UConn basketball coach Geno Auriemma lamented the current state of the NCAA transfer portal on a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday morning, calling it “a mess.”
“There’s something wrong with the recruiting system, there’s something wrong with the culture of college basketball today, there’s something wrong with the entitlement that happens to exist today,” Auriemma said.
The UConn head coach disclosed that there are roughly 1,000 student-athletes in the transfer portal, and 200 of them have not yet been contacted by a prospective school. He said the influx of athletes in the portal points to a prioritization of student interests.
“There’s something wrong with this idea of, you know, student-athlete welfare, that everything should be done to accommodate the student-athlete, with no regard whatsoever to the coaches who work their ass off, to recruit these kids in the first place, work with them, help them get better, make them the player that they are,” he said. “And then they up and leave with no consequences whatsoever.”
Auriemma added that the new one-time transfer rule, which he supports, will only compound the portal inundation problem. The amendment to NCAA policy, instigated by the pandemic, allows one-time transfers to play at their new school right away and bypass a year of ineligibility.
“There’s got to be something wrong with the culture if it’s this bad,” Auriemma said. “On both ends — on the kids’ and then the coaches’.”
His remarks come on the heels of a chaotic women’s basketball offseason, in which 12 players left Syracuse and Duke picked up seven transfers in the spring.
UConn lost two players to the transfer portal in sophomore guard Anna Makurat and freshman guard Autumn Chassion. The Huskies signed Ohio State forward Dorka Juhász through the transfer portal in early April.