For four years, college coaches and administrators have lamented the “wild, wild West” nature of the transfer portal, with athletes hopping from school to school in search of more money, more playing time or a better fit. Now, some universities are invoking a new threat to keep their players: Leave, and you’ll owe us money.

Programs are chasing that kind of leverage under the assumption that they will soon be in a position to directly sign athletes to NIL deals without having to depend on outside collectives or individual donors to make arrangements. They would gain that ability with the landmark House v. NCAA settlement, which would permit schools to share as much as $20.5 million in revenue with their athletes in the next school year if the settlement is approved by a federal judge in California. A hearing is scheduled for April 7.

Many schools during the recent winter portal cycle used that anticipated revenue to make school-funded NIL deals that would go into effect only if the House settlement is approved. The Athletic reviewed redacted copies or was briefed on the terms of several Power 4 schools’ proposed or finalized contracts, which were shared on the condition of anonymity due to the private nature of the contracts.

While there is no such thing as a standardized NIL contract, all contained language intended to deter the player from entering the portal.

“You’re seeing some stuff similar to coaching contracts with the buyout language in there,” said agent Joe Hernandez of Just Win Management Group. “Which is something that you wouldn’t really see in an NFL player-team contract.”

One Big 12 school required the athlete to pay a buyout equal to 50 percent of his remaining compensation if he transferred before the end of the deal’s term. An ACC school required the athlete to pay back 100 percent of his earnings if he transferred before Jan. 31, 2026.

One Big Ten player’s contract, based on a suggested template the conference sent to all of its members, requires the athlete to pay liquidated damages in the event he transfers. Another defers two-thirds of the athlete’s payments for the coming season until the end of January — after the winter portal window closes.

“They can’t stop players from moving from school to school,” said NIL attorney Mit Winter. “But the buyout clause is an attempt to limit that by making the player have to pay back money to the school if they want to get out of that contract.”

Shane Burnham, a former FBS defensive line coach who is now director of football for Ascension Sports Consulting, said he recently reviewed the contract of a player who signed with an ACC school in January. The deal included a clause where the player would have to forfeit 50 percent of the money he’d received if he entered the portal in April.

“It’s predatory what these schools are doing,” Burnham said.

Industry sources say the practice did not become prevalent until the most recent transfer portal cycle, when programs’ general managers began negotiating NIL contracts directly. In the past, schools were more mindful of maintaining separation between the school and an outside collective, but that’s gone by the wayside with the advent of revenue sharing.

“There’s just so much money,” said Walker Jones, executive director of The Grove Collective, which supports Ole Miss. “It got to the point where collectives and schools felt they had to be protected.”

It remains to be seen whether that protection is realistic.

Wisconsin set the tone for this new era in January when it refused to enter cornerback Xavier Lucas’ name into the transfer portal after Lucas had signed a two-year NIL deal. Lucas still left the program and enrolled at Miami, which Wisconsin subsequently accused of tampering with Lucas.

“A request to enter the transfer portal after entering into such an agreement is inconsistent with the representations and mutual understanding of the agreement and explains the reason for not processing a transfer portal request under these circumstances,” Wisconsin said in a statement, which also hinted at potential legal action. “Under the terms of the agreement between Xavier and Wisconsin Athletics, it remains in effect and enforceable.”

The schools are asserting that these contracts are licensing agreements that don’t make the athletes employees, echoing a red line for the NCAA and universities. They also say that the payments are not for athletes to attend the university or to play for it, even as they try to disincentivize players from leaving.

Several figures interviewed for this story speculated or assumed that schools that sign transfers, rather than the players themselves, would be expected to pick up the tab for a buyout.

“It’s basically a carbon copy of what happens with coaches,” said Winter. “They all have employment contracts that say, ‘You can’t coach anywhere else, but if you want to break the contract, here’s what you have to pay.’ And it’s almost always the new school that pays the buyout.”

In interviews with several athletic directors, football general managers and lawyers, all sounded skeptical that the buyout provisions concerning transferring could actually be enforced.

“Our preference wouldn’t be to be the first school to have to take a kid to court to chase down your $25,000 or $50,000,” said an ACC football administrator. “But … the student-athlete would be aware that, ‘Hey, I signed this contract and if I go in the portal, there’s a chance I might owe this money back.’”

