Connect with us
https://yoursportsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/call-to-1.png

NIL

Evanson

Evanson: The transfer portal is not just an NCAA problem, it’s become a prep one as well Published 4:00 am Friday, June 20, 2025 The chase for state championships has led to an epidemic of transfers in this state, and sports columnist Wade Evanson doesn’t like what he sees. (Jaime Valdez/Portland Tribune) The transfer portal […]

Published

on

Evanson

Evanson: The transfer portal is not just an NCAA problem, it’s become a prep one as well

Published 4:00 am Friday, June 20, 2025

The chase for state championships has led to an epidemic of transfers in this state, and sports columnist Wade Evanson doesn’t like what he sees. (Jaime Valdez/Portland Tribune)

The transfer portal is open. No, not the NCAA’s official window for student-athletes to relocate to a more lucrative/advantageous situation, but rather the unofficial one that has high schoolers doing the same in the interest of…well…I’m not exactly sure?

This is a delicate topic for a number of reasons, but one that – while not entirely new – has become exponentially more prevalent in recent years.

Players from area schools are leaving their school and often their district seeking greener pastures, and while there are rules prohibiting such, little is being done to curb what’s become the new norm.

I’ll be honest, I don’t like it.

If you move, you move. You can’t stop someone from picking up and moving out, be it for practical reasons or not. But what you can do is govern, and in many cases simply enforce the rules set forth with that governance in mind.

There doesn’t seem to be much of that going on, and therein lies the problem.

Circumventing the transfer rules isn’t new, for even in the “olden days” there were tales of fabrications in the interests of getting player-A to school-B.

There was the mystery address, aunt and uncle, and/or friend or even simply a mailbox that would place player-A in the district he or she so desired. But examples of such were few and far between compared to what now annually feels like the running of the bulls.

Now is that time.

With summer league basketball underway, along with summer workouts for football, soccer and volleyball on the horizon, new players now make up new teams, and for the first time since the end of the 2024-25 school year, outsiders are getting a glimpse of what next year’s high school squads will look like come December. And while there’s talent to be found throughout Oregon, many of the state’s best won’t be playing against, but rather with one another as a part of a team constructed not over time, but rather as the result of little more than a desire to do so.

When I stated earlier that this is a delicate topic, I did so due to the sensitivity that comes with the people involved – the kids.

While I could point to what seems like countless examples of prep mercenaries leading teams to league or state titles, I won’t. Nor will I single-out the coaches and/or programs that have not only embraced, but have been more than willing participants.

I’ve no interest in playing the “gotcha” or blame game, and I have even less interest in pointing fingers and rendering verdicts on cases for which I lack all of the necessary information to do so.

Sometimes people simply move.

Other times academic motivations are at play.

That’s life, and I’d be a fool not to acknowledge such pertaining to transfers in general.

But beyond the necessary, lies a mountain of unnecessary reasons kids are jumping from one school to the next like NBA superstars chasing championship rings.

Winning. Coaching. Playing time. All things you hear regarding the departure and subsequent arrival of those seeking more of any or all of the aforementioned.

And that’s great for them, but what about everyone they left behind.

We live in a time defined by that very word’s last two letters.

Me-first has not only become popular, but championed by a sect of society that’s somehow made selfishness a virtue.

I’m not going to waste your time with what I feel are countless examples of such, but will tell you that in a world so concerned with the individual, there seems to be little to no concern for the individuals who will suffer in the wake of making one happy.

For every player that leaves for bigger and better, there are a dozen others left with now lesser and worse. A group of kids scrambling to work with what is now, opposed to what was supposed to be.

And for what, winning?

The best part of winning is knowing what it took to make it happen, and if the road to victory is measured only by the distance from one school to the next, how rewarding is that?

I had a conversation with a prominent area coach last season about this very thing. They had not yet been either the victim or beneficiary of the transfer game, and weren’t all that interested in changing that. But they were cognizant of the growing epidemic and begrudgingly said they might have to consider playing that game if they wanted to someday taste the ultimate spoils.

