WHAT’S BROKE AND NEEDS FIXING. I’m going to say the NCAA portal system is broke and needs fixing. The unregulated movement of players from one institution of higher learning to another is creating havoc throughout intercollegiate athletics especially when it’s seems like the only reason is to sell your unique set of skills to the highest bidder. Sadly, that mercenary perception is becoming reality in a plethora of situations.

Let me make this crystal clear. I have no reservations about a player moving from one school to another for a better deal. That is the true definition of capitalism. Get paid what the market will allow.

I also must say immediately that this optic isn’t shared by everyone. On one hand, the schools want to put in place at least some guardrails to quell the unrestricted movement of their athletes. On the other hand, players want the ability to have unpenalized free movement and constantly use the example of coaches moving from university to university with no restrictions. A conundrum for sure and, if you don't know what that means, take a few seconds to look it up. I promise I'll wait for you.

As you know if you read my column or listened to my video posts, when I point out a situation with a confusing or difficult problem that’s broke I always provide the fix so here’s my scenario.

First, limit the use of the transfer portal to one free movement during a time of a players eligibility. An example would be that a player could transfer from Clemson to Georgia and be able to compete immediately. That keeps the student athletes, and it’s brutally difficult to write or say those two words without losing it completely in our play for pay era, happy and well healed financially.

Second, if a player has used their one unrestricted use of the transfer portal and, for whatever reason, wants to change institutions of higher learning, that would trigger a one year waiting period from the first day of enrolling in their new college before that player is eligible to compete. An example here would be a player who’s home is California and starts his collegiate career at UCLA and transfers to Auburn but now wants to come back home to San Diego State. That move would be allowed but the player must sit out one full year from the time of their enrollment at SDSU before donning the Red & Black of the Aztecs.

I believe this keeps everyone happy. Players can take advantage of the transfer portal once without penalty. Universities now will be able to have some level of continuity with players already wearing their specific school colors.

This will definitely not stop players from transferring for whatever reason. What it will do is put a major parameter on what is now collegiate free agent movement where a player could possibly compete for four and maybe more collegiate athletic programs during their tenure of eligibility.

The big question an athlete would have then is what Homecoming Game they would attend. My advice is make sure you’re wearing the right letterman jacket with the correct school logo and colors. A mistake like that would be a tad embarrassing to say the least and you would become instant social media fodder for the internet assassins that hide behind an alias.

In closing, the NCAA wants to stuff this genie back in the bottle but that's not happening. First rule of negotiations is NEVER give up something you already fought hard to get. The players have lots of leverage in this scenario but the don't know. That's the basis for another column in the future.

Book it Dano!