Transfers Are Ruining Bowl Season, Arkansas HC Laments Considering His Team Situation
As college football’s postseason approaches, there’s growing concern among coaches, players, and fans about the impact of the transfer portal on bowl season. One of the loudest voices to raise alarms has come from Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman, who recently lamented the effect the portal is having on his team’s ability to field a competitive squad for their bowl game. With the advent of the transfer portal allowing players to switch teams more freely, the landscape of college football is changing, and Pittman believes that it’s leading to a situation where bowl games are no longer the prestigious events they once were.
The transfer portal, which allows players to leave one program and join another without sitting out a year, has fundamentally altered college football. While it offers players more freedom and flexibility, it has also created an environment where teams, especially those involved in postseason games, are dealing with a significant amount of turnover in their rosters. Coaches like Pittman are facing the reality that players who have committed to their teams for years may not be available for crucial bowl games due to transfer decisions made in the weeks leading up to the postseason.
Sam Pittman’s frustration with the impact of the transfer portal is rooted in the practical challenges it creates for his team. As he prepares for Arkansas’s bowl game, Pittman has been vocal about the disruption caused by players leaving the program for other opportunities. While the transfer portal has created opportunities for players to find better fits for their talents, it also forces coaches to deal with last-minute roster changes that can severely affect team chemistry and preparation.
In a press conference, Pittman shared his thoughts on how the portal has disrupted the bowl season for Arkansas. “I’m not against the transfer portal—players should have the freedom to make decisions for their future,” Pittman said. “But it’s hard to prepare for a bowl game when you’re not sure who will be on your roster by the time we take the field. The timing of these decisions, right before the bowl game, makes it difficult for us as coaches to put our best team out there.”
Pittman’s concerns are valid. For teams like Arkansas, whose players may have the option to transfer before bowl season, the uncertainty about who will stay and who will leave can create a significant disruption. Key players in important positions may decide to enter the portal, leaving the coaching staff scrambling to adjust their game plans and replace key contributors at the last minute. This situation isn’t just frustrating for the coaches but also for the fans, who expect to see the teams they’ve followed throughout the season in their bowl matchups.
The rise of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals, combined with the increasing influence of the transfer portal, has led to a shift in how players view bowl games. Many players now see bowl games as an opportunity to showcase their talents for future opportunities, whether that’s entering the NFL draft or transferring to a program that can offer them more exposure, playing time, or financial benefits through NIL deals. As a result, some players are choosing to opt out of bowl games altogether to avoid injury or to secure their future prospects. This decision, once rare, has now become a common occurrence, and it’s further exacerbating the challenges for teams heading into postseason play.
For Arkansas, the decision by some players to enter the portal or skip the bowl game altogether means that the team could face the postseason without key contributors. Pittman’s frustration stems from this sense of unpredictability. “It’s hard to get excited for a bowl game when you don’t know if your top guys are going to be available or not,” he explained. “We’re preparing for a game, but we have to do so without knowing the full extent of our roster. It’s a tough situation.”
This issue is not isolated to Arkansas. Coaches across the country are facing similar dilemmas, with some teams seeing key players leave for the portal or declare for the NFL draft just days before bowl season begins. This has led to a situation where bowl games, once a celebration of the season and a reward for hard work, now feel more like exhibitions where teams are playing with incomplete rosters.
Pittman’s lament about the state of bowl season is part of a larger conversation about the growing influence of the transfer portal and NIL in college football. While these changes have given players more agency, they have also created a sense of instability for teams that are trying to maintain continuity. The transfer portal’s timing, especially in the weeks leading up to bowl games, has made it harder for teams to prepare for postseason play, affecting the quality of the matchups and the overall excitement of bowl season.
The integrity of bowl games has also been called into question. With rosters in flux, the matchups that were once seen as a culmination of the season now feel like mismatched exhibitions, with teams playing with different personnel than what fans saw during the regular season. This creates an uneven playing field, where some teams are better prepared than others.
Bowl games used to be a showcase for the sport, an opportunity for teams to close out their seasons with pride and a chance for underclassmen to shine on a national stage. But with the ongoing changes in college football, those traditions are being disrupted. Coaches like Sam Pittman, who are trying to keep their teams focused and prepared, are having to adapt to a new reality—one in which the landscape is constantly shifting, and the excitement surrounding bowl games is being undermined by the uncertainty of player movements.
Pittman’s frustrations highlight a need for balance in the current college football landscape. While player freedom is important, there must be a way to ensure that teams are able to compete in bowl games with the players who helped them reach that point. The timing of the transfer portal could be adjusted, and perhaps players who enter the portal should be encouraged to wait until after the postseason to make decisions about their future. This could help restore some of the integrity and excitement of bowl season, allowing teams to compete at their best and give fans the thrilling matchups they expect.
In the end, the changes to college football are here to stay, but finding a way to preserve the significance of bowl games while respecting player autonomy will be crucial for the future of the sport. Until then, coaches like Sam Pittman will continue to navigate this challenging new reality, hoping to field competitive teams despite the disruptions caused by the transfer portal.