered the portal. He joins Javonte, Kuac, KJ and fan favorite Allick. Who’s next to jump ship? This is getting ridiculous. The Pit returned to being a magical place this season and now our guys want out?
What gives? I’ll tell you what gives: There is no more loyalty, commitment and dedication in college sports due to the portal. I know we’re in a different era, but back in the day, an athlete had 5 years to play 4 years, and if athletes wanted to transfer, they had to sit out a year to become eligible at the next school. That provided roster stability and name recognition for the fans. You generally knew what team you had returning the following season.
To its credit, the NCAA, due to Covid, relaxed the rule that required an athlete to sit out a year if they transferred to another school. Well, it’s time to put that rule back in place, now that Covid is mostly behind us. The portal is not working. Players again need to sit out a year to become eligible at their next stop. That will make them think long and hard about transferring out: Are you really that miserable at your current school or are you gonna suck it up and figure it out, like you will have to do in your post sports, life? The revolving door of players coming and going has to stop. There is no continuity from one season to the next. There is zero loyalty now. Today’s transfer portal athletes, coupled with NIL, have basically made them mercenaries. Hired guns.
I also feel really bad for Danny Gonzales and our football program. He is fighting and scraping like hell to get our football program back on track and we’re all pulling for him to do so. Once some of his players achieve a measure of individual success, what happens? They enter the portal and Danny has to start all over again. This is simply not sustainable. It’s so frustrating because after this year’s 22-win basketball season, you would think we laid a good foundation for future success in our ongoing quest to catch up to San Diego State in football and basketball. Wrong! With so many of our basketball players departing, Pitino also has to start over to rebuild our now bare cupboard. It’s exhausting as a fan and as a former player.
By the way, I am fully aware of the irony that the portal brought us House, Mash and Mo-Jo, but for whatever reason, the portal seems to hurt us more than it helps us. Congrats to San Diego State for their deep run in the NCAA tourney. We need the money you guys are making the MWC to hopefully recruit the next Mo-Jo tandem via the … transfer portal. Ugh!
— George Scott
