Fran McCaffery talks about dealing with NCAA transfer portal
He refers to current situation as free agency
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Not since the NCAA adopted the 3-point line in 1986 has anything come close to impacting men’s college basketball more than the transfer portal.
Fran McCaffery called the current situation in which players can transfer with basically no restrictions “free agency,” and he thinks it’s awful that some schools are restocking or rebuilding their rosters through the portal rather than by recruiting high school players.
“I talked to a friend of mine yesterday and he lost three of his best players and he just signed five guys out of the portal,” McCaffery said without identifying the head coach. “He’ said to me, ‘it’s like putting an AAU team together.’ And he’s expecting to do that every year, and a lot of coaches are.
“So it will change so much. How we build our program. It will change things for the fan base that really enjoys watching a player come in as a freshman and continue to get better.”
And though he feels this way about the transfer portal, McCaffery still has to play the game.
He can’t afford to ignore the portal, or take a stand against it, because that would put Iowa at a major disadvantage from a competitive standpoint.
Iowa has a huge void on the frontline that has to be filled now that 6-foot-11 center Luka Garza has moved on as the most decorated player in program history, and as Iowa’s all-time leading scorer.
McCaffery also has to replace 6-11 Jack Nunge who will transfer to Xavier after having been a Hawkeye for four seasons.
So in Iowa’s case, the transfer portal could prove to be very helpful in the search for a post player, or for any player.
Because shift to Iowa’s backcourt, and there also is uncertainty, but in these cases, the transfer portal isn’t to blame.
Joe Wieskamp seems to be leaning heavily towards entering the 2021 NBA Draft as a junior, and Fran McCaffery confirmed Wednesday that the 6-foot-6 Wieskamp will test the NBA draft process this spring for the second time in three seasons at Iowa.
But until Wieskamp makes his decision official, his status for next season is uncertain.
It’s the same with senior point guard Jordan Bohannon, who is considering returning for a sixth season despite having gone through the Senior Day ceremony with Garza.
Bohannon has the option of returning due to the impact from the global pandemic as the NCAA gave student-athletes across the board a free year of participation, allowing them to return next season with eligibility.
But should Bohannon choose to return as one of the most statistically accomplished point guards in program history, how would that impact Joe Toussaint’s decision about returning for a third season as a likely backup at point guard?
And how would McCaffery explain it to Toussaint, who played behind Bohannon in each of the past two seasons?
Toussaint probably figured he’d be in position to start at point guard next season, with freshman Ahron Ulis competing with him for playing time.

But all of that would change if Bohannon returns.
“What you tell any of your players at any point in time, you tell them the truth,” McCaffery said when asked what he’d tell the players who would be impacted the most by Bohannon returning next season. “They’re smart guys. They came here with the expectation that certain players would leave at a certain time. Well, they may not. But at the same time, every one of those guys got an extra year of eligibility as well.
“So it’s just a different scenario that we’re all faced with and we’ll get through it. We understand it. We understand that’s it’s an adjustment. It’s not exactly how everybody pictured it. But my hope is, eventually, it will kind of get back to normal. But in the short run, this is where we’re at.”
Fran McCaffery said Wednesday that he expects Bohannon to make a decision soon, and in some ways, Bohannon owes McCaffery a quick decision, because the longer he takes, the harder it will be for McCaffery to set his roster for next season.
McCaffery already has added a big piece to the frontline for next season with 6-11 Iowa recruit Riley Mulvey reclassifying to the 2021 class. Mulvey will join a frontline that includes 6-11 Josh Ogundele, whose ability still is sort of a mystery after he played sparingly this past season as freshman while battling health issues.
McCaffery also recently held a virtual meeting with 6-9 North Dakota transfer Filip Rebraca.
So the wheels are turning, but the situation is fluid to say the least.
Iowa was thought to be a contender for Liam Robbins, but the 7-0 Davenport native, who played this past season at Minnesota, and his first two seasons at Drake, announced that he will transfer to Vanderbilt where his uncle is expected to be hired as an assistant coach.
It’s important to remember that this is a unique circumstance due to the pandemic. Student-athletes are taking advantage of the freedom to play right away, and to transfer with basically no restrictions.
It won’t always be this easy to transfer, but the portal has changed big-time college sports, perhaps forever.
Some will say for the better, while others will say for the worse.
The NCAA is on the verge of passing a new rule that will allow student-athletes to transfer once during a career without having to sit out a season.
But for now, it’s the wild, wild west and players are coming and going at a pace in which keeping track of the portal is a challenge. There currently are more than 1,000 players in the portal, and it seems likely that one or two will end up playing for Iowa.
Players also are transferring from within the conference, and that could create some awkward situations next season.
For example, former Penn State point guard Jamari Wheeler has announced that he will transfer to Ohio State for next season.
“I’m not surprised,” McCaffery said of players transferring within a conference. “Basically, we have free agency. So free agency is free agency.”