Change is hard, and as the business of college sport grows, some are more reluctant than others to adjust.
It’s certainly the case for Tom Izzo, the longest-tenured coach in the Big Ten Conference and vocal critic of the transfer portal. The Michigan State men’s basketball head coach appeared on Jon Rothstein’s “Inside College Basketball Now” podcast Thursday and held firm on his anti-portal stance. Izzo first gained attention for his feelings about the portal during last season’s NCAA Tournament.
“The transfer portal is way worse than the NIL,” Izzo said.
Tom Izzo agrees with John Calipari.
College Basketball would be stabilized if players were only allowed to transfer one time without sitting out.
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— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 21, 2025
Izzo confirmed to Rothstein he “definitely would” support a transfer portal-stabilizing rule change, like the one championed by Arkansas’ John Calipari. The Razorbacks head coach wants players to be able to transfer once without penalty (sitting out) after leaving their original program. Any subsequent transfers would require the athlete to sit out.
“What we’ve got to get in check is the transfer rules,” Calipari said in a press conference July 12. “I think kids should be able to transfer. I don’t have any issue with that. Once, without penalty.”
The Spartans’ head coach, entering his 30th year with the program, thinks a one-time transfer rule would help abate the increased tampering with college athletes.
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“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. And that would eliminate some of that,” Izzo said. “Right now, the portal never closes, because we have too many dirt bags that are tampering with people and players.”
