(Editor's note: This is the second installment of a multi-part series by MTN Sports on the current state of college athletics. For Part 1, click here)
MISSOULA — Nate Harris became the Montana Lady Griz head coach on March 24, one day before the NCAA transfer portal window opened in women’s college basketball.
It’s been a fast and furious month of recruiting for the coach, who landed three total commitments (two transfers) before the window closed on Wednesday. The closing window only means players can no longer enter the portal; there are still a plethora of uncommitted talents for Harris and his coaching staff to pore over.
Though the recruiting landscape is now different than it’s been the bulk of Harris’ 18-year coaching career, the majority of which he has been as an assistant, he will not waver in his team-building philosophy.
“We're going to always choose to invest in people, invest in their futures and try to have a big impact on their lives,” Harris told MTN Sports. “So, whether they're here for a year, two years, their entire career, we're going to embrace them and try to help them for whatever time period they're here.
“Because in that same breath, we all, as much as we want to talk about (players transferring), we all have taken one-year transfers, as well. And we take them knowing we're only going to have them for a year.”
It’s a new age of men’s and women’s college basketball, as current rules permit student-athletes unlimited transfer opportunities between schools with no eligibility penalties, provided they’re in good academic standing. That’s flooded the marketplace with talented, experienced players looking for their right fits, those pairings between players and programs never more precarious — or perhaps profitable — than now.
For coaches like Harris, in his first year building a program, or Montana State men’s basketball coach Matt Logie, in his second year leading a program, they’re learning on the fly in a sport that’s changing just as quickly.
“Since I got hired at Montana State two years ago, I think the rules around transferring have changed two different times,” Logie said, referencing the NCAA’s fluid transfer rules that at one time required student-athletes to sit out one season after transferring unless they had earned a degree. There was also a brief one-time transfer rule that granted immediate eligibility to student-athletes on only their first transfer. There are currently no restrictions on transfers, again, provided they’re in good academic standing.
“And so you go into one recruiting cycle with a certain plan in mind and knowing that if somebody has transferred once that they're going to be with you for the extent of the rest of their career,” Logie continued. “And then six months into that first year, they take all the guardrails off, and that stability isn't there anymore.
“I think, for us as coaches, it's changed our workflow and our calendars a great deal because of the need to constantly reshape your roster every spring.”
Logie, in his first year at the helm in the 2023-24 season, led Montana State to the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament with a roster featuring nine players in their first seasons in Bozeman. This year’s roster included five first-year transfers, and the Bobcats were unable to duplicate last season’s magic.
Once the season concluded, many of the players who still had collegiate eligibility remaining hit the transfer portal, leaving Montana State needing to again overhaul its roster. When Logie spoke with MTN Sports on April 14, he said the team still had seven roster spots to fill. The Bobcats have since received commitments from former Washington forward Christian King and Central Washington guard Cavin Holden, though neither has been announced by the university.
Jed Miller and Patrick McMahon are the only rotation players expected back for next season, with McMahon taking to social media in March to announce his return to Montana State.
— Patrick (@1PatrickM) March 27, 2025
“When you have guys like Patrick McMahon and Jed Miller ... put their flag in the sand and say, ‘We’re Bobcats and let’s load up,’ it’s a big deal in today’s day and age,” Logie said. “And I think it needs to be celebrated.”
On the flip side, Harris’ Lady Griz, who made an inspiring run to the Big Sky Conference tournament championship with Harris in the role of interim head coach, were not pummeled by the portal. Key players like Mack Konig and Avery Waddington are set to return after strong seasons and stellar performances in the Big Sky tournament.
Only Izabella Zingaro entered the transfer portal, which has given Montana more this offseason than it has taken. The Lady Griz have secured commitments from transfers Jocelyn Land, a forward from Butler, and Kennedy Gillette, a guard from Southern Idaho.
“I think a lot of it is just being flexible ... and understanding that you really have to focus on enjoying the team you have this year and repeating that process kind of year after year and just pouring everything into this group because you don’t know how this group will look next year,” Harris said. “So, don’t make these big, long-term plans. Just focus on coaching your team right now and then deal with the extra stuff as it comes.
“It’s kind of been my approach, our approach, through this — stay informed, stay flexible and stay kind of shortsighted a little bit.”
Those might not be reassuring words that comfort fans, who have grown accustomed to players developing within their favorite programs for three, four or even five years. Those days are likely long gone in what has become an instant-gratification, what-have-you-done-lately state of college basketball.
The fear is that success will become even more fleeting for programs the size of Montana and Montana State, that if they develop or showcase talented players that they’ll just transfer to schools that can offer more money or bigger opportunities. Upsets were few and far between in this year’s NCAA basketball tournaments, and no mid-major programs reached the Sweet 16 in either bracket.
“There was a lot of talk in the NCAA tournament this year about where were the Cinderellas and where were the upsets,” Logie said. “We'll find out, I guess, in time, year over year, if the effects of the recruiting landscape and marketplace does, in fact, funnel all of the talent necessary to have upsets like that happen to the higher-level conferences and make those type of March Madness experiences more and more difficult to attain.
“I don't think that's where we're at yet. I think there's still plenty of opportunity to be had, and, at the end of the day, you’ve got to have a team that's capable and get as many good cracks at it as you can.”
Added Harris: “It probably is going to be more difficult at certain levels and in certain places (to have sustained success), but — and not to be dismissive because I do think it's a fair question — at some point it doesn't matter.
“College athletics have always been hard and there's always been problems to solve and there's always been obstacles in front of you. And your job as a coach or as an athletic department is to figure those out and be successful. And so, is it going to get more difficult? Yeah, but it doesn't matter. The expectations don't change.”
