This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The season after Kevin Nixon transferred from Northwestern University, his photo appeared during an ESPN telecast alongside shots of three other members of his Wildcat freshman class as Dick Vitale labeled them traitors.
Turns out, those guys were ahead of their time. In the quarter-century since Nixon moved to BYU (via Utah Valley, then a junior college), transferring has become standard practice in college basketball.
ESPN.com began tracking transfers from the country's 351 Division I programs 10 years ago. The annual number has climbed from about 200 to 700 in that time. The trend is growing even faster lately, thanks partly to the NCAA's allowing graduate students to play immediately at their next schools. And there's no stopping this stuff, because everybody's playing along.
"In a sense, it's the world that we're playing in right now, so we're going to try and make the most of it," said UVU coach Mark Pope.
Counting six graduate transfers, Utah's six Division I schools have lost 20 men's basketball players since November. That number accounts for nearly one-third of their scholarship athletes in 2015-16, with seniors subtracted.
The turnover included what amounted to a three-team, in-state trade that sent David Collette from Utah State to Utah and Brekkott Chapman from Utah to Weber State — with the Aggies getting nothing. BYU's Jordan Chatman established an unofficial NCAA record by graduating with three years of eligibility remaining and moving to Boston College, where he can play in 2016-17 and practically earn a doctorate degree by the time he's through playing.
Utah and USU have lost five players each, beginning with Collette's departure from Logan in November, just prior to the season opener. That volume is somewhere between highly alarming and easily rationalized. "Kids take stock in their futures at the end of every season," said USU coach Tim Duryea, summarizing the three latest departures.
Duryea gets more exasperated about the graduate transfer rule that will enable forward Lew Evans to play next season for Tennessee — his fourth school, counting a junior college. The NCAA is rewarding graduation, but nothing is forcing athletes to genuinely pursue graduate degrees. That's violating the spirit of the rule.
Utah's losses are partly offset by the arrivals of Collette and SMU transfer Sedric Barefield. BYU is replacing Chatman with Houston grad transfer L.J. Rose, moving to this third four-year school. Utah Valley has sustained some losses but will benefit from three transfers who now are eligible after sitting out last season.
"We have a lot of people at this university who are second-chance people, in all different walks of life," Pope said. "Sometimes things haven't gone right or they didn't perform well and they've learned and been humbled and they're ready to take on a new challenge. I think it can be really a great match."
Pope hardly could decry transferring, knowing the story of a player who once was unhappy about his coach being fired at Washington, so he transferred to Kentucky and won a national championship 20 years ago. That's right, Mark Pope.
Nixon thrived at BYU, playing for two NCAA Tournament teams. His former Northwestern teammates including Rex Walters, who led Kansas to the 1993 Final Four (after beating Nixon's Cougars in the second round), also succeeded at other schools. They overcame a stigma about transferring that no longer exists. "Back in the day," Nixon said, "where you went to school is kind of where you [stayed]."
So what's changed? As Nixon fielded that question, it didn't escape him that he was standing on a court after the AAU team of 15-year-olds he coaches had just finished practicing. The culture of entitlement created by traveling teams is part of the answer, with everyone telling players how good they are, breeding impatience once they get to college.
"I think there's times when kids hit adversity and should try to fight through it," Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak told The Tribune's Kyle Goon.
Then again, college coaches sometimes make too many promises to recruits. They also encourage some players to leave and create openings that allow them to upgrade their rosters. Coaching changes can contribute to the upheaval, as with Southern Utah this year. Even though Duryea was promoted from a USU assistant's role, most of the players who left had expected to play for Stew Morrill, who retired after the 2014-15 season.
And at UVU, two ex-BYU players have joined Pope, a former Cougar assistant. "I loved him at BYU; I love him even more here," said forward Isaac Neilson, who redshirted last season. "It's really nice to be able to find a coach that has a lot of trust in you. That's what's nice about transferring, just being able to have a fresh start. … Now that I'm here, I kind of see why I left BYU. I love it here, just a lot more. I feel a lot more accepted, loved and cared for. Not like they didn't treat me like that at BYU, [but] I'm just part of a program that's building. I love the growth that we have and where it's going to go."
UVU's journey includes a 5-mile trip to the Marriott Center, where Neilson will return this season as a Wolverine.
Twitter: @tribkurt Revolving door
Players who have transferred out of or into Utah's Division I basketball programs, during or after the 2015-16 season:
Outgoing
Player Former school Next school
Henry Bolton III Utah State South Carolina-Aiken
*Cory Calvert BYU TBD
Brekkott Chapman Utah Weber State
*Jordan Chatman BYU Boston College
*David Collette Utah State Utah
*Lew Evans Utah State Tennessee
*Konner Frey Utah Valley Montana State
*Hayes Garrity Utah Valley Idaho State
*Dayon Goodman Utah Valley Westminster
*A.J. Hess Southern Utah South Dakota State
*Jeremiah Jefferson Weber State Iowa Western JC
Elston Jones Utah State TBD
Trey Kennedy Southern Utah TBD
*Makol Mawien Utah New Mexico JC
Daniel Melinfonwu Southern Utah TBD
John Middleton Utah State Valparaiso
*Brandon Miller Utah Dixie State
*Chris Reyes Utah Pepperdine
Jake Toolson BYU Utah Valley
Isaiah Wright Utah San Diego
Incoming
Player Former school Current school
*Sedrick Barefield SMU Utah
Jadon Cohee Seattle Southern Utah
*L.J. Rose Houston BYU
* — eligible for all of part of the 2016-17 season
Source: ESPN.com