It didn’t matter that they had a great program, nor that it was one built on a foundation of homegrown kids, because what had always been a marathon has recently become a sprint, and it’s hard to win a 100 meter dash with kids who’ve been running a 5k.

Maybe I’m wrong. After all, we do live in an eat or be eaten world, and maybe if you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’?.

But maybe I’m not. And maybe high school sports should be as much about doing it right as opposed to just getting it done?

After-all, school is about education, and sports are about competition and character building, and both with winning where it matters most in mind – beyond the field of play..

Just some food for thought.

You Might Like

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

NIL

New House proposal could reign in NIL chaos in college athletics

A new bill introduced in the House of Representatives calls for regulation in college athletics as leaders search for answers in the new era of Name, Image and Likeness. The SCORE Act, introduced to the House last week, aims to provide the NCAA with antitrust protections, pre-emption of state laws that regulate NIL payments and […]

Published

on


A new bill introduced in the House of Representatives calls for regulation in college athletics as leaders search for answers in the new era of Name, Image and Likeness.

The SCORE Act, introduced to the House last week, aims to provide the NCAA with antitrust protections, pre-emption of state laws that regulate NIL payments and a ban on making student athletes employees of their schools, according to a report from the Associated Press.

The bill comes on the heels of the House settlement, instituted on July 1. Schools can now share up to $20.5 million directly to players this year in a revenue share model. Additionally, the NCAA is set to pay $2.8 billion to current and former athletes for use of their NIL.

Seven republicans and two democrats are listed as co-sponsors of the SCORE Act, which primarily intends to impose national standards on NIL payments that continue to rise in the aftermath of the settlement.

If passed, the bill will also ban schools from using “athletic fees” imposed on students to fund athletic departments. Schools like Clemson, Tennessee and Arkansas have already implemented similar costs this year.

As football and basketball are set to receive the majority of the $20.5 million revenue-share cap, non-revenue sports would be protected by the SCORE Act, in part, by a requirement on schools to maintain at least 16 sports if one coach makes more than $250,000 a year.

According to the report, the bill has a “fair chance” at passing in the House but a “slim” chance of pasisng in the Senate, where the SCORE Act would need at least seven Democratic votes.



Link

Continue Reading

NIL

Texas Tech hoping big money and top transfers lead to unprecedented payback in football | Football

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire had already completed his portion of Big 12 football media days when Colorado’s Deion Sanders was asked if he has been paying attention to what the Red Raiders did in the transfer portal. The gist of that question was really about all the money for Texas […]

Published

on


FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire had already completed his portion of Big 12 football media days when Colorado’s Deion Sanders was asked if he has been paying attention to what the Red Raiders did in the transfer portal.

The gist of that question was really about all the money for Texas Tech athletes, which is widely reported to be around $55 million for the upcoming school year. A significant chunk of that is expected to go toward the transformation of a football program that has never won a Big 12 title or even had a 10-win season since 2008, six years before three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Patrick Mahomes played his first game for the Red Raiders.

“Yeah, Joey got some money. Joey, where you at, baby? Spending that money, I love it,” Sanders said emphatically about the fellow Big 12 coach he calls a friend, and who coached two of his three sons in high school. “I love you, man. I appreciate you. Can you send a few of those dollars to us so we can get some of those players too?”

The reported dollar figures are staggering, even in these early days of schools being able to pay athletes directly. That total supposedly includes the maximum $20.5 million of revenue each school can share with players under the NCAA’s landmark House settlement that took effect this month, meaning the rest would come through name, image and likeness deals.

Red Raiders spending big

Last fall, Texas Tech said it was budgeting $14.7 million for the fiscal year — about $9 million more than the previous year — in support for the athletic program, which had a budget of nearly $129 million. The headlines started to come soon after.

Tech’s softball team had never won a Big 12 regular-season or tournament championship before standout pitcher NiJaree Canady arrived last year in Lubbock with a NIL deal that made her the first $1 million softball player.

