This month, I’m going to digress and give attention to the “portal” that is now prevalent in college athletics.

First, I have to give a history lesson on the NCAA (National Association of College Athletics) and the rules of enforcement. When I was a player in the sixties, and at that time in division I and II, freshman basketball, football and other sports were not allowed to play on the varsity until they were sophomores. Thus, there was Wilt Chamberlain, 7-foot-2 on the freshman squad, beating the pants off the Kansas Jayhawk Varsity in scrimmage after scrimmage. If a player, say, went to Duke and did not like the program, he could transfer to another four-year school, but would have to sit out a year with three years of eligibility still left. The scholarships to these division I, II programs were room, board, tuition, books and $15 a month laundry money. These athletes were not supposed to get paid money under the table, but many did at the time. If they were caught, they would forfeit their scholarships.

I was a young coach at the time, 25 years old, going to clinic after clinic to learn how to coach basketball by coaches like Jack Kraft, Villenova; John Wooden, UCLA; Bob Knight, Indiana; Mike Krzyzewski, Duke; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; and Al McGuire, Marquette.

Besides the knowledge I got from these coaches, I learned a big lesson, namely no one can win without talent. Recruiting was the name of the game. Coaches subscribed to a national magazine that listed the top 200 players in the country for division I and II. The rules were strict, but somewhat ridiculous at times, like putting a school on probation because some kid from the inner city didn’t have a way home for his father’s funeral. I never cared for the NCAA, because they were selective who they would put on probation, based on the monetary gains they could get from the top 25 division I programs. For a long time, they ruled with an iron fist, ready to put whoever was on probation at the drop of a hat.

In the meantime, these schools were making thousands of dollars and the kids were getting very little. In 1977, Marquette University was under McGuire. He spoke at Binghamton, at the Holiday Inn and told us, “These schools are making thousands of dollars off the backs of 19-year-old kids, and I feel that we should pay players for their efforts like any other business.” There was a gasp in the room of 500 basketball coaches, because this was blasphemy toward the NCAA. Within reason, many of us young coaches agreed with Coach Al. The older coaches, not so much, even though many of them were cheating under the table by offering bags of money, tractors, homes and jobs to parents to have their kid come to their school.

So this was how the NCAA controlled basketball schools for over 30 to 40 years. In an anti-trust case, it was ruled that players in division I, II, could now use NIL – name, image and likeness to say, sell their jerseys or autographs. This was after Michael Jordan was at North Carolina and would have made a fortune for his NIL stuff. So you are probably asking yourself why is Coach Tramuta upset at this? The answer is simple.

Enter the “portal” or collective bargaining or anti-trust exemption. Players now cannot only use their name, image and likeness to make money, but also sell their talents to the school that pays them the most money. And if they have a good year and another school wants them, they enter their name in the portal and go to the next school if they choose. When I went to Fredonia State University and played four years of basketball from 1961 to 1965, I was a student athlete. If we went to Potsdam and Plattsburgh for the weekend, on Sunday when I returned, Ms. Barbara Pollichek, my biology teacher, would leave the lab door open and I would have three hours of lab work. At Fredonia, I got the greatest education from teachers like Chabe, Roselle, Mikalak, Zarlock, Kasling, Miga, Putt, DeFazio and Connelly. Those were men who wanted you to be successful, but used “tough love” to guide you.

So, why am I upset? Since the inception of the portal, some of these guys, not so much the girls, have been to five or six schools for one reason or another. If a kid doesn’t like his coach or feels he can get more money elsewhere, he simply puts his name into the portal. I’m for college players on that level getting paid, to a point. When a school pays a quarterback $4 million to come and play quarterback, it becomes irrational to me that this is no longer a student-athlete, but an athlete with little restrictions.

Free player movement, in my opinion, needs to be eliminated and a salary cap put on what an athlete is paid. Free player involvement allows contract negotiations and valuable player leverage (highest bidder) every semester. However, if there is only one free transfer, there is one big payday. With many, many less jackpots, the bloated market will eventually correct itself. In this way, you’re not eliminating a player’s ability to earn, but it becomes up to a player when he can use his one free transfer and maximize his earning ability, instead of entering the portal every semester. If he uses his one free transfer, he has a decision to make: sit out for more money or play and wait for the NBA, NFL or NHL.

This restriction would need a leader like Coach Lou Saban or somebody who will live up to what’s best for 19- to 23 year-olds. Some of these kids with great ability have never been told “no” by their parents, and coaches, college alumni, and so on. Older coaches like I mentioned have retired rather than have to face a 19-year-old running back who is coming to his school to make money and not necessarily learn the ideas that may get him into the NFL or an education and degree if he doesn’t make it.

When I worked at the five-star basketball camp in the 1970s, I’ll never forget the demonstration by John Thompson, coach of Georgetown basketball and the great player Allen Iverson. He took two basketballs in front of 250 kids and said, “This ball will bounce up. The other one is flat and will stay on the ground. If you put all your eggs in one basket making the NBA and your ball doesn’t come up, what are you going to do with the rest of your life?’

Thought for the month. “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” Muhammad Ali

Mike Tramuta is a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy counselor. He can be reached at 716-983-1592