Tom Izzo calls transfer portal ‘way worse’ for college basketball than NIL

Since the NIL era began, Tom Izzo hasn’t been shy about his thoughts on the state of college sports. He has also been vocal about the transfer portal’s impact on college basketball and reiterated that this week.

Speaking with CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, Izzo said the portal is “way worse” for college basketball because of the amount of tampering he sees. He called back to his comments in March when the transfer window opened ahead of the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament when he called out players getting messages during the season.

SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter

Izzo also agreed with Arkansas coach John Calipari’s sentiment regarding a one-time transfer rule. That, he argued, would help cut down on concerns coaches have about tampering.

“I said the transfer portal is way worse than the NIL even though, who knows how much money you have to come up with?” Izzo said. “What the transfer portal does is it gives a lot of middlemen a chance to come in. And what I think is bothering me and my sport the most is the way people are tampering with people throughout the year. [A one-time transfer rule] would eliminate some of that.

“Even in the NFL, NBA, you don’t tamper with a guy who’s got a four-year contract. You don’t even think about it.”

Tom Izzo calls out ‘dirtbags that are tampering’

Last year, the transfer portal opened as teams were making their preparations for the Sweet Sixteen. Michigan State was one of those teams, and Tom Izzo gave a passionate response about having college basketball’s version of “free agency” take place during the season.

But he also argued the portal doesn’t “close,” per se, during the year because of the interest players get while with their current program. Izzo said that’s what stands out the most about the state of college basketball and reiterated how a one-time transfer rule could play a role in settling things at least a bit.

“I went on that rant during the NCAA tournament last year about, why is all the interest now on the portal when it opened?” Izzo said. “I said, the portal has been open since September. The portal never closes because we have too many dirtbags that are tampering with people and players. I love when my guys have an NBA agent. It’s the other agents that kill you.

“I love when people are upfront. But I think the worst thing I see is the tampering, believe it or not, and I think one-time transfer would help that.”