Rylan Renteria

Former UTSA men’s basketball guard Austin Nunez in the Roadrunners’ 71-68 loss to Seattle University.

For the fourth consecutive year, UTSA men’s basketball will likely lose a majority of its current roster to the transfer portal this offseason. Five players have already departed the program, including star sophomore Baboucarr Njie, who originally walked onto the program as a freshman. Njie was one of the university’s homegrown stars and looked to be one of UTSA’s next great players. His departure, along with others’, signifies the new lows for UTSA’s men’s basketball department. A revolving roster year after year has become the new norm for UTSA fans, and unfortunately, it does not look like it can be fixed. Despite increased revenue and new arenas promised by athletics departments — questionable recruiting strategies, a limited NIL budget and poor culture have relegated the program to one of the worst in college basketball. Though there is continued optimism in coach Austin Claunch and his staff, the program is eternally trapped in a state of inadequacy. 

In the previous four offseasons, UTSA has tried its hand at the portal, hoping to assemble a group of players who can collectively produce at a high level. High school recruiting is often neglected, as the staff believes it can make big splashes with portal acquisitions. The strategy has failed to work on numerous occasions. Time after time, UTSA lands itself a ball-dominant point guard, such as Primo Spears, Jamir Simpson or Jordan Ivy-Curry, only to find them averaging nearly 20 points per game at the detriment of the team. Players rarely gel together, as a two-month offseason is clearly insufficient to build a team ready for Division I play. By the end of the season, the team has divided, and players begin to focus on individual statistics rather than team success. Despite the continued failures, the Roadrunners insist on building through the portal over recruiting homegrown talent in San Antonio and other nearby cities. The neglect is one of the biggest reasons the team has consistently failed, as San Antonio, Houston and Austin produce Division I talent yearly. After numerous seasons, portal building, at best, has proven ineffective.

Despite the questionable recruiting and roster building, UTSA has managed to acquire hidden gems such as Njie or guard Marcus ‘Smurf’ Millender in years past. While the players have made an incredible impact on the team and proved promising for the near future, a limited NIL budget has hindered the team’s ability to retain those players. Larger programs continuously poach the Roadrunners, offering players an egregious amount of money to transfer to their program. The issue is one that the men’s staff has raised. They have campaigned for increases in recruiting budgets, yet with such consistent losing, it is hard to foresee a funding increase anytime soon. 

With an extremely flawed recruiting strategy and limited NIL funding, it’s hard to imagine a world where UTSA men’s basketball can succeed. The last handful of seasons have created a pitiful culture for men’s basketball. Although Claunch has aimed to change that, so far, he has failed to do so. The team has won 17 games over the last two seasons, including just five last year. Persistent failure has relegated UTSA’s culture to one associated with disappointment. With each season bringing mounting losses, it becomes incredibly hard to both recruit and retain players at a university viewed as a laughingstock. The culture is at its lowest, and it has clearly not done the Roadrunners any favors in their pursuit of a program turnaround. 

Unfortunately for fans, the men’s basketball program has been nothing more than a rebound for transfer portal journeymen looking to boost their numbers on an otherwise middling team. Once the season is over, players who showed flashes throughout the season immediately take their talents to the portal, hoping to leave the program behind. Despite losing the entire roster each year, the Roadrunners cling to the portal, hoping to find something that can put together a watchable product for fans. The staff has continued to proudly speak about the foundation it is building, yet after three years, UTSA has nothing to show for its program other than being a failure throughout its athletic halls. A school that once boasted multiple NBA talents now inches closer to hopelessness, as another offseason with egregious roster turnover draws near. Whether or not Claunch can turn the program around remains a mystery, but if the future looks anything like his previous seasons, it doesn’t look promising for the program or the first-time head coach.