With Canady, who had been to the previous two Women’s College World Series with Stanford, the Red Raiders won both of those league titles and got all the way to the final game of this year’s WCWS before losing to rival Texas.

Canady has already signed a similar NIL deal for next season. Tech also added three top transfers: Florida second baseman Mia Williams; two-time 20-game winner Kaitlyn Terry from UCLA; and Missouri Valley Conference player of the year Jackie Lis, an infielder from Southern Illinois.

Along with all the money spent on players, Texas Tech this spring unveiled a $240 million football complex at Jones AT&T Stadium, where Cody Campbell Field is named after the former offensive lineman who made a $25 million donation to the project.

Campbell’s financial impact on the program goes well beyond that. He is chairman of the school’s Board of Regents, a billionaire who with his oil and gas partner John Sellers co-founded The Matador Club, the school’s NIL collective that is now under the umbrella of the athletic department’s Red Raider Club. Sellers and Campbell earlier this year sold some subsidies of an oil and natural gas company for about $4 billion.

Last week, Campbell announced the launch of a nonprofit called Saving College Sports to help solve a “crisis” as the industry “faces an existential turning point as legal, governance and economic challenges threaten” hundreds of thousands of athletes, fandom and the economies of campus communities.

On the gridiron

The Texas Tech men’s basketball program has four Sweet 16 appearances since 2018, including a run to the national title game in 2019. But the big moneymaker for all programs is football and the Red Raiders will find out this fall if a big financial commitment to those players will get them into the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Texas Tech brought in 22 football transfers in what many consider a top national portal class. Most are highly touted players, with about half expected to be starters and most of the others impact players on a team already with several key returners after going 8-5 last year in McGuire’s third season.

“Yeah, it’s been a fun offseason,” McGuire said before Sanders took the podium. “We were really aggressive whenever it came to the portal and meeting some of our needs for the football team. … I think this conference is really strong. There’s a lot of teams that have some big opportunities this year to really make a statement, and we’re planning on being one of them.”

With the amount of money involved, some front-loaded NIL deals before the House settlement with new guidelines went into effect, it will certainly be a huge and expensive disappointment if they are not.

“I understand how important this year is,” McGuire said. “We’ve got to have a lot of things go right, but everybody does. You’ve got to keep your quarterback healthy. You’ve got to play at a high level. I know there’s a lot of expectations. My job that I’m going to really try to do is keep the pressure on me and the coaches.”

Tech returns senior quarterback Behren Morton, who threw for 2,976 yards and 25 touchdowns last season, and senior linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, the league’s top tackler with 126 last year. Rodriguez is the preseason Big 12 defensive player of the year, and on the league’s preseason team with a pair of four-star transfers: edge rusher David Bailey (Stanford) and defensive lineman Lee Hunter (UCF).

“It’s unbelievable, those guys came in and bought in to what we were talking about,” Rodriguez said. “I love those guys to death already and I think they’re going to make my job a lot easier, especially with the guys we have up front.”

It will also be up to McGuire to deal with paid players, some making significantly more than others on the roster.

“I think that goes into your culture,” the former Texas high school coach said. “It’s real. It’s real money. Guys are making different amounts of money in the locker room.

“One thing that you better understand if you dream to play in the NFL, your contract’s not going to be the same as the guy next to you, and if that’s what you focus on, then you’re going to spend a lot of time wasting a lot of energy,” McGuire said. “If guys want to increase that, focus on what you can control. That’s your game and how hard you’re practicing and how hard you’re playing.”


AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon contributed.


AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football



Link

Continue Reading

NIL

Incoming Virginia Tech men’s basketball star uses filthy move that should fire up fans

It has been some time since the Virginia Tech men’s basketball program has had some hype surrounding an incoming freshman. In fact, this season, there is a real chance that when all is said and done next June, veteran coach Mike Young could be looking at having a pair of draft picks in the 2026 […]

Published

on


It has been some time since the Virginia Tech men’s basketball program has had some hype surrounding an incoming freshman. In fact, this season, there is a real chance that when all is said and done next June, veteran coach Mike Young could be looking at having a pair of draft picks in the 2026 NBA Draft on his 2025-26 roster.

