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How to Recruit for Culture in the Transfer Portal Era

  • Writer: Ryan Mayfield
    Ryan Mayfield
  • Mar 27
  • 3 min read

Why aligning values might be more important than vertical leap.


If you’re a mid-major coach, your roster is probably a revolving door.


Every spring, your best player enters the portal.

Every summer, you piece together a team with freshmen who won’t stay and transfers who don’t have time to buy in.

It’s chaotic. And it’s probably not changing any time soon.


So how do you build something meaningful when your personnel changes every 6–12 months?


You stop recruiting just for talent.

You start recruiting for culture.


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Why Culture Fit Matters More Than Ever


Before NIL and the portal, you could build a team over 3–4 years.

Now, you might only get one shot with a player—so they better fit fast.


Players who align with your team’s values:

  • Get up to speed quicker

  • Cause fewer chemistry issues

  • Buy into your system sooner

  • Stay when things get tough


In short: culture fit is a shortcut to cohesion.

And in a world of temporary rosters, cohesion wins.


⸻


What Does It Mean to “Recruit for Culture”?


You already recruit based on:

  • Stats

  • Film

  • Intangibles

  • Coach references


Now it’s time to add one more layer: values alignment.


Start by asking:

  • What are the 3–5 values we want every player to embody?

  • How do we define those values in action?

  • What are red flags that a recruit might not align?


Example from a real D1 team:

Their core values: Attitude, Excellence, Mindset, Toughness

One red flag: “If they blame others in their highlight tape interviews, they won’t own their role here.”


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How to Actually Assess Culture Fit


1. Get Clear on Your Values

You can’t evaluate alignment until you define what you stand for.

Most programs have vague values posted on the locker room wall. Few live them.


Clarify:

  • What each value looks like in practice

  • What each value doesn’t look like

  • How you’d explain these to a recruit in under 2 minutes


2. Build a Simple Scoring Rubric


Create a 1–5 rating scale for each value.

Have your staff score each recruit during visits, calls, and film review.


Example rubric for “Toughness”:

5 – Consistently positive body language, plays through adversity, never blames teammates

3 – Occasional dips in effort or emotional control under pressure

1 – Quits on plays, avoids contact, makes excuses


3. Use the Talent-Culture Matrix


Map each recruit based on:

  • X-axis: Talent

  • Y-axis: Culture Fit


Now you’ve got a visual tool to guide decisions:

  • High talent + high culture: Build your team around them

  • High talent + low culture: Proceed with caution and a development plan

  • Low talent + high culture: Great locker room depth

  • Low talent + low culture: Hard pass


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Want a Tool to Make This Easier?


At Better, we’ve developed two resources built for this exact purpose:


Elite Athlete Index:

A fast, coach-led assessment that scores recruits on culture fit, specifically for your program, before they ever put on your jersey.


Elite Culture System:

A 2-day intensive for your staff to define values, operationalize them, and create custom recruiting tools that align with your identity.


In the Transfer Portal era, you’re not just building a team—you’re rebuilding your culture every season.


Make sure you’re rebuilding it on purpose.


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Working with Better is easy.


Chat with a Better partner about the issues you’re facing and find out if we’re a good fit for you and your program.


Step 2: Design your Elite Athlete Index

We’ll work with you to integrate your cultural values into a formalized assessment you can use with current players and recruits .


Step 3: Build your Elite Culture System

Schedule a 2-day event with your coaching staff to build an entire culture and talent management system and start getting the players who will take your program to new heights.


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