“Theoretically, this kid isn’t getting paid to play still,” said a Big 12 general manager whose program did not include a buyout, “so when push comes to shove, if it gets litigated, you’re not going to win that. Now, I see the advantage of potentially using it as a scare tactic to keep players. They don’t know better. But the second any agent gets involved, they’ll just bypass it.”

“The first team that sues a kid — I’d like to see their next recruiting class,” said a second Big 12 GM.

Three agents told The Athletic they’ve insisted the buyouts be removed or reduced from their clients’ deals. However, many players do not have agents and may be unaware that this is a possibility.

Winter said schools need to be careful not to insist on such a high buyout that it might be deemed a penalty, which a court would not enforce, rather than a reasonable estimate of damages.

Meanwhile, it’s believed that most schools’ NIL contracts this cycle were only one-year deals. (Star quarterbacks may be a notable exception.) If there are buyout clauses, the remaining payments owed might be minimal. Multi-year contracts would make the buyouts more prohibitive and, in theory, decrease roster attrition. But as tempting as it may sound to lock down players, in reality, schools may want their own roster flexibility.

“If there’s a buyout, it’s usually both ways,” said the first Big 12 GM. “So it would limit our freedom to just cut the kid if he doesn’t turn out to be good.”

Which would be especially pronounced at a school with a coaching change. A new football hire will invariably want to bring in “his guys,” but may be stuck with some well-paid underperformers who know they won’t make more elsewhere.

After four years of seemingly never-ending chaos and relentless legal challenges, NCAA president Charlie Baker and others have been hoping the House settlement will bring much-needed stability to the NIL space. Collectives are not likely to disappear — if anything, they may help programs spend more than $20.5 million — but the Power 4 conferences have enlisted Deloitte to serve as a clearinghouse for all deals above $600.

As it pertains to transfers, though, any sense of order does not feel imminent.

“I’m not sure my expectation is that the current revenue sharing contracts will change the (transfer) flow,” said Nebraska AD Troy Dannen. “It hasn’t shown to be that way yet.”

— The Athletic’s Jesse Temple contributed to this report.

(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Alex Slitz / Getty Images, AP Photo / Michael Conroy)

Before she won a couple of WNBA MVP trophies, Candace Parker rose to national basketball prominence at the University of Tennessee. Parker was a member of two national championship-winning teams, earning NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors along the way. 

Parker was guided by coach Pat Summitt during her standout tenure with the Volunteers. Parker, an “NBA on TNT” analyst, took a moment to share how she continues to carry the lessons the late coach instilled in her years ago.

“I would say eye contact is really, really, really important. And she was the first person that made me really truly look at her when she would talk,” Parker responded to co-host Adam Lefkoe’s request to share some memorable advice from Summitt during a “Storytime” segment.

“And so now, when I’m at home, and I’m parenting my son, my son says, ‘Look at me. Look at me.’ Like all the time, because I didn’t realize I say that all the time. She had this crystal blue stare that she could get you to want to run through walls. And so being able to carry out her legacy is truly important,” a tearful Parker added.

2025 NCAA TOURNAMENT PROJECTIONS: UNC AMONG LAST FOUR IN; OHIO STATE DROPS OUT

Summitt died in 2016 of complications from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Tournament MVP Candace Parker of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers hugs head coach Pat Summitt as they celebrate their 59-46 victory against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights to win the 2007 national championship at Quicken Loans Arena April 3, 2007, in Cleveland.  (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Lefkoe thanked Parker and then recalled another story the three-time WNBA champion once told.

“We all wish to have a relationship with somebody the way you did with Pat,” said Lefkoe. “I’ll never forget you telling me the story of how you came into college. You were hurt, and she would just make you sit there. And you guys would talk. I think it is a blessing. I want you to say thank you for sharing these stories with us because we don’t have these relationships like you did. We love you. And to Pat and Pat’s entire family, we love you as well.”

Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Pat Summitt smiles during a halftime ceremony at a 2012 NCAA Final Four game between the Baylor Bears and the Stanford Cardinal at the Pepsi Center. (Ron Chenoy/USA Today Sports)

Parker also serves on the Pat Summitt Foundation’s Board of Directors. The foundation seeks to make advances in Alzheimer’s research.

Summitt is widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history. She won eight national titles during her storied tenure at Tennessee.

