Is the transfer portal a boon or a bane? A G5 head coach has finally figured out how to tackle this question. On one side, where programs are struggling to bring stability to their teams due to portal exits or poaching, one coach thinks it’s the best thing for his players’ growth. According to him, accepting the reality, rather than changing it, is the answer to a lot of problems surrounding the current transfer portal era.

Jerry Mack was named as head coach of Kennesaw State on December 1, 2024. The team had gone 2-10 and he transformed them into a 10-4 team last season. In his first season as head coach, Mack was named Conference USA Coach of the Year. Mack also took home the 2025 C-USA Championship after defeating regular season champion Jacksonville State 19-15.

When a team gets that level of success, coaches usually want their players to stay so that they can build on that momentum. But Mack doesn’t think that way. When he lost two of his elite players, QB Amari Odom to Syracuse and defensive end Elijah Hill to Kansas State, Mack didn’t feel bad. Instead, he was happy looking at their growth.

“I love it,” Mack said on the Andy and Ari On3 show. “I tell these guys when we recruit them, whether they’re transfers or whether they’re incoming high school players, if you’re leaving for what would be a better financial opportunity, that means that we have probably done something right, and we’ve had success.”

He sees the transfer portal as a helpful tool instead of something bad. Mack knows trying to stop players from leaving is useless, even if the team loses its best players. He has 20 years of coaching experience in football. He was the head coach at North Carolina Central from 2014 to 2017 and worked at Rice, Tennessee, and even with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL.

From this, he learned that the teams that help their players and assistant coaches improve and grow do well. For Mack, college football is like a competition where everyone wants to reach the highest level, so he helps his players and assistant coaches improve their skills and learn more.

“It’s just being able to stay fluid. Coaches have the same opportunities as players. I have a lot of young coaches on my staff, so the reality of it is, my offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and position coaches—those guys—as we continue to have success, they’re going to get poached as well.”

Unlike the majority of head coaches, Mack believes that when bigger schools try to hire his players or assistants for more money, it actually means the program is doing something right. That said, his main challenge is making sure the team keeps replacing the talent it loses. So far, Mack has only lost one assistant coach, but he expects more schools to try to hire his staff if the Owls have another strong season. Something similar already happened with the quarterbacks. Since Kennesaw State’s QB Odom is heading to Syracuse, Rickie Collins, who previously lost the starting job there, is coming to Kennesaw State.

It’s a win-win situation, actually. Mack and Collins go a long way back to their high school days in Baton Rouge. The Owls HC already did his due diligence and checked with the Syracuse staff about his work habits before bringing him in. In many ways, the move worked like a trade between the two schools.

However, if Kennesaw State keeps winning, Mack himself could become a target for bigger programs sooner rather than later. But for now, Mack isn’t thinking about leaving at all. He’s simply hoping that interest in Kennesaw State stays linear next year so he can send more bodies to the Power 4 in the years to come.

Can Jerry Mack keep the wins coming?

After a legendary 2025 season where he went from 2 wins to 10 wins and a conference title, the bar for Jerry Mack is officially through the roof. Year 2 is all about proving that Kennesaw State isn’t a one-time wonder like we see every year. Fans are expecting him to continue the football excellence that he developed. The biggest challenge? Doing it all over again with a roster that looks a lot different than the one that just won the trophy.

Mack’s job in Year 2 is to show he can scout and develop the next wave of stars just as fast as the last ones left. He’s already brought in nearly 30 new transfers, so he’s basically building a “Super Team” on the fly to replace the guys who moved on and expect to ball out like they did last season.

Overall, nobody expects a step backward by any means. But at the same time, it’s quite challenging to go for another trophy after almost 50% of the players who played for him last season headed elsewhere.

Nonetheless, with a fresh six-year contract in his pocket, Mack has the school’s full backing to turn Kennesaw State into a consistent G5 powerhouse. While a tough game against Tennessee looms on the schedule, the real expectation is for the Owls to be right back in the hunt for another Conference USA title. As long as Mack keeps the “land of opportunity” scheme going for them, the Owls are expected to stay at the top of the standings.