Portal, not so much NIL, having major impact on juco hoops

There has been no shortage of stories published regarding the implementation of the new NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) philosophy within intercollegiate athletics over the past couple of seasons. However, recently-hired Gulf State Community College men’s basketball coach, and Advance native, Lane Below, said in his four years of coaching at the junior college level, the NIL isn’t a major issue.

“The NIL really hasn’t impacted us at all,” Below said. “Nobody is really doing that at this level to my knowledge. There may be a few places that are doing it, but I don’t think that is really anything at this level.”

Below was announced as the new men’s coach at Gulf State on Monday, as was Robert Kirby at Three Rivers College, where both he and Below played to start their college careers.

Below spent the past two seasons at highly successful Chipola College in Florida, where he helped the Indians win consecutive Panhandle Conference Championships, 2024 Region VIII Champions, and made its third consecutive National Tournament appearance, where the Indians advanced to the Sweet 16 at the National Tournament.

Prior to his stint at Chipola, Below spent two seasons as an assistant at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, and during his young career, he has seen an impact made by the transfer portal, which allows college players the opportunity to move to new schools on an annual basis.

“The transfer portal definitely has,” Below said of making an impact on his job. “When they passed the rule where guys could transfer unlimited times, that really impacted junior colleges.”

Below explained that in years past, when players were required to sit out a season when transferring to the same or higher level, players would often utilize a junior college program for a season of competition, as opposed to sitting out a year. That enabled places like Three Rivers or Gulf State to get athletes from high-major NCAA Division I programs, who maybe didn’t like their current situation or didn’t play well enough to compete at that level.

“Maybe a guy went to LSU (for example) his freshman year,” Below explained, “and it is really hard to get on the floor in his first year. He’d like to transfer after that year, and guys don’t want to sit out. Going to a top juco and playing for a year, and then getting re-recruited, and he wouldn’t sit out a year.

“Now, they can transfer as much as they want, so (junior colleges) don’t really get the higher level ‘bounce back’ guys.”

That isn’t to say no NCAA Division I guys will end up in Poplar Bluff or Panama City with Below, but it will be more mid- to low-major caliber signees.

“I think we signed four or five (NCAA Division I) guys last year at Chipola,” Below said.

Three Rivers signed former Chicago State player Faheim Meran last summer, and the 6-foot-5 guard started 28 games this past season for the Raiders.

For this reason, Below said he still develops relationships with prospects, even at the highest levels, because you never know what their plans will be in the future.

“What I do is reach out to guys in the portal,” Below said, “who are freshmen or redshirt freshmen, who didn’t put up any numbers, or not great numbers, and introduce yourself.

“Everybody wants to go Division I, I get that, but (sometimes) in a month or two months, they’ll circle back and they’re ready to talk then.

“We’ll still sign Division I transfers, but (the new eligibility rules) have definitely impacted our recruiting.”