Two-way contracts in college basketball? One mid-major coach’s bold idea to adapt to transfer portal chaos

The transfer portal deadline hit at midnight ET Wednesday, ending the liveliest and most congested transfer cycle in college basketball history. Nearly 2,200 players who are not walk-ons and are currently eligible put their names into the portal over the past month. 

That much activity has led to a record-setting amount of money being promised across college hoops, in addition to new levels of widespread anxiety amongst coaches and athletic directors. These topsy-turvy portal times are leading some to seek solutions to an environment that, even if the House case settlement allays some of the issues, probably won’t see a massive reduction in player transplants moving forward.

Mid-majors have been gutted across college basketball. Where’s the hope? Well, instead of doing what many other coaches have been doing — constantly contributing to therapy-session text chains or making grousing phone calls to fellow coaches every day for the past month — Albany coach Dwayne Killings has been brainstorming one potential workaround: two-way contracts.

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Well, sort of. 

Killings wants to turn his America East program into a developmental system for high-majors. In an effort to be creative in the ever-changing landscape of college sports, Killings is trying to improve his program while also using a moneyball-type approach to bring a little more stability to power-conference programs, in addition to his own.

Developing prospects to return to power conference teams

Here’s the idea: Many high-major schools wind up with two or three players that, for whatever reason, aren’t prepared to play at that level when they get there. Sometimes, the player and the coaching staff only realize this after the fact. Instead of sticking around for four years to develop, most of these players now wind up transferring after one season if things don’t go the way they hoped. 

The self-aware guys who leave transfer down to a level much more suited to their skill sets. And then, sometimes, those same players wind up working their way back to the high-major level at 20 or 21 years old, when they’re truly capable of making an impact.

What if there was a way to avoid a lot of the uncertainty that comes with transferring and, instead, fast-track a potential path back to the power-conference level? That’s what Killings is proposing. He wants down-transfers from bigger programs to come to UAlbany, with special favorable conditions attached for players: He’ll develop them, help in their pursuit of a degree, and then after a year or two, send these players back to their initial high-major spot.

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“We are speaking to coaches about identifying a player that, if he left the high-major ranks to come to Albany, a place with a recently renovated $16 million arena, to get the opportunity to develop through playing, this could present a partnership that could change college recruiting as we move into the post-House settlement area,” Killings told CBS Sports. “The reason why this idea came about is become of my experience in the G League. During my time there, I watched a lot of players develop for the NBA. We’re moving to a model like that in modern-day college basketball.”

Of course, the player would need to agree to this, as would the power-conference coach, but it’s a bold idea amid an unstable transfer ecosystem. It’s not like it would work every time, but it could work some of the time. To Killings, it’s a route worth taking — especially at this point, when solutions are hard to come by.

Increased playing time at mid-major level

Here’s more of how a so-called two-way deal could work between high-majors and mid-majors. A power-conference program with a promising-but-inconsistent player offers to send said player on a developmental path to UAlbany. This scholarship player would be assured more playing time, Killings said, with the idea being that playing a full season against high-majors in the early portion of the nonconference schedule, and then mid-major competition from January on, is ultimately a better course for personal growth than grinding in practice without true stakes attached at the high-major level.

“The best development happens on the floor, not necessarily on the scout team, given the new 15-man scholarship limits,” Killings said.

An expected forthcoming change in roster limitations would help make this vision more practical. Currently, schools are permitted 13 players on scholarship. The House settlement is poised to up that number to 15, with the elimination of walk-ons. Killings’ plan would be to fill his roster with 15 players, with three, four or five of those players being down-transfers who could return to whence they came after growing into better Division I athletes.

Factoring in NIL 

What about the money? The player would still get theirs. In Killings’ vision, the high-major’s NIL collective could/would donate to UAlbany’s collective to help pay the player — perhaps at a rate they were getting to begin with, sort of like an insurance policy. The player would continue to earn that money, however much was agreed to, provided they remain academically eligible and meet the standards of both programs that agreed to the swap. 

The question then becomes: Is transferring NIL money through collectives a legal transaction in 2025? Given there’s no precedent for it, and absent strict jurisdiction over collective activities, one compliance source suggested it could/should be permissible — because it’s never happened.

“The [high-major] collective receives compensation for the ‘developmental year,'” Killings said. “At the conclusion of the season, the high-major program has first right of refusal to the said player if he elects to go into the portal. It’s a win-win for both programs, as it frees up a roster spot, addresses a need at Albany and helps the player develop.” 

Killings, who is 51-76 in four seasons with the Great Danes and is coming off a 17-16 campaign, said he’s been in contact about this idea with programs in the Big East and Big Ten already. One coach he spoke with was especially intrigued with the idea, Killings said. He’s also using a company called 32 Analytics to vet the fits and evaluate which players could be candidates. Killings is a former transfer himself: he started his career at UMass (1999-2001), then finished at Hampton (’01-03). He understands a lot of the expectations at the high-major level, having previously served as an assistant at Marquette and Connecticut. 

“The other direction is I’m at a high-major and there’s a kid I really like, but he’s a year away from when I need him, so I want Albany to take him,” Killings said. “It can be an incremental step in this weird cycle.”

At the very least, it’s an idea seeking a solution to help alleviate the current chaotic environment in portal recruiting, which is a lot more than most other coaches can say they’re contributing at the moment.