[Nurdyguy]

I think you nailed it. Until the Stanford Administration is forced to adapt to the new NIL era by embracing upperclassmen and graduate transfers as all the other successful programs do, I see no hope for our success in revenue sports. 

What did you mean by your choice of words "is forced to adapt"?

BC

What I mean is that Stanford's revenue sports have so far resigned themselves to accept that reloading with talented upperclassmen and grad transfers in the portal is somehow not the Stanford way, thus tying at least one hand behind the coaches' backs. By forced to adapt, I mean that I hope the Stanford Administration will eventually be forced to recognize that their hostility toward the portal is killing their revenue sports and the careers of the coaches who have been forced to do more with less, and the Stanford Administration will be thus forced to adapt their approach to the portal, allowing necessary upperclassmen and graduate reloads, to save Stanford revenue sports performance.

The grad transfer problem looks the least solvable to my eyes. A lot of programs only have a handful of spots, and it doesn’t seem feasible to manufacture a spot for an athlete in many cases. In addition we have smart athletes who are much more likely to graduate in 3 years vs. most college athletes. So it’s a double whammy.

Coaching can be fixed.
NIL can be fixed.
To a degree, admissions maybe still can be eased. Maybe.

But I don’t see a solution for the grad transfer issue, or the you need to be at a certain academic level to make it at Stanford.

You're right that Stanford's inability to reload through transfers like other teams will probably never be solved, but not because it's universally impossible. It's because our Stanford Administration is making a conscious choice to keep making it difficult to bring in the upper-class and graduate transfers that Stanford's revenue sports need to compete. We have an idealistic view that we will just build through freshmen, which sounds noble, but is not realistic in the transfer era. We impose extra transfer restrictions on ourselves, and I don't mean just grades. The other schools we compete against find a way to provide the graduate slots their teams need, and Stanford could do that, too, if we had the will.  When Stanford WBB lost Lauren Betts, we brought in no portal transfers. Then, we only brought in Tess Heal and Mary Ashley Stevenson when we lost Kiki, and no transfers in when we lost Tess and Jzaniya. UCLA transferred in Lauren Betts, Jania Barker, Timea Gardiner, Charlisse Leger-Walker, and Gina Kneepkens during that same timeframe, and we all know what TCU has done. They're killing it in the NCAA tournament. We're in the WBIT.

Even the best coaches must be able to reload with quality upper-class and graduate players in the portal in revenue sports, so I don't think Stanford will be able to get back to prominence or attract good coaches who care about their careers until our Stanford Administration eliminates its hostility to transfers. And that hostility to transfers is a conscious choice that our Stanford Administration continues to make...and something they could change, but they won't unless someone forces them.

[Nurdyguy]

I think you nailed it. Until the Stanford Administration is forced to adapt to the new NIL era by embracing upperclassmen and graduate transfers as all the other successful programs do, I see no hope for our success in revenue sports. 

What did you mean by your choice of words "is forced to adapt"?

BC

What I mean is that Stanford's revenue sports have so far resigned themselves to accept that reloading with talented upperclassmen and grad transfers in the portal is somehow not the Stanford way, thus tying at least one hand behind the coaches' backs. By forced to adapt, I mean that I hope the Stanford Administration will eventually be forced to recognize that their hostility toward the portal is killing their revenue sports and the careers of the coaches who have been forced to do more with less, and the Stanford Administration will be thus forced to adapt their approach to the portal, allowing necessary upperclassmen and graduate reloads, to save Stanford revenue sports performance.

The grad transfer problem looks the least solvable to my eyes. A lot of programs only have a handful of spots, and it doesn’t seem feasible to manufacture a spot for an athlete in many cases. In addition we have smart athletes who are much more likely to graduate in 3 years vs. most college athletes. So it’s a double whammy.

Coaching can be fixed.
NIL can be fixed.
To a degree, admissions maybe still can be eased. Maybe.

But I don’t see a solution for the grad transfer issue, or the you need to be at a certain academic level to make it at Stanford.

You're right that Stanford's inability to reload through transfers like other teams will probably never be solved, but not because it's universally impossible. It's because our Stanford Administration is making a conscious choice to keep making it difficult to bring in the upper-class and graduate transfers that Stanford's revenue sports need to compete. We have an idealistic view that we will just build through freshmen, which sounds noble, but is not realistic in the transfer era. We impose extra transfer restrictions on ourselves, and I don't mean just grades. The other schools we compete against find a way to provide the graduate slots their teams need, and Stanford could do that, too, if we had the will.  When Stanford WBB lost Lauren Betts, we brought in no portal transfers. Then, we only brought in Tess Heal and Mary Ashley Stevenson when we lost Kiki, and no transfers in when we lost Tess and Jzaniya. UCLA transferred in Lauren Betts, Jania Barker, Timea Gardiner, Charlisse Leger-Walker, and Gina Kneepkens during that same timeframe, and we all know what TCU has done. They're killing it in the NCAA tournament. We're in the WBIT.

Even the best coaches must be able to reload with quality upper-class and graduate players in the portal in revenue sports, so I don't think Stanford will be able to get back to prominence or attract good coaches who care about their careers until our Stanford Administration eliminates its hostility to transfers. And that hostility to transfers is a conscious choice that our Stanford Administration continues to make...and something they could change, but they won't unless someone forces them.