EAST LANSING – Mark Dantonio was in his final season as a head coach when the NCAA’s transfer portal went live.
It was, in reality, nothing more than a centralized online database for athletes looking to connect with coaches at other schools for new opportunities.
Now six years later, the portal has completely transformed college athletics. Add unlimited transfers, athletes profiting from their name, image and likeness and revenue sharing at $20.5 million a year.
When Dantonio retired following the 2019 season as Michigan State’s all-time winningest coach, real change came to college football. The sport remains fundamentally the same on the field but with a completely different set of challenges off it.
“I’d would have adapted, I would have adapted,” Dantonio said Friday night while ad