Dabo Swinney said 'what every head coach feels' about transfer portal
Earlier this week, Clemson head coach reaffirmed his position on the transfer portal. Swinney believes it causes roster problems for programs, and he would prefer not to dip into the portal himself.
On Wednesday, Swinney said that Clemson prides itself on its “eval” and “development” of high school players. On a recent episode of ‘The Late Kick,’ 247Sports’ Josh Pate broke down Swinney’s comments on the transfer portal. Pate believes Swinney was voicing what most coaches think about the transfer portal. They prefer to develop the players they recruit out of high school and don’t want to worry about any more turnover in the offseason.
“All he articulated was what every head coach feels, maybe with a few exceptions,” Pate said. “This is what they all feel. They all fancy themselves as an operation that can recruit at a high level and develop. They take a lot of pride in development, at the big boy programs especially. That’s what they pitch. That’s everything about them. They have no reason not to develop you. They should. That’s a hallmark. It’s a developmental sport. Here’s the mindset. If you’re doing that the right way and developing them, you shouldn’t have a ton of holes on your roster.”
There are a couple of times each year when players typically enter the portal. One is right after the season ends, which coaches can deal with much more easily. The other is right after spring practice, and that creates a few more problems.
“It’s right after your season is over when you have guys like Demarkcus Bowman, for example, who left Clemson,” Pate said. “You could have guys leave then, but what Dabo talked about and here’s what’s really dangerous, at the end of spring practice. You get into April and May, guys have gone through spring, and realize where they are on the depth chart. They’ve looked around at other great players you have, and they don’t think they’ll be able to play. Then if guys leave, what do you do? When a guy leaves in May, we can’t just recruit another guy and get him here in the fall. At that point, you may have to resort to going to the transfer portal. Again, it’s not that you want to, it’s that you have to.”
Entire article:
https://247sports.com/Article/Dabo-...-coach-feels-about-transfer-portal-161560332/