Curious Iowa: What is the transfer portal? And how does Iowa use it?

IOWA CITY — Since its inception in 2018, the transfer portal has increasingly been part of the collegiate sports lexicon.

It has changed how teams fill rosters, how athletes often pursue opportunities and even how donors support their favorite college sports teams.

As the transfer portal continues to play a prominent role across the college sports landscape, that prompts questions like how does the portal work? Why does it exist? And how do schools use it? This week, Curious Iowa — a series from The Gazette that answers questions about our state, its people and the culture — takes on those questions.

What is the transfer portal?

If a collegiate athlete decides they want to transfer to a different school, their current school enters their information into an online password-protected database. Coaches have access to the database and can then reach out to prospective athletes.

The transfer portal was initially unveiled in 2018 as a streamlined process for student-athletes to transfer between schools. The portal later proliferated in popularity, particularly after the NCAA’s change in policy in 2021 to allow athletes from any sport to transfer once without having to sit out a year.

When can an athlete enter the transfer portal?

The transfer portal windows vary by sport. Football, for example, had one transfer portal window from Dec. 4-Jan. 2 and a second from April 16-30. Men’s and women’s basketball had one window from March 18-May 1.

Athletes do not need to commit to a new school during the portal window, although it is often in their best interests to commit early.

There are some exceptions to the NCAA’s rules about the timing of transfers. Athletes who either have already graduated or are in programs with a head coaching change do not have to abide by the portal windows.

How does NIL affect the transfer portal?

NIL — athletes’ ability to profit off their name, image and likeness — initially opened the door to athletes to make money off endorsements, summer camps and other business endeavors. It still does that, as evident by Caitlin Clark’s frequent advertisements for State Farm, Gatorade, Nike, Xfinity or other sponsors during the 2023-24 season.

But NIL also has become a vehicle for teams’ donor bases to compensate its athletes via collectives.

Iowa’s Swarm Collective raises money from fans to compensate athletes — the primary focus is football and men’s and women’s basketball, although large donations can be directed to any sport — in exchange for some community service work. That’s in addition to Swarm’s corporate arm, which works with companies to raise money for athletes via sponsorships.

Swarm had approximately 2,900 paying members, as of Friday morning. Brad Heinrichs, the founder and CEO of the collective, told The Gazette his goal is to boost that number to 5,000 by the end of 2024.

In the current collegiate sports landscape, the schools with bigger NIL war chests are frequently the ones experiencing more success in the transfer portal.

“Although we cannot directly fundraise for the Swarm, we certainly list it when we talk about our priorities,” Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz previously told The Gazette. “As we visit with a donor, we certainly mention NIL importance in our current environment.”

How much NIL funding is necessary to bring in high-profile athletes?

Transfer portal recruiting often comes with a hefty price tag.

Specific numbers rarely come to light publicly, but Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule told reporters there last year that a “good quarterback” in the transfer portal costs $1-2 million in NIL.

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said ex-Hawkeye point guard Tony Perkins, who averaged 14 points per game last year, “has a market value probably in the neighborhood of $500,000” for NIL.

“We were not going to be able to pay him that, so he goes somewhere else,” McCaffery said.

Perkins has refuted that notion, however, saying in a tweet after committing to Missouri that it’s “never been about the money.”

Heinrichs said on The Gazette’s Hawk Off the Press podcast in January that he is hoping to raise $1 million per year for men’s basketball and “probably closer to $3 million for football.”

Recommended Reading

Hawk Off The Press: Brad Heinrichs on Swarm Collective’s growth and future goals

Can an athlete transfer multiple times?

Yes, the NCAA now allows athletes to enter the portal multiple times while still being able to play immediately.

Recent examples include when offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor entered the transfer portal to go from Alabama to Iowa in January, only to enter the portal again when it reopened in April to go back to Alabama.

Can an athlete withdraw from the transfer portal?

NCAA rules technically allow an athlete to return to their team after entering the portal, but there is no guarantee that their old roster spot — or scholarship — will still be there or that they will be welcomed back.

Teams may have already replaced the departing player with someone from the portal or a high school recruit. It’s also possible that a team was already over the limit on scholarships for the following year, in which case the departure could actually help the team.

How aggressive have Iowa teams been in the portal?

Iowa Athletics’ three highest-profile teams on campus — football and women’s and men’s basketball — have been relatively conservative in the portal.

Iowa football added only one scholarship player via the portal in 2021-22, and the lone scholarship addition in the 2023-24 portal cycle was the since-departed Proctor.

The exception was the 2022-23 cycle, when the Hawkeyes turned to the portal to add quarterback Cade McNamara, tight end Erick All, linebacker Nick Jackson, offensive lineman Rusty Feth and wide receivers Seth Anderson and Kaleb Brown, among others.

Iowa women’s basketball made a big splash last month with the addition of Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen, but the program has historically been selective with who it adds via the portal. Head coach Lisa Bluder said the Hawkeyes “don’t invite just anybody into our circle.”

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“I think you have to be really special to come into our program,” Bluder said last month.

Iowa men’s basketball has turned to the portal to fill some team needs in recent years — the 2023 addition of Valparaiso transfer Ben Krikke is a good example — but eight of the nine Hawkeyes to earn 10-plus minutes per game in 2023-24 were former high school commits.

Farther up the road at Xtream Arena, Iowa volleyball has been more aggressive in the portal as head coach Jim Barnes tries to jump-start the struggling program. That approach has not netted positive results so far, as the Hawkeyes went 0-20 in Big Ten play in 2023.

What risks come with entering the transfer portal?

Many athletes have benefited greatly from the transfer portal.

Charlie Jones is a case study for that. The former Iowa wide receiver entered the portal in the spring of 2022 and committed to Purdue, where his production increased exponentially. He had more receptions in 2022 than all of Iowa’s wide receivers combined.

But not every athlete is as fortunate as Jones, who now is in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Data released by the NCAA shows 30 percent of FBS football players who entered the portal in 2023 did not find an NCAA program to join. They could be either still exploring transfer options, be at a non-NCAA school (like a junior college or NAIA school) or have left their sport.

Another 6 percent withdrew from the portal, which the NCAA assumes as a return to their original school.

Even for the nearly two-thirds of FBS transfers who did find a new home via the portal, it might not necessarily be a better fit.

Ex-Iowa quarterbacks Alex Padilla and Carson May, for example, entered the portal after the 2022 season. Padilla played sparingly in 2023 for SMU, throwing seven passes in three games, while May did not see any game action. May has since reentered the portal.

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Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com