Big Ten coaches certainly have strong feelings about their competition within the conference. However, getting those coaches to put their feelings on the record can be a struggle.

Heading into the 2022 season, Athlon Sports has compiled anonymous comments from coaches in the B1G about their competition for 2022. When it comes to Mel Tucker’s Michigan State program, the transfer portal came up quite a bit.

Questions of “culture” and labels of “Transfer U” came up in regard to the Spartans under Tucker. A general sense of skepticism around reliance on the transfer portal also came up.

Here is what coaches around the B1G had to say:

  • “There are two big questions: How do you maintain your culture and momentum when you live and die in the portal as much as these guys have, and how is life after Kenneth Walker III? That guy was a legit difference-maker, a real MVP. So many times they’d be stuck, and he would put the game on his shoulders.”
  • “This is Transfer U. Does that work every season? What’s your culture like? It seems like these guys don’t set limits like other staffs. Normally, you’re working the portal out of extreme need for a position group or to complement a roster. These guys shop the whole store, it seems. They haven’t recruited in Michigan high schools as much as you’d expect.”
  • “Maybe it works out. No one really has the portal completely figured out. You can’t argue with their results so far.”