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SACRAMENTO — LeBron James’ entrance at Golden 1 Center on Friday night produced a crowd reaction similar to a rock star walking on stage for a concert. Fans began to rise from their seats and shout. Anyone with a camera tried to capture the scene of James, his wife and young daughter walking to their courtside seats to watch son Bryce play for Sierra Canyon against Stockton Lincoln in the state Division I championship game.

James, sidelined because of a groin injury, had another son, Bronny, with the Lakers in Denver, with both games going on simultaneously. It was a fitting ending to James’ six-year run as a Sierra Canyon parent trying to balance his responsibilities as one of the world’s most famous athletes with being the father of two teenage basketball players.

James’ presence helped bring out one of the largest crowds (8,396) for a Friday night state final in years, and Sierra Canyon rallied in the fourth quarter behind Maximo Adams to pull out a 58-53 victory.

Sierra Canyon (27-7) fell behind by four points at halftime after making just one of 13 shots from three-point range. The Trailblazers finally took charge in the fourth quarter when Adams made a three with 1:52 left for a 51-50 lead. The Trailblazers had been three for 23 on three-pointers until that clutch shot.

“My coaches tell me to keep shooting, so why not let it fly,” Adams said.

Then came a Bryce Cofield basket, a three-point play by Adams, plus two more free throws from Adams.

Gavin Hightower finished with 15 points, Adams 14 points, Cofield 11 and Stephen Kankole 10. Donez Lindsey and Anthony Moore each scored 18 points for Lincoln, which felt the officiating favored the Trailblazers, who made 20 of 30 free throws.

“It wasn’t a great flow tonight,” Sierra Canyon coach Andre Chevalier said. “There were a lot of whistles blown.”

Sierra Canyon has been prominent in the Open Division, but Chevalier will take the Division I title.

“This was hard as heck,” he said. “We’re going to hang this banner like it’s the world championship.”

Afterward, Lincoln’s Moore was helped up off the floor when LeBron James gave him a hand.

“That was crazy,” Moore said. “I’ll remember that.”

Chevalier said it was “the best coaching job of my career” after overcoming the loss of players who left, the disruption of the L.A. fires and an early loss to Santa Barbara.

Bryce James finished with three points and the first CIF state title in the family.

Division III

San Gabriel Academy 52, King’s Academy 51: Mahamadou Diop, San Gabriel Academy’s 6-foot-11 sophomore center from Mali, is someone fans in Southern California will need to watch in the coming years. He’s that good.

“My dream is to go to NBA,” the 17-year-old said.

He had 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots in the first half of the state championship game. Three of his baskets came on dunks. He didn’t score in the third quarter when his team’s lead was cut from 13 points at halftime to four. That’s when he rose up to get his team rolling, and San Gabriel held on for its first state title.

Diop finished with 20 points, making 10 of 16 shots, 13 rebounds and seven blocks.

With San Gabriel leading by nine in the final minute, the Eagles started committing turnovers and fouling. King’s Academy closed to within 50-49 with 11.3 seconds left before Xavier Wang made two free throws for a three-point lead.

“I lost about five years in my life in the last 15 seconds,” San Gabriel coach Daniel Piepoli said.

After San Gabriel’s 25th turnover led to a layup just before the buzzer, the Eagles were able to to run out the clock and celebrate their first championship.

Diop, who doesn’t speak much English, said he likes blocking shots more than dunking.

“He gets better every single day. You can see he can tear the rim down,” Piepoli said.

As Diop improves his shooting touch from outside, his value will only increase.

Division V

San Francisco International 71, Diamond Ranch 52: Conor Maguire scored 32 points to help International come back from a six-point halftime deficit to win the title. Devin Turner scored 16 points and Michael Salazar had 14 points for Diamond Ranch (23-15), the Southern California champion.

The Panthers were outscored 16-0 during one drought. In the first half Salazar made seven of 10 shots and scored all 14 of his points as Diamond Ranch led 30-24. He got into foul trouble, then fouled out. It was a tough way to potentially end his basketball career.

“I’ve been hooping my whole life,” Salazar said. “It’s hard. I hope I don’t have to give up basketball yet.”

Diamond Ranch coach Kevin Ryan said, “These guys went into every morning practice trying to get better every day. Basketball is a game of runs and they swung at us and hit us hard.”