By Andy Walter

DOVER — A coach’s role can change instantly in this age of college athletics.

One minute, a player can be an important member of a team — one that a coaching staff worked hard to recruit and develop.

But the next minute, if that player enters the NCAA Transfer Portal, coaches from other schools are calling to ask about signing them.

“I’ve started getting the calls,’” said Delaware State men’s basketball coach Stan Waterman. “‘What do you think about this one?’ and ‘What do you think about that one?’ and ‘What’s happening with this guy and that guy?’

“To be honest, initially, my first reaction was, man, you start to take it even personally a little bit and say, ‘Is there something else we could be doing?’

“But very quickly I came to the reality — as I looked around and saw what was happening with programs at every level across the country — that this is the way of college basketball now with the portal and NIL and all the other things that factor in. If we have any kind of success, I can almost guarantee that our top two players are going to be poached.”

At the moment, the Hornets have four players in the portal. Delaware has three.

After already having standout forward Jyare Davis put his name in the portal, the Blue Hens had another starter, Gerald Drumgoole Jr., reportedly add his name to the portal on Monday. Drumgoole spent only one season at Delaware, which was his third school in five seasons.

“You spend so much time with these kids,” Delaware coach Martin Ingelsby said about losing players. “You give them a great platform and you kind of help them grow into men. Then, when they leave, it’s just a hard one to overcome sometimes.

“I kind of get numb to it a little bit too since we’ve lost so many. We’re just going to find ways to reload and keep building — keep re-establishing our program like we have.”

UD coach Martin Ingelsby has lost players and brought some in through the transfer portal. University of Delaware Athletics photo

DSU lost second-team All-MEAC pick Jevin Muniz, who was only a sophomore.

On the other hand, Waterman got some good news when senior All-MEAC guard Martaz Robinson told him he plans to stay at DelState. Robinson was previously reported to be in the portal but Waterman said he actually wasn’t.

“We’re doing everything we can to keep him,” said Waterman.

Open for business

The NCAA shortened the basketball portal window from 60 to 45 days this year. The window opened on March 18 and won’t close until May 1.

That’s still a fairly long time for players to change their minds — one way or another.

What’s happening at Delaware State and Delaware seems to be typical for Division I mid-major programs. The website verbalcommits.com reports over 1,200 players currently in the portal.

The Hens’ CAA rival, Charleston, has eight players in the portal after winning the league title and then having its head coach, Pat Kelsey, hired at Louisville.

“Our conference has gotten crushed,” said Ingelsby. “Crushed, with the amount of kids that have left.”

The Hornets’ MEAC rival, UMES, also has eight players in the portal after a 9-20 campaign.

While college players have always transferred for what they see as bigger and better programs, the NCAA’s decision to allow players to be paid for NIL (name, likeness and image) adds one more big reason for players to look elsewhere.

Booster groups, known as collectives, now pay athletes what amounts to a salary. The group isn’t part of the school but raises money for specific programs.

Delaware works with the ‘Blue Hen Collective, which was started in the summer of 2023. Delaware State doesn’t have an official collective affiliation.

The trouble with NIL money is that, while it’s legal, nobody knows for sure how much players are getting and how much collectives are giving out.

That means players don’t know what they’re worth until they enter the portal — and schools only have an educated guess what they’re recruiting against.

“It’s still on a case-by-case basis,” said Waterman. “Not many people are going to honestly look at you and say, ‘Hey, yeah, I’m following the money.’ They’re going to say I want to play at a higher level or they might start talking about what you don’t have or what you don’t offer.

“Many careers have ended right there in the portal, too. You get in there and the grass is not as green on that other side. I’ve heard stories that kids have been promised things and they leave and it doesn’t happen. In many ways, it is a mystery.”

“That data is not out there,” said Ingelsby. “Sometimes, are you bidding against yourself? I don’t know. It’s really challenging to understand what the numbers are.”

Ingelsby calls the portal and NIL money “kind of a double whammy.” At this time of year, coaches are never sure what the next phone call might bring.

“I think you always have to be on your toes,” said Ingelsby. “You can get a text from a kid, ‘Hey Coach, can I talk?’ You’re preparing yourself with what’s coming and it’s just kind of a revolving door of roster management.

“The student-athletes hold the cards and they can make that decision whenever they want in that (portal) window.”

Delaware State's Martaz Robinson goes in for an underhand layup against Coppin State on Saturday. SPECIAL TO THE DAILY STATE NEWS/GARY EMEIGH

Two-way street

Of course, both the Hornets and Hens are scouting the portal for players to fill out their own rosters. In some cases, they’re looking for players they’ve already recruited out of high school.

DelState has reportedly offered a scholarship to Robert Smith, a junior shooting guard from Division II West Chester.

One thing that was clear this season was that certain transfers from lower divisions can play at the major-college level.

Oakland’s Jack Gohlke, who netted 32 points in an NCAA Tournament upset of Kentucky, was a Division II transfer.

“You’ve really got to do your homework,” said Waterman. “And it’s also important that you don’t burn bridges and you have great relationships. Some of these kids are on the second time around.”

Ingelsby said recruiting in the portal is “like speed dating.”

“It’s got to be quick,” he said. “You’re in, you’re out. You kind of get left behind if you’re not making quick decisions in this thing.”

Ingelsby knows the current system is the way it is.

Coaches can’t really fight it. They have to adapt to it if they’re going to be successful.

“I’m proud of the experiences that we’ve given all the kids that have been in our program that have left,” said Ingelsby. “We’ve treated them well.

“Probably, in the moment, they know Coach Ingelsby is a little disappointed. But, hey, they’ve got to do what’s best for themselves and their family. I get that and I respect that. But a lot of those guys I would have loved to have coached another year or two.”

The bottom line is that, at least for the foreseeable future, this transfer-portal period is going to become the time where next year’s college seasons are made or broken.

Waterman said the average mid-major coach can probably count on losing four or five players every year.

“You’ve got to plan for the unexpected or the surprise,” he said. “I heard a couple really successful coaches talk about the program-building days, where you could get a guy and hope to keep him for four years and build and grow with that guy, are gone.

“Now there’s the potential to have a new roster almost every year. The portal becomes that much more of a factor and recruiting becomes that much more important to your success in many ways.”