Pat Narduzzi blasts Deion Sanders' transfer portal tactics: 'You don't kick them out'

There was a mass exodus in Boulder after Colorado‘s first spring game under new head coach Deion Sanders, with over 50 players entering the transfer portal during the offseason. The player movement drew a ton of questions, that was until Sanders revealed that roster cleanse was an intentional move on his end with the intent to bring in new players to replace his lost ones.

Several former players spoke out on the situation, explaining that they were essentially advised by Sanders and his staff to enter the transfer portal and no longer be a part of the program. There’s no doubt that Coach Prime’s methods morseo resemble an NFL franchise rather than a college program, and Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi gave his perspective on the situation in a recent interview with 247Sports’ Brandon Marcello at ACC media days last week.

“That’s not the way it’s meant to be,” Narduzzi said. “That’s not what the (transfer portal) rule intended to be. It was not to overhaul your roster. We’ll see how it works out but that, to me, looks bad on college football coaches across the country. The reflection is on one guy right now but when you look at it overall — those kids that have moms and dads and brothers and sisters and goals in life — I don’t know how many of those 70 that left really wanted to leave or they were kicked in the butt to get out.”

It’s clear that Narduzzi does not align with Sanders’ methods, which are somewhat unprecedented in the college football space.

Unless a player gets in trouble off of the field or does not maintain the necessary academic standing with the university, a scholarship college athlete typically cannot and will not be kicked off of or cut from a team based on their performance on the field. Sanders has essentially abandoned that principle, which Narduzzi related to his first season as the Pitt’s head coach.

“I grew up in a profession that you can’t tell a guy that he has to leave based on athletic ability. I think he’ll be shocked that he probably had some pretty good football players in that room. When I got to Pitt back in 2015, I didn’t kick anybody off. Zero. Those are your guys. When you become a head coach you inherit that team and you coach that team. If someone wants to leave, that’s great. You don’t kick them out. I disagree with that whole process. That’s not why I got in the game,” Narduzzi said.

A new head coach typically is given some time to establish their new culture and recruit players of their liking as they transition to taking the reins over of a new program. But Sanders chose the fast track instead, expediting the process in a way that traditional college football figures like Narduzzi will likely always disagree with.

At the moment Sanders’ roster management tactics have received no push back from the NCAA, and it will interesting in the future to see if the trend continues for first-year head coaches in the new transfer portal era.