Transfer culture from youth//HS ball flowing UP into college

I think the trend is down from adults to youth to college (searching for better jobs/situations to telling our kids they deserve the same)

College transfers don’t bother me one bit

My question is, how many people “stuck it out” in college football spots 10-15-20 years ago that turned out to be bad spots for them. Undoubtedly it has increased but I’d be curious to see that.

Transfer restrictions were put in a long time ago to stop the "tramp athlete" (Google it) that was prevalent during the infancy of Intercollegiate Athletics and to try to foster fair competition and preserve the ideal of amateur athletics.

Perhaps those exist only at the D-III level anymore.

Yes, that's why I said "Perhaps."

I coached for five years at one of the latter. 

Kids have always shopped around / transferred schools or teams to better themselves (sometimes real other times not). The difference in this generation is social media and the very public online recruiting process plays a huge role in this.

The kids and the adults are all guilty as sin on this one.

Kids: many are looking for greener pastures. They all think "if I was at (insert school name) then I will have a better shot at getting to (insert next level here)" So in turn the kid and his parents use twitter, Instagram, HUDL, etc to market themselves. example: twitter.com/dannymcmullen15?lang=en
This kid plays for us, wicked kid, hard worker, everything you could want in a kid. We have a glut at the QB spot he will be a G12 next year, his counterpart started for our SR team as a G10, is arguably a much better player, except he has a different skill set, shorter, much quicker, throws well on the run and very cool under pressure. The kid in the link hasn't started a game at QB since grade 8 or 9.. But has played a ton of 7v7. He would certainly have had a shot to play for us next year. He and his parents decided to go the prep school route. We have had a few kids do this we are a Canadian school and parents often see USA prep schools as a vehicle to the NCAA (not 1 kid from our school has made the jump). We play in a league where kids from our opponents have gone NCAA, 2 enter the NFL draft this year. I know for some of you that is normal but in Canada this is far from the norm. I do not blame this kid for testing the waters, his reality is:"stay and play for my coach who opens the weight room every day at 7am and have a shot to start but maybe not or go to the USA prep school and play 2 more seasons, where their coaches are saying I'm the next Jesus".

Adults: there is a special place in hell for these dudes. At the HS level they prey on these kids and their families, parents take out second mortages in hopes their kid will make it. These adults troll social media, HUDL accounts and use some of the contacts they have developed over the years searching for "players". The sad thing here is when prep school coach hits up a guy they know who is training HS football players, trainer guy pumps the tires of his kids because trainer guy thinks he may get a job one day. Prep school or recrutuing school coach is playing a short term game. In many cases the mindset is if I win here I get a better gig somewhere else.

As I mentioned I have had a good number of kids do this, to all of them I have said to the parents the somethings:
1) If you think this game is about recruiting, getting your shot above all else then I failed you as a coach
2) The best thing would be for you to get a NCAA scholarship, the worst thing would be to end up at a Canadian University having paid for half a degree already, the most catastrophic thing would be an injury that would end your career and or blowing apart your academic progress

I have not had a single kid make it, at some point a kid will make it and good on them they better get me some tickets to a bowl game! But I have had 2 boys come back to play at Universities in Canada and 1 who sadly suffered a horrific knee injury and will never play again.

The transfer rule works for everybody. The player who is 4th string and unhappy?
 The Hc has better player lined up for his scholarship in recruiting. And it works for schools. Just because you are available doesn’t mean we want you. And just because the school contacts the player doesn’t mean the player wants the school.

I absolutely agree with it.  No problems at all.  

It seems that the portal process has made it easier for athletes to explore other options.  Of course, it goes both ways.  Enter the portal, and the program doesn't need to take you back. 

That would support my theory that some of this is because the kids enjoy being pursued. 

That's why I said I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that argument. It's kind of like communism. It sounds good on paper, but doesn't always work out in practice. 

Not trying to spark a political debate. Just a former history teacher giving an analogy.

No doubt. I just meant it's all fine and good to be "pro-player" and give them their right to want out of their situation. But it seems that many of the guys in the portal are getting bad advice because like you said, the stars will get their's.

And I also don't feel sorry for the player in the article. He had offers to play DB, but wanted to be a WR. Give up one scholarship and pass up a few more because you think you know better. That is why many coaches detest the portal because they believe there is some sort of character flaw with the guys in it. In this case, he may be a good, hard working, and responsible father, but he sounds like a turd of a player who thought he knew better. He found out the hard way.