Those two players would be Tobi Lawal and incoming freshman Neoklis Avdalas, both of whom entered the NBA Draft process this spring, but withdrew to play another year of college basketball. Lawal, who transferred to Virginia Tech from VCU last season, will play his second season for Young, while Avdalas gave a verbal commitment to the Hokies and then signed after withdrawing. He is not on campus yet as he is playing in the FIBA Eurobasket U20 with Greece, and he had a move that should fire up Tech fans for next season.

Virginia Tech incoming freshman Neoklis Avdalas drops a filthy move in a FIBA matchup

If there is one thing that is clear about Avdalas, it’s that he has the opportunity to be a special player at Virginia Tech. Expect him to be able to play multiple positions for the Hokies, and that even includes handling the ball as the point guard. He had a play against Lithuania that Hokies fans hope to see next winter in Blacksburg: a filthy crossover.

That was certainly a filthy move by Avdalas and Virginia Tech fans are hoping that they see that a few times next winter. One thing is clear, Avdalas has multiple ways he can score the ball and that is something Hokies fans have seen a lot of. The Hokies are going to have multiple options on offense next season, but Avdalas might very well end up being their best option. It almost seems too good to be true.





Link

Continue Reading

NIL

SEC coaches on revenue-sharing, NIL (update No. 1)

ATLANTA, Georgia – Hovering over every coach at SEC Media Days are questions about revenue-sharing and NIL. It is the front and center in every discussion about football,. We will share here over the next four days what coaches have to say about the new world in which they find themselves. SOUTH CAROLINA’S SHANE BEAMER […]

Published

on


ATLANTA, Georgia – Hovering over every coach at SEC Media Days are questions about revenue-sharing and NIL. It is the front and center in every discussion about football,.

We will share here over the next four days what coaches have to say about the new world in which they find themselves.

SOUTH CAROLINA’S SHANE BEAMER

On what he wants to see

“That what we say is going to be enforced, is going to happen and be enforced. Because all the talk out there about what’s new stuff and this and that, if there is no teeth to it, doesn’t matter. It’s just going to continue to be. “

On hope for the future

“What has been implemented with rev share and the clearinghouse and all that, I see other conferences talking about the negatives about it already. Let’s give this thing time to work and develop. Let’s see what it is and not all of a sudden say it’s not going to work.

“I was in DC earlier this year talking about the need to it for national legislation, so been talking a lot about this. But something uniform that has some teeth to it where it is what it’s supposed to be, and if somebody is not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, it’s going to be enforced and there will be repercussions.”

LSU’S BRIAN KELLY

On the process

“We are early on in the process,” Kelly said. “This is the first step in what we are trying to build. I am excited about college football. I am excited we have something in place in terms of revenue-sharing. NIL is still something we have to navigate. I think we still have to be thinking about how we continue to build or support for NIL. It’s not going away. Nor should it.”

On what is important going forward

“Transparency and consistency. Those two words are probably the most important things as we continue to move forward. … If we start with transparency and start with the clear communication necessary and consistency and approach. It’s got to start with coaches.

:It’s got to start with us. I mean, we have to be the stewards of this. There has to be a moral high ground. Ethics in this. It starts with us. It starts with coaches. I was at a speaking engagement a few weeks back, and every question about NIL was trying to find a way around it, trying to find a way to bring in revenue in some other way.

“Sooner or later we have to take the stand that transparency, consistency, ethics, and morality are at the core of this. If that’s where we are we’re going to be able to move to the next step and be able to continue to make progress.”

This story will be updated throughout the day.

