- Joined
- Jul 4, 2012
- Messages
- 1,661
- Reaction Score
- 2,455
Behind the scenes work starts in January, not April.
Pre-portal work is becoming prevalent with third parties. Oftentimes agents, advisors or family friends are lining up potential destinations for their players long before their name ever appears in the transfer portal.
"You'll call a kid and it's like, 'Hey, how's it going?'" Colorado College coach Kris Mayotte said. "Then, the next day, they're committed somewhere. It's like, 'You went in... yesterday.' It's pretty obvious what's going on."
The most common method of operation is this: A player will inform his agent he's unhappy with his current situation. The agent, in turn, calls a bunch of programs and asks if they'd be interested in this particular player if he hit the portal. The agent then reports back to the player what his options will look like. Then, the player decides whether or not to jump in the portal.
It's so prevalent that one coach told the Herald: "If you see a top player go in the portal and you haven't gotten a call on him yet, you're out."
"They're the puppeteers," Miami coach Chris Bergeron said. "They're doing everything. Unfortunately, I think the portal is starting in January. It's happening. That's through the agent and not the kid. I don't think people are going to the kid in January. I think people are going through the agent, or the agent is going to other schools and saying, 'Johnny's not happy at A.'
"It's happening in January, not April. I think (agents) are playing a huge role and I'll leave it at that."
"Almost everyone goes in (to the portal) knowing that they have something waiting — at least the kids that are choosing to go in," Mayotte said. "If a team puts someone in, that's a completely different story. That's where it might be open and there might actually be a recruiting process. But when the kid decides to go in, he's not walking away from a scholarship just to see what's out there."
"There are several categories of transfers," Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler said. "There's the guy who goes in who already has his place through his agent. We weren't in on any of those guys. Our transfers were guys who went into the portal with somewhat openness. I don't think they're open to 64 teams. But they're open to a category of teams. Then, we had to win a recruiting battle. That's where we got into the portal.
"Yes, the agents are involved. 'Would you be interested in him?' Those kinds of things. And they're able to be involved. It's beneficial to us and beneficial to the kid to see what opportunities are out there. I would say the top players already have a destination before they go in. I won't bring up names, but yes, the second the name hit the portal, I contact the players and they said they already had a place to play."
Pioneers coach David Carle said he did receive calls from third parties floating players who could go into the portal.
"Our phone rings a lot, asking, 'Hey, would you be interested in so-and-so? Would you be interested in this type of player?'" Carle said. "We chose not to recruit anybody out of the portal. We didn't get involved with anyone and attempt to recruit them, but every year is different."
"You're almost a GM now as much as you're a coach," Omaha coach Mike Gabinet said. "It doubles the workload. I don't know if it's what we all signed up for, but it's the reality of the current environment. Nowadays, you're not just watching available guys, you have to have a good understanding of everybody, because you don't know who is going to be in the portal at any given time. It definitely has expanded your scope of knowledge."
The last team to win an NCAA national title without a transfer on the roster was 2016 North Dakota. The last team to win a national title without a transfer playing a central role was 2017 Denver.
www.grandforksherald.com
Pre-portal work is becoming prevalent with third parties. Oftentimes agents, advisors or family friends are lining up potential destinations for their players long before their name ever appears in the transfer portal.
"You'll call a kid and it's like, 'Hey, how's it going?'" Colorado College coach Kris Mayotte said. "Then, the next day, they're committed somewhere. It's like, 'You went in... yesterday.' It's pretty obvious what's going on."
The most common method of operation is this: A player will inform his agent he's unhappy with his current situation. The agent, in turn, calls a bunch of programs and asks if they'd be interested in this particular player if he hit the portal. The agent then reports back to the player what his options will look like. Then, the player decides whether or not to jump in the portal.
It's so prevalent that one coach told the Herald: "If you see a top player go in the portal and you haven't gotten a call on him yet, you're out."
"They're the puppeteers," Miami coach Chris Bergeron said. "They're doing everything. Unfortunately, I think the portal is starting in January. It's happening. That's through the agent and not the kid. I don't think people are going to the kid in January. I think people are going through the agent, or the agent is going to other schools and saying, 'Johnny's not happy at A.'
"It's happening in January, not April. I think (agents) are playing a huge role and I'll leave it at that."
"Almost everyone goes in (to the portal) knowing that they have something waiting — at least the kids that are choosing to go in," Mayotte said. "If a team puts someone in, that's a completely different story. That's where it might be open and there might actually be a recruiting process. But when the kid decides to go in, he's not walking away from a scholarship just to see what's out there."
"There are several categories of transfers," Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler said. "There's the guy who goes in who already has his place through his agent. We weren't in on any of those guys. Our transfers were guys who went into the portal with somewhat openness. I don't think they're open to 64 teams. But they're open to a category of teams. Then, we had to win a recruiting battle. That's where we got into the portal.
"Yes, the agents are involved. 'Would you be interested in him?' Those kinds of things. And they're able to be involved. It's beneficial to us and beneficial to the kid to see what opportunities are out there. I would say the top players already have a destination before they go in. I won't bring up names, but yes, the second the name hit the portal, I contact the players and they said they already had a place to play."
Pioneers coach David Carle said he did receive calls from third parties floating players who could go into the portal.
"Our phone rings a lot, asking, 'Hey, would you be interested in so-and-so? Would you be interested in this type of player?'" Carle said. "We chose not to recruit anybody out of the portal. We didn't get involved with anyone and attempt to recruit them, but every year is different."
"You're almost a GM now as much as you're a coach," Omaha coach Mike Gabinet said. "It doubles the workload. I don't know if it's what we all signed up for, but it's the reality of the current environment. Nowadays, you're not just watching available guys, you have to have a good understanding of everybody, because you don't know who is going to be in the portal at any given time. It definitely has expanded your scope of knowledge."
The last team to win an NCAA national title without a transfer on the roster was 2016 North Dakota. The last team to win a national title without a transfer playing a central role was 2017 Denver.
Hockey transfer portal action begins long before you may think
Agents and third parties are playing a large role behind the scenes.
