Which Coaches, What Programs Have Done the Best Keeping Players Engaged and Wanted?
STILLWATER – It was earlier today that I had a caller on my radio show on Triple Play Sports Radio ask what I thought of the NCAA Transfer Portal. My answer was not much; I feel it is a way-too-easy opt out for athletes to run away from their problems and their issues. I am a much bigger fan of athletes staying the course. I’ve seen it time after time that eventually things work out. There is also habit it promotes of walking away from adversity rather than taking it on. That could be competition for playing time, academic strife, or relationship issues. Those are all aspects in our lives that can come back later in different forms such as job issues, family and outside relationships, and more.
Ironically, on the day I get that question, I also get a scoreboard of sorts as to which schools are losing the most in the transfer portal. The scoreboard says a lot and confirms a lot about Oklahoma State. In the past eight months-plus, Oklahoma State has lost just eight players in the portal. That puts them tied with Baylor in the Big 12 for the fewest players in the portal. They are in the top 13 in the Power Five for fewest players going in the portal.
| Number of Players in the Transfer Portal since 10/1/2020 |
Teams |
| 26 | Tennessee |
| 22 | Kansas, Michigan State |
| 20 | Mississippi State, Missouri |
| 19 | Auburn, Vanderbilt |
| 18 | North Carolina |
| 17 | Louisville, Michigan, TCU, West Virginia |
| 16 | Maryland, Nebraska, Texas Tech, Washington State |
| 15 | Florida State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Syracuse, Virginia Tech |
| 14 | Arizona, Arkansas, Boston College, Colorado, Kansas State, Rutgers, Texas |
| 13 | Penn State, Texas A&M |
| 12 | Wake Forest |
| 11 | Arizona State, LSU, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah |
| 10 | Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Iowa State, North Carolina State |
| 9 | California, Duke, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, South Carolina, UCLA, USC, Washington |
| 8 | Baylor, Clemson, Iowa, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss |
| 7 | Northwestern, Purdue |
| 6 | Virginia, Wisconsin |
| 5 | Miami (Fla.), Ohio State, Pittsburgh |
| 1 | Stanford |
I told the caller that I had just heard Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy tell the campers at The Down and Dirty Linemen Camp that their parents, coaches, and teachers were not their best friends or buddies. Their jobs are to guide, formulate and help produce development and being a buddy isn’t the answer. He told them they would understand better when they were older and saw the other side of it.
I constantly hear him tell his players at Oklahoma State, heard him tell them when my son was a player, that he and the staff would be really happy if any of them made it in the NFL, but they would be even happier if they left the OSU program ready to be good citizens and employees, good husbands, and good fathers. He tells them that is what they are working as hard or harder to get done as they are the football.
That could be good lip service, but I’ve been watching this too long to not believe it is a built-in part of the Cowboy culture.
I wonder if the Oklahoma State administration has looked at this. I certainly hope that incoming athletic director Chad Weiberg takes note. This is a big positive.