LSU’S BRIAN KELLY

On the process

“We are early on in the process,” Kelly said. “This is the first step in what we are trying to build. I am excited about college football. I am excited we have something in place in terms of revenue-sharing. NIL is still something we have to navigate. I think we still have to be thinking about how we continue to build or support for NIL. It’s not going away. Nor should it.”

On what is important going forward

“Transparency and consistency. Those two words are probably the most important things as we continue to move forward. … If we start with transparency and start with the clear communication necessary and consistency and approach. It’s got to start with coaches.

:It’s got to start with us. I mean, we have to be the stewards of this. There has to be a moral high ground. Ethics in this. It starts with us. It starts with coaches. I was at a speaking engagement a few weeks back, and every question about NIL was trying to find a way around it, trying to find a way to bring in revenue in some other way.

“Sooner or later we have to take the stand that transparency, consistency, ethics, and morality are at the core of this. If that’s where we are we’re going to be able to move to the next step and be able to continue to make progress.”

This story will be updated throughout the day.



Link

Continue Reading

NIL

Lane Kiffin sends warning that the new revenue

As schools adapt to the revenue-share model in the Name, Image and Likeness space, some college football teams aren’t staying inside the lines in regards to the $20.5 million cap, according to Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin and the Rebels have been competitive in the NIL world, signing top-five transfer portal classes in […]

Published

on

Lane Kiffin sends warning that the new revenue

As schools adapt to the revenue-share model in the Name, Image and Likeness space, some college football teams aren’t staying inside the lines in regards to the $20.5 million cap, according to Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.

Kiffin and the Rebels have been competitive in the NIL world, signing top-five transfer portal classes in each of the last four cycles. Ole Miss, backed by The Grove Collective, is estimated to spend $8.8 million on top of the projected $15 million shared directly from the school to football players this year.

In addition to the revenue share figure, programs can supplement their NIL budgets by helping players secure third-party NIL deals through the NIL Go clearinghouse – run by Deloitte and established by the College Sports Commission.

However, the approval process has reportedly reached a standstill, and schools could be promising players figures that may not be ultimately deliverable while stretching the revenue-share cap to fulfill current needs.

“I think it is pretty obvious people have not been staying within that cap,” Kiffin said Monday at SEC Media Days in Atlanta.

It remains to be seen if the NCAA and College Sports Commission can enforce the parameters outlined by the House settlement.

The answer could be something like the newly introduced SCORE Act, a bill proposed by the House last week that aims to establish national rules to even the playing field and reign-in the unsustainable NIL spending.

In the meantime, though, it seems that schools can strategically operate on their own terms with NIL and the revenue-share model.

Continue Reading

NIL

Players Era Men’s Championship full field, schedule announced

Duke, Auburn, Houston players talk NCAA age limit before Final Four Men’s Final Four players weigh in on if college basketball should have an age limit Las Vegas will once again be the place to be during Feast Week this college basketball season. Coined “November Mania,” the Players Era Men’s Championship announced its schedule for […]

Published

on


play

Las Vegas will once again be the place to be during Feast Week this college basketball season.

Coined “November Mania,” the Players Era Men’s Championship announced its schedule for the newly expanded 18-team men’s basketball NIL multi-team event in November in Las Vegas on July 14, and to no surprise, it’s quite loaded.

Then called the Players Era Festival, the NIL-driven event by storm last season and has quickly become a must-play event with NCAA Tournament caliber teams, so much so that teams paid their way out of already scheduled multi-team events to participate in it last season.

Headlining the first two days of competition in Las Vegas is Gonzaga vs. Alabama on Wednesday, Nov. 25. Preceding the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide on Nov. 25 is St. John’s vs. Iowa State, two teams that are notoriously known for their defense under Rick Pitino and T.J. Otzelberger.

Day 2 of the 2025 Players Era Men’s Championship field is headlined by an Elite Eight rematch of Houston vs. Tennessee and then Iowa State vs. Creighton, two teams that were already scheduled to meet in October for an exhibition.

