A Positive Side of the Transfer Portal

One of the main themes of the 2025 offseason has been the transfer portal. Frankly, it was a huge talking point last year. It will be for the foreseeable future in college wrestling (and college athletics, in general). With old-school wrestling fans, mentioning the transfer portal tends to elicit uneasy feelings and a desire to return to the “old days,” when you could project a team’s lineup in April because you knew who they had coming into school, who they had graduating, and who was returning. 

Now, with the portal, a lineup could be remade in an offseason. Oklahoma State added three multi-time All-Americans in the 2024 offseason and went from tenth place at nationals to third in Philly. 

Rumors of six-figure deals have been commonplace and agreements/pressure to enter the transfer portal have been viewed as “the cost of doing business” in this era. When a friend of a particular program educates an athlete on what he/she might be able to earn after a transfer, it isn’t coming from the coaching staff so it may not technically be a violation. 

In general, the transfer portal can be a dirty business and not necessarily fun for the veteran fan. But today, I want to discuss the other side of the transfer portal. That other side, a more positive side, has been evident from the way Chattanooga has been conducting business these past few months. 

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