Opinions vary. I'll give you the Caliendo situation. Do I agree with the transfer portal, no. In my opinion all it has done is create feeder programs out of the smaller D1 schools. Larger D1 schools have the resources to offer larger NIL deals to get top recruits. Smaller D1 schools rely on diamonds in the rough making a breakthrough. Could also be a situation where a kid doesn't have the grades, etc to get in to a top academic school. Then there is the kid who wants to stay close to home/help build a program. However, I'm sure there were teams/coaches/donors who reached out to guys like Nassir Bailey last year, or will be contacting a guy like Zan Fuggit this year.
If I was a head coach would I want to rely on the transfer portal every year to field 1/3 of my lineup, no. But in todays world, that could be a reality. Not throwing shade at Iowa but using them as an example, they lose their 49,57, and 97 next year. Estrada could be their 49/57 next year, but I'm sure they're exploring the portal for a 49/57 and a 97. Could also be looking at 25/33 depending on what Ayala does. Again, do I agree with using the portal to field a team, no. Did it work out for them? Some would say yes since they got themselves a team trophy however they got 0 points from Teemer and I think 1 from Parco. Buchanan obviously carried the workload. They could have similar results next year if they bring AJ back in.
I can't stress enough that I do not agree with it, but if it works out for them again and they become a top team in the country (earning a team trophy), that would be 3 years in a row being top 5 with roughly 1/3 of their team made up of transfers (including Caliendo which we already talked about above). Is their goal to be top 5, no. Should that be any of the top teams goal? No. But if a team like Little Rock finished top 5 it would be celebrated. I get it, thats probably a bad comparison, but I think you understand what I'm saying.
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