USF's Jayden Reid hits the transfer portal as USF's national coaching search goes on

It shouldn’t be surprising that USF point guard Jayden Reid announced Sunday that he is entering the men’s basketball transfer portal. I won't be surprised if more teammates follow him, given the uncertainty surrounding the program now.

The portal officially opens Monday, and for now, we don’t know who USF’s next coach will be. Michael Kelly, USF’s Vice President for Athletics, is conducting a national search, and he’ll be done when he is through.

Kelly has opted for a total reboot of the program, which is the right move. There was a thought that he would want to lock in his man before the portal opened, but it might not matter that much.

Just as the mainstays from Amir Abdur-Rahim’s Kennesaw State team followed him to USF, the new guy will probably bring along some players from his old team.

College basketball in the NIL and portal era is a year-to-year thing anyway. Even after the Bulls were the feel-good story of 2023-24 under Coach Amir, the top three scorers hit the portal and found new homes.

Reid was on the American Athletic Conference All-Freshman team in 2023-24, and he had a highlight moment this season with a last-second jumper to beat Wright State 73-72.

He was also USF’s leading scorer this season. He will find plenty of interested suitors.

Interim coach Ben Fletcher more or less predicted things like this. He noted that most players on the roster came to USF specifically to play for Coach Amir. With that dream gone, expecting those players to reassess was natural.

In the tweet announcing his decision, Reid gave “a special shoutout and the ultimate thank you to Coach Amir and his staff for believing in me and giving me the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Meanwhile, back at the coaching search, there hasn’t been a lot of smoke about this opening. There was, of course, the usual speculation about potential candidates, but those were just guesses. The lid has been on pretty tight, which is Kelly’s style.

Tom Crean was one of the early names in the rumor hopper because of his experience and special relationship with USF and Coach Amir. However, my guess -- and that’s what it is–– is that the deal would have already been done if Crean had been the man.

I could fling a lot of darts at the board, but the truth is that I don’t know. The longer this goes on, the more likely the next coach is busy because his team is still playing.

We’ll know when we know.