Western Washington University men’s basketball is facing an unprecedented player exodus, with one major contributor already committed elsewhere and five others mulling their options.
Sophomore BJ Kolly, graduate transfer Isaac Morrow, and juniors Kai Johnson, Nic Welp, Liam Clark and Will Wilson all have entered the transfer portal as of Thursday, April 18, according to Verbal Commits.
Johnson, who was the 12th-ranked scorer in NCAA Division II last year, has already committed to the University of Montana, and Welp has received an offer from the University of Idaho but remains unsigned.
Since the transfer portal opened in October 2018, the most players Western had enter the portal in one season was three (after the 2020–21 season, which was canceled due to COVID).
In each season since, the Vikings have returned at least eight players from the previous year’s roster. Only six from the 2023–24 roster are slated to return for the 2024–25 season.
Western head coach Tony Dominguez, entering his 13th season as the team’s head coach and 30th overall with the Vikings, has largely evaded the national impacts the portal has had on collegiate programs. The portal often guts teams of its core players for opportunities at larger universities, the promise of name, image, and likeness (NIL) money, or a combination of the two.
From 2019–23, only nine players transferred directly from Western to another college or university. This is the first time a swath of Western players, all from one team, are looking to move from Division II to Division I, which is the case for Johnson, Kolly, Welp and Wilson.
Western’s in-state GNAC rivals, Central Washington and Seattle Pacific, have experienced similar transfer numbers before this offseason. Central Washington had 11 players transfer directly to another college or university from 2019–23, while Seattle Pacific had seven — putting Western in the middle of the pack.
However, Central Washington only has two players currently in the portal, while Seattle Pacific has three.
“If I’m recruiting guys [and saying], ‘We’re all part of a family,’ and I’m trying to help them achieve their dreams, and then be upset that they’re leaving, I don’t think that’s a consistent message,” Dominguez said. “So, I am supportive of these guys. We’re all very close.
“It was pretty emotional in some of the meetings because we are a family,” he added.
But, while Dominguez is satisfied with his job as a mentor, he also recognizes continuity helps build championship-level teams — something that has eluded the program in recent years.
Western last earned an NCAA tournament berth in 2019–20 before the season was canceled due to COVID-19. The last time the Vikings played in a tournament game was in 2017, and they have missed the postseason entirely each of the last two seasons.
This season, they were just one game out of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament berth, finishing 17-12 overall and 9-9 in league games.
With another year to build, Dominguez felt Western could have been a force in the GNAC and beyond.
“We would’ve been a top-10 team,” Dominguez added. “That’s the progression we’re used to.”
The once-featured four
Johnson, Kolly, Welp and Wilson were all full-time starters for Western last season. The quartet made up 58.2% of the Vikings’ 2,572 points scored as a team. The four players did not respond to requests for comment.
Injuries limited Kolly to 14 games played last season (13 starts) after an impressive freshman year. In those games, however, he was one of the best players on the court, averaging 10.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in just 20.5 minutes with a lot of untapped potential.
In three seasons at Western, Johnson climbed to 20th on the Vikings’ all-time leading scorers list and posted the third-best scoring average in program history last season (21.6 ppg).
Welp continued to improve every year over his three seasons with the team, capping out at 10.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and one steal per game in 2023–24. Wilson, a transfer from Mt. Hood Community College, played just one season with Western and was the team’s second-leading scoring option a season ago (15.8 points per game).
Players who enter the portal can return to their previous programs, but the school must agree to bring them back.
“Most of the guys that I recruit have Division I aspirations. I’m always recruiting the highest-level talent we can get that fits our school and our program,” Dominguez said. “Division I is an extremely huge lure for young men, especially with NIL [money] and what they’re able to get with that.”
The quartet also made up 55.5% of the roster’s total minutes played — leaving a void of experience with the current six players who are set to return. In nearly every major statistical category (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks), those four players were equivalent to half the team’s total output.
“It’s a tough situation, but yet, it’s definitely allowing me and helping me to grow and helping us try to find the right path,” Dominguez said.
Who’s left and what’s next?
Only five of the six players currently returning from last season’s roster received playing time, and only two were significant contributors: soon-to-be sophomore guards Tijan Saine and Louis Grante-Halliday — two players Dominguez said are very committed to the program.
Saine is the most experienced, playing in all 29 games (12 starts) and averaging 10.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 25.1 minutes per game.
Grante-Halliday played north of 20 minutes in just five games last year, but he averaged 9.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals in those contests.
Other returning players include freshmen Grant Kepley and Jordan Tate, as well as junior Janko Drammeh and sophomore Charlie Dietiker (last season’s eligibility designations).
However, all six players combined to make up just 19% of Western’s total points scored (487). Remove Saine’s numbers, and that falls to 6.7%.
“Now that we’re in this new environment [we will] hopefully find some young men that will want to be here more than one and done,” Dominguez noted. “You’re trying to get some freshmen. We’re trying to get a [recruiting] model that will accommodate everything and have some consistency.”
Dominguez added he wants a “blend of guys,” with the plan being to bring in a few high school recruits and fill out the roster with veterans — possibly Division I players who want more playing time or junior college stars.
Western has offers out to Lynden High School guard Anthony Canales — a three-time state champion and Lynden’s all-time leading scorer — and Bellevue College sophomore forward Logan Stempniak, a former GNAC player at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Future walk-ons will also be added.
The transfer portal’s future effects on Western’s program remain unknown. It’s the harsh reality of trying to build a program that can, by some players, be viewed as only a stepping stone to something bigger.
“You’re going to have years with a lot of attrition,” Dominguez said, “and you’re going to have years that you don’t.”
Connor J. Benintendi is a former CDN sports reporter, send tips and information to newstips@cascadiadaily.com.
