The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

It did for me… just like free agency was feared to mess up the NFL.

It’s hard to follow the players now.
Your thoughts?

Discuss

Thats where I'm at. The advantage that schools like ODU had in the past is the ability to retain players for 4-5 years and develop them. Can't do that when you're turning over the roster every season.

It is making me turn more to pro sports for general interest. ODU will always be my number 1 team, but the transfer portal and NIL has definitely drained a lot of the fun out of it. The roster turnover and having guys coming in a simply buying your best players every year really sucks. At least in pro sports there are salary caps, limited free agency, contracts and a draft. Theres none of that in college sports. Then again, seeing how FAU turned their fortunes around in a few years gives me hope that with the right leadership, maybe ODU still has a chance to do great things.

No. Just a yearly thing and learn a new team.

Killed is too strong. The shot clock, 3 point shot, TV money, letting freshmen play, NCAA not caring about players graduating, NBA age 19 rule and conference realignment had similarly huge impacts but the sport survived.

Getting rid of the unique quirks is supposed to broaden the audience but what happens is that the sport just turns into an inferior pro league so why wouldn't we just watch the actual pros. I follow ODU and literally no one else.

(07-26-2023 11:43 AM)Stat Geek Wrote:  No. Just a yearly thing and learn a new team.

Agree. Although as a fan I prefer the old ways, I do understand how unfair that can be to the student-athlete who is being forced to make very important choices at a very young age.

I'll just view it as reshuffling the deck and being dealt a new hand. Not my preference, but there is at least a level of new interest in seeing what we've been dealt.

It hasn't killed it, but it has certainly diminished my level of interest and enjoyment. I can remember listening to ODU football while on a trip to Ireland. Now, knowing far fewer players, I'd probably just skip it.

The Transfer Portal killed football too. I guess the good news is SEC and other Power teams are complaining about it. It seems everyone is saying change the rule so when a player transfers, they lose their immediately eligibility and have to sit out a year. I think this alone will significantly decrease the number of players entering the transfer portal each time a player doesn't get their way at X program. What made it really sickening was the poaching.

I think this whole sense of entitlement the kids have in 2023 is what's killing everything. I remember when I was kid, my first job was at Popeye's making 5.75 an hour back in 2002. The kids now think they should be making as much as a CEO at age 18.

It will never kill the sport, but it does make it alot less enjoyable. Part of the joy of college sports is connecting with the players, and player staying at one place long enough to become legendary. Just can't do that now.

For example, we love Ali Jennings beating VT. Now he is VT.

(07-27-2023 03:08 PM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  It will never kill the sport, but it does make it alot less enjoyable. Part of the joy of college sports is connecting with the players, and player staying at one place long enough to become legendary. Just can't do that now.

For example, we love Ali Jennings beating VT. Now he is VT.

But without the portal, he's still at WVU and we don't have him to help us beat VT.

(07-27-2023 03:08 PM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  It will never kill the sport, but it does make it alot less enjoyable. Part of the joy of college sports is connecting with the players, and player staying at one place long enough to become legendary. Just can't do that now.

For example, we love Ali Jennings beating VT. Now he is VT.

Jennings always had the free agent mindset. Those guys come and go. My personal thought is about Byron Leftwich. When will another top 10 draft pick spend 4 years at Marshall or similar? I’m not an expert but it seems like the NFL draft is very concentrated toward the SEC the last decade.

(07-27-2023 04:28 PM)ODU2017 Wrote:  

(07-27-2023 03:08 PM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  It will never kill the sport, but it does make it alot less enjoyable. Part of the joy of college sports is connecting with the players, and player staying at one place long enough to become legendary. Just can't do that now.

For example, we love Ali Jennings beating VT. Now he is VT.

Jennings always had the free agent mindset. Those guys come and go. My personal thought is about Byron Leftwich. When will another top 10 draft pick spend 4 years at Marshall or similar? I’m not an expert but it seems like the NFL draft is very concentrated toward the SEC the last decade.

Yep. Or Marcus Camby at UMass.

(07-27-2023 03:25 PM)Monarchist13 Wrote:  

(07-27-2023 03:08 PM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  It will never kill the sport, but it does make it alot less enjoyable. Part of the joy of college sports is connecting with the players, and player staying at one place long enough to become legendary. Just can't do that now.

For example, we love Ali Jennings beating VT. Now he is VT.

But without the portal, he's still at WVU and we don't have him to help us beat VT.

True. But the point still stands that the fan's connection to the team suffers.

Sorry. I should’ve said “killing” instead of Killed in my title.

False. Jeff Jones killed college basketball.

Without the portal we dont get kids like Jenkins, Ceaser, etc. While it hurts to lose players, we also benefit by getting players in.

(07-31-2023 10:22 AM)Stat Geek Wrote:  Without the portal we dont get kids like Jenkins, Ceaser, etc. While it hurts to lose players, we also benefit by getting players in.

True, but the game isn't as enjoyable when you can't connect long term with individual players. Hodge, Lee, Hassell, Bazemore, etc. may have only stayed a short time. It also hurts players like Ezikpe, who can be sold a boll of goods by a higher program only to flounder.

In short, the game was better when players honored their commitments, transferring only under penalty.

(07-31-2023 11:56 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  

(07-31-2023 10:22 AM)Stat Geek Wrote:  Without the portal we dont get kids like Jenkins, Ceaser, etc. While it hurts to lose players, we also benefit by getting players in.

True, but the game isn't as enjoyable when you can't connect long term with individual players. Hodge, Lee, Hassell, Bazemore, etc. may have only stayed a short time. It also hurts players like Ezikpe, who can be sold a boll of goods by a higher program only to flounder.

In short, the game was better when players honored their commitments, transferring only under penalty.

Ezikpe grad transferred. He could have done that under the old model as well.

(07-31-2023 11:56 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  

(07-31-2023 10:22 AM)Stat Geek Wrote:  Without the portal we dont get kids like Jenkins, Ceaser, etc. While it hurts to lose players, we also benefit by getting players in.

True, but the game isn't as enjoyable when you can't connect long term with individual players. Hodge, Lee, Hassell, Bazemore, etc. may have only stayed a short time. It also hurts players like Ezikpe, who can be sold a boll of goods by a higher program only to flounder.

In short, the game was better when players honored their commitments, transferring only under penalty.

Thats fine for you to have the opinion you have.

Jenkins will likely be with us for 3 full years. This is Imo's 3rd full year. This will be Wade's 6th year here. Obviously others are multi-year that may turn into 3-4 years.

I don't really agree that you can connect "long term" with 4 year guys but you cannot connect "long term" with 3 year guys. There are always going to be situations with players coming and going but people focus to heavily on players leaving. Even Mekhi was here for 3 years. Ezikpe was here for 4 years. He seemed to enjoy his time at Cincy and it appears the process worked for him.

Some fans seem to have an idealistic vision that players should play for the love of the game only. If that is really what we want then we can have that at Division III. D-III players are legitimate amateurs. At our level, players consider themselves professionals and they are looking for money and exposure. Would you stick with an employer for four years if you could earn more elsewhere? These kids are not indentured servants.

That said, I think we need to implement contract law into athletic compensation to crush tampering and keep players on multi year agreements. What we can’t do is pretend that at DI, players would not try to maximize the opportunities given by the only four years of eligibility they will ever get.