I know they’ve done at least the Northern California version, but I think they’re publicizing it more. I went to San Jose a couple times. One year, London Breed (alum) showed at the SF event

I signed up for the Sac stop. Should be fun.

This is great, and this is how you build relationships, get people to come after work or at lunch locally, and just talk ball with the current head coach.

Here are the coaches that will be on this tour:

This is a much bigger outreach than in the past. Unfortunately I’m out of the country during the San Jose/SF dates

Let us know how the event was and what the coaches had to say, agalum.

Will do.

My wife and I attended the event last night. It was a long day for us, the coaches event from 4-6 followed by an election party that went late bc of slow returns.
Scott Marsh was the MC. It was a small event, maybe 15-20 not including the athletic staff and coaches. It was held at the CBRE office just west of the capitol. It had to be the best view in Sacramento hosted by a former Aggie basketball player.
It was a great opportunity to visit with the coaches. Then each coach addressed the gathering outlining where they were at and future plans. I was itching to ask Hawk about the QB situation but he beat me to it. Briefly, the starter has not emerged. In Hawk fashion, he talked about student athletes and the big picture in developing them to be their best. He talked about former players in the pros. Then he addressed the emerging NIL situation and how that will affect recruiting for all teams.
Coach Les talked about the portal but did say he farmed it for 4 players that he expects will be impact players for us. BTW, I’ve never had a chance to personally visit with him before. My wife and I really enjoyed chatting with him and found him to be very gracious.
Tracy Hamm (soccer) and Tommy Nicholson (baseball) were both totally impressive. I hope we can keep both for a long time. They are certainly going places.
Coach Jen didn’t make it.

Thanks for the report, agalum. My wife and I were thinking of going but then I got my second Covid booster yesterday morning and felt like crap later that afternoon. I hope the small turnout won't stop them from doing this again next year.

Can you say a little more about what the coaches had to say about how they felt the transfer portal was going to affect programs like us and recruiting? Did they articulate any pros and cons?

My wife and I met Coach Les a couple of years ago and, like you, were very impressed with him. He's very personable and genuine to talk to.

Both Coach Les and Hawk addressed the portal briefly. Les did comment on the pros and cons. The pro being ,(and I am really paraphrasing to remember exactly how he outlined it), to bring in players that he normally would not have access to. The big con being bringing in players that have potential, investing in them and developing them into division 1 athletes, then loosing them to one of the big schools. But both coaches I thought were upbeat about that issue and the emerging NIL. The take home message for me was that all the schools are dealing with the same issues and basically be prepared to deal with it.

I feel essentially the same as the coaches about the transfer portal. I recently read some comments by college basketball commentator and analyst, Dick Vitale, and he was very critical about the elimination of the rule that required an athlete to sit out a year when transferring from one D1 school to another D1. He felt that the transfer portal, as it is now, would pretty much devastate the mid-major programs since the smaller programs often find and develop kids that the big programs aren't interested in and then eventually lose them to the power programs once those players have been developed and noticed. He said the big, major programs would be happy to let the smaller schools develop kids and then go after them. The rich get richer....seems to be the American way in just about everything nowadays including college athletics.

I think the transfer portal will ultimately be a mixed bag.

Yes, there are definitely going to be instances where a small school finds a develops a player only to see them leave. But in a way, isn't that a good thing? If a player is a late developer for whatever reason, isn't it a good thing for them to be able to develop more and a potentially quicker rate? We're trying to benefit the athlete right?

At the same time, there might be more instances where a player is more willing to transfer to a school that is a better fit. There were always a number of athletes willing to transfer anyway while sitting out a year, like Corey Hawkins or Joe Harden. But there might be more now who are willing to if they don't have to sit out a year.

This is a one time thing too, which I like. So the athlete essentially gets a mulligan. Want to transfer a second time? Now you have to sit out a year/burn your redshirt year if you haven't done so already. I like this since it's not like the player is just signing one year deals where they can change schools each year.

So for every program that gets hit because they signed a lightly recruited guy out of high school only to have him blossom and leave, you're going to have another one that benefits from signing guys who didn't pan out at bigger schools. We let coaches sign a bunch of players under (at least partially) the guise of playing for that specific coach only to allow the coach to just leave whenever they want to without sitting out a year. Players should be afforded the same option, at least to some extent.

Those are all valid points, cmt, and, as you have pointed out, there are a lot of positives regarding the transfer portal for the athletes as well. I especially like that an athlete can make a change without penalty when the "fit" at a school isn't working out for them and for players who simply want to play somewhere, perhaps a smaller program, where they can play more minutes and not just ride the bench.

I think the point that Dick Vitale was making was that it's easier now for the power programs to "poach" players from smaller schools who have taken the time and energy to develop players who were off the radar of the big programs. Of course, the NCAA rules prohibit schools from contacting players until they officially enter the portal but I think we'd be naive to believe that elite players from smaller schools are not being contacted "through the grapevine" in a myriad of ways before they decide to enter the portal. Sure, it's a good opportunity for those players in many ways but not so good for the smaller schools who are trying to grow the prominence of their programs.

See: Ms. Yanez.

Counterpoint is someone like Eliot Vallejo, of course.

Regarding Brooke Yanez:

Oregon Ducks softball ace pitcher Brooke Yanez announced via Twitter that she will miss the entire 2022 season due to injury.

It’s a big blow for the Ducks. Yanez was one of the best pitchers in the country last season. The first-team all-conference hurler was 22-6 and posted a 2.11 earned run average a year ago.

The transfer from UC-Davis was going to be a fifth-year senior this season, but it’s assumed she will receive a medical redshirt and Yanez says she will be ready to go for the 2023 season.

https://goducks.com/sports/softball/roster/brooke-yanez/10678

Name Image and Likeness is just a different act; that will keep the top programs on top and gap the poorer programs. Unlike the NFL and revenue sharing the top programs use money to create moats and walls to keep other programs from being their peers.

DOh! :(

Like with most things, there are definitely some negatives that come along with the transfer portal. We just have to evaluate whether the positives outweigh the negatives. Personally, I think they do. But I also understand why some might not be so fond of it or have their doubts about it.

NIL collectives seem to me as just a pay to play contract funded by alums and boosters. Seems to me that there may not be a real “market” for many recruits (e.g., name or image on a legitimate product as advertising for that product to boost sales) but simply the value a player might bring towards the goal of a national championship or league championship - which the alums and boosters will gladly fund. Seems to me NIL will tempt many forms of money laundering and schemes (see Luckin coffee of China for example).

Only good thing I have seen about it so far is the entertaining feud between Sabin and Jimbo Fisher. The Fisher video is a must see.