The 2025 Players Era Men’s Championship field includes 14 teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, and nine teams — Auburn, Houston, St. John’s, Alabama, Iowa State, Maryland, Oregon and Michigan — that were seeded at least a five seed or higher in the field of 68. Eleven teams that appear in the USA TODAY Sports too-early top 25 poll will also compete in Las Vegas.

The four-day multi-team event will take place in Las Vegas at MGM Grand Garden Arena and Michelob Ultra Arena from Monday, Nov. 24 through Thursday, Nov. 27 with the championship game taking place on Wednesday, Nov. 26.

There will also be a four-team Players Era Women’s Championship featuring South Carolina, UCLA, Texas and Duke that will take place Wednesday, Nov. 26 and Thursday, Nov. 27 in Las Vegas.

Here’s what to know from the July 14 announcement of the 2025 Players Era Men’s Championship:

Players Era Championship bracket 2025

The returning teams to the Players Era Festival include Alabama, Houston, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Oregon, San Diego State and Creighton. The only team that isn’t returning to the Players Era Championship from last year’s field, which Oregon won, is Texas A&M. The Aggies were replaced in the field by Maryland, which hired away Buzz Williams from Texas A&M this offseason.

Here’s a full breakdown of who is competing in the 2025 Players Era Men’s Championship:

  • Alabama
  • Auburn
  • Baylor
  • Creighton
  • Gonzaga
  • Houston
  • Iowa State
  • Kansas
  • Maryland
  • Michigan
  • Notre Dame
  • Oregon
  • Rutgers
  • San Diego State
  • St. John’s
  • Syracuse
  • UNLV
  • Tennessee

Players Era Festival 2025 schedule

Here’s a look at schedule for the 2025 Players Era Men’s Championship, which will take place MGM Grand Garden Arena and Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas:

Monday, Nov. 24

  • Rutgers vs. Tennessee | 1 p.m. ET
  • Creighton vs. Baylor | 2 p.m. ET
  • Kansas vs. Notre Dame | 3:30 p.m. ET
  • St. John’s vs. Iowa State | 4:30 p.m. ET
  • Houston vs. Syracuse | 6 p.m. ET
  • Auburn vs. Oregon | 8 p.m. ET
  • Gonzaga vs. Alabama | 9:30 p.m. ET
  • Michigan vs. San Diego State | 10:30 p.m. ET
  • UNLV vs. Maryland | Midnight ET

Tuesday, Nov. 25

  • Rutgers vs. Notre Dame | 1 p.m. ET
  • Iowa State vs. Creighton | 2 p.m. ET
  • Kansas vs. Syracuse | 3:30 p.m. ET
  • St. John’s vs. Baylor | 4:30 p.m. ET
  • Houston vs. Tennessee | 6 p.m. ET
  • Michigan vs. Auburn | 8:30 p.m. ET
  • Gonzaga vs. Maryland | 9:30 p.m. ET
  • Oregon vs. San Diego State | 11 p.m. ET
  • UNLV vs. Alabama | Midnight ET

Wednesday, Nov. 26

  • Third Place Game: 7 p.m. ET
  • Championship Game: 9:30 p.m. ET

Note: For those that didn’t make the championship or third place game on Wednesday, November 26, they will play in consolation games across Wednesday, November 26 and Thursday, November 27 in Las Vegas

What is the Players Era Championshop?

The Players Era Championship is a one-of-a-kind multi-team event that takes place during “Feast Week” of the college basketball season in November, during Thanksgiving week. Debuted during the 2024-25 season with an eight-team field, The Players Era Championship is a NIL-driven multi-team event with some of the best college basketball teams in the country.

Each team will receive $1 million for participating in the event, while players and teams will have the opportunity to earn more NIL while in Las Vegas. The champion of the Players Era Championship will win an additional $1 million in NIL earnings as well. Noted by CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, the total pot for the 2025 Players Era Championship will be north of $20 million in NIL-related earnings — quite the expensive multi-team event and regular season showcase event.





Link

Continue Reading

Most Viewed Posts

Trending