It’s hard to be shocked when a college athlete changes his mind and leaves for greener pastures, but this one truly felt different.
Nobody would have been stunned if Dylan Darling, after putting together one of the finest seasons in recent Idaho State basketball history, had said at the end of the year that he was going to test the transfer waters. Instead, he kept saying how much he enjoyed Pocatello and Idaho State, how he “wanted to stay,” and how he hoped to work out a deal that would allow him to return for his junior season.
There was good reason to believe him. People who interacted with his parents when they were in Pocatello reported they were strongly in ISU’s corner, happy to see their son thriving after two lost years at Washington State. His dad James, a former NFL football player, even reportedly told Idaho State head coach Ryan Looney not to worry about giving his son a name, image and likeness deal — “I’ll be his NIL,” he said.
The portal opened on March 24 and observers all around the Big Sky Conference kept waiting for Darling’s name to appear. Two weeks into the portal, he still wasn’t there. And then he posted a now deleted message to the Bengal faithful proclaiming he was coming back, and ready to lead ISU to their first Big Sky championship in 32 years.
Bengal coaches were recruiting around Darling’s return. Evan Otten, the ISU center who was named Big Sky Freshman of the Year, resisted other opportunities for the chance to play with Darling another year. ISU Athletic Director Pauline Thiros posted on Facebook that the Bengals were “building something special” around the conference MVP.
As of Monday morning, when I contacted Looney for a story I was writing about the pending transfer portal opening for football, he reported all was well. He was looking forward to the arrival of three recruits in the coming days. Later on Monday, Darling contacted ISU’s academic support staff and put them to work on getting his classes set up for next fall.
Then, inexplicably, on Monday afternoon, media reports from outside the area began saying that Darling was entering the transfer portal. As word began to spread on social media, Looney tried to contact Darling to find out what was going on. But the Bengal point guard didn’t answer his calls. As of Tuesday morning, Darling has still not had a conversation with his soon-to-be former coach.
I tried reaching out to Darling, who has always been a willing and very cooperative interview subject, both by phone and text. I wanted to give him a chance to explain his change of heart, and to perhaps offer the Pocatello community, which has so heartily embraced him, some solace. As of Tuesday afternoon, I haven’t heard back.
The fact that Darling appears to have gone underground probably has a lot to do with embarrassment. From my interactions with Darling, he’s impressed me as a thoughtful, bright, young man who can’t help but understand what a bad look this current situation is.
Most folks would have understood, if not been happy, if he’d announced immediately after the season that he was going to consider other options. But to lead on his coaches, teammates and the community with a full-throated commitment, and then renege a week later − well that stings. And for what?
Nobody honestly knows what caused Dylan to change his mind, but when I asked one ISU athletic department official, their response was, “Money, what else.” If that is truly the case, if another school came in with a knock-your-socks-off dollar offer and that convinced Darling to go back on his commitment, well that’s just another black eye for the young man’s reputation.
When all is said and done, the ISU basketball program will go forward, Looney will find another point guard − although probably not one as accomplished as Darling − and 13 college students will have scholarships to play basketball for Idaho State beginning in October.
But the damage the transfer portal and name, image and likeness dollars have done to mid-major basketball programs like Idaho State is incalculable. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard an ISU fan say, “I hate the transfer portal,” well I could match whatever NIL deal Darling may be getting. Fans are getting fed up with emotionally investing in athletes who have one good season and then immediately hit the transfer portal to try to cash in.
I don’t know how to measure how many college sports fans have been turned off by the constant rebuilds. But I have to believe it’s going to become a significant issue, if it hasn’t already.
And the impact on the coaches who have to deal with the constant revolving door is significant, as well. Ironically, I was writing a column on Monday about the impact of the transfer portal on the ISU football team, which is expected to lose some significant players when it opens on April 24. Grant Duff, the new ISU defensive coordinator, summed up how the portal has changed the coaching profession very nicely in a quote I was going to use in that column, which got overtaken by the Darling developments:
“The downside as a coach is we’re sitting here and all we do is recruit 365 days a year,” said Duff. “That’s not what I wanted to do when I got into it. I wanted to be with the guys, coach my dudes, be there for them, support them, help them. And now all I do is look for the next guy.”
I occasionally think about how the transfer portal and NIL would have impacted the history of Idaho State athletics if they had been a “thing” 50 years ago. How long would Steve Hayes have stayed in Pocatello? Or Jared Allen?
So now we have to get used to our “heroes” being one-year wonders − athletes who can’t even qualify for the ISU Athletic Hall of Fame because they don’t graduate from here. Chedon James leads the nation in receiving one season — and then gone into the oblivion of the transfer portal, off to a redshirt season at Fresno State, followed by another visit to the portal.
Dylan Darling? It will be interesting to see who the mysterious suitor who sneaked in and snatched him away at the last minute turns out to be. If it’s a Power Four program, will Darling be able to rise to the level of the competition and have a satisfying final two seasons, given his previous struggles at Wazzu? And how will his one great season in Pocatello be remembered?
I don’t know about you, but the things that make college athletics attractive to me — watching young men and women grow and develop, sharing their triumphs and disappointments over time, and seeing them become a lasting part of the fabric of the university and community — they are slipping away. And it’s getting damn tough to emotionally invest in college athletics these days.
Brad Bugger has been observing athletics in southeastern Idaho for 46 years as a sports writer, broadcaster and fan.