Since the news that Elliot Cadeau and Jalen Washington will be entering the transfer portal, the University's student body has been full of opinions on the matter. Only the modern portal could turn a player like Cadeau — a sophomore who made the most of the minutes he got and cheered from the bench for every made basket — feel as if it's time to find a new home.
The modern transfer portal opens up for about 30 days in March for basketball, and has two periods in the fall and spring for football, both equaling up to 35 days for players. With the recent changes in NIL agreements, they can make a considerable amount of money by moving to programs with a greater endowment for their athletic department.
It has not always been about money; even now money is only a small factor in how the transfer portal has been tearing away at college sports for the last few years. Initially, the portal served to help collegiate athletes move from schools they did not feel a connection with, sitting out a year in exchange. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA eliminated this rule, allowing first-time transfers to become immediately eligible. And in 2024, it ratified a rule that would allow players to transfer as many times as they want with no limits. These new rules were attempts to make the game better for the players at the expense of the sport.
Ostensibly these players are benefitting; being allowed to move freely and make the most of their “peak” athletic years can be beneficial for student-athletes. While this may be true in some cases, the openness of the portal leaves many athletes without a home. In 2023, only 45 percent of transfers found a new school, leaving the other thousands of players' educational and sporting futures at risk.
Whatever opinion you may have on some of our players leaving during this window, they were still Tar Heels, once playing their hearts out for our beloved university. So many fanbases hold their breath when that clock strikes twelve, hoping their favorite players don’t open their phones to announce that they will be looking to play elsewhere, and honestly — who can blame them? The portal encourages this: the drama, the suspense and ultimately the demise of passion.
What good does it do to get a superstar who cares not at all for the school, but for the money and the chance of reaching the pros? I struggle to sit and watch these superhuman athletes play when I know they are incentivized to care less and less for the name on their shirt.
I like to think back to the golden age of passionate athletes, the Marcus Paiges and the Tyler Hansbroughs, who fought with all they had for the North Carolina across their chest. There was something so special about those types of athletes, who turned down better deals and better situations to have another real chance at bringing their school glory.
What made this golden age so special? The simple fact that these guys were fighting for something more than themselves, a team, a university and a loyal fanbase. You can say what you want about the current state of our teams and even others dealing with the ripples of the modern transfer portal, but you can tell when someone wants to be where they are — that's where the real passion for sport lies.
As long as players can benefit from such a system the portal will stay failing fanbases. I do see a future where NIL and the transfer portal work for the game and not just the player, but how this will come about I am unsure. All we can do is sit and hope that our athletes stay to inspire that ever–fleeting hope in our fanbases.
