Think Before You Transfer!

Do you Really Want to Transfer? Don’t Make a Mistake You Might Regret

By Chris Russo|Updated on June 27, 2023 (originally published on July 28, 2022)

When you first commit to a school, you're on cloud nine. You are very excited about your school of choice and you should be–after all, the reason you made this decision is because you think this school is the best fit for you. Of course, you don't know how everything will play out in the long run because you haven't played with the team or seen what the coach is really like during the season. If after time goes by and you barely played any minutes throughout the year, you may think to yourself “This wasn't fun. I am better than this and want to play more. I need to transfer.” But there are other reasons too.

Transferring may seem like a quick fix out of a bad situation, but transferring is a long process that some athletes regret. The goal of your transfer will differ from person to person. Some transfer for more playing time while others do it for academic reasons. You will also see people leave because the coach ruined the sport for them or it could be a financial problem.

If you are transferring, you want to find a school that you will be happier at. Your main priority should always be your academics so that is one of the first things you should look for in other schools. Every team has a GPA requirement and you don't want to not play because you didn't have high enough grades. So make sure you look at the curriculum and classes you would have to take to see if you will succeed in them. If you are looking for more playing time you need to look at the roster of the team and see how many students are graduating and see how well they did the year before. If they were a successful team, your chances of playing a lot of minutes decrease compared to if they were a team that performed poorly. Some people will transfer because the coach took the love out of the game for them. This would be a personal decision if you want to keep playing or not at another school, but if you do you should use websites like 2aDays to see the ratings of the coach.

Tom Brady, the greatest football player to ever play the game, didn't start until he was a junior at Michigan. Before you transfer, think about how much you want to play in your future. If you don't want to go professional or not be on a highly competitive team, then maybe transferring is for you. But if these are things you are looking for then take a hard deep thought into this because you don't want to regret it. You only get one transfer in your time as a college athlete so you want to be somewhere where you can get better and still be a factor, even if it takes time.