I thought of only one man near the end of Iowa’s landmark win over Nebraska on Thursday, when broadcaster Kevin Harlan exclaimed, “The legend of Alvaro Folgueiras continues to grow!”
It was the same man I’d thought of the previous weekend, when Folgueiras dethroned the Florida Gators with a seismic 3-pointer.
That would be Robert Morris basketball coach Andy Toole, who found and developed the then-unknown Folgueiras, only to see him leave after two seasons.
Specifically, I wondered how Toole stays sane when he basically loses his whole team every year and had to watch his best player from last season become maybe the biggest star of the NCAA Tournament.
RMU is in some ways ground zero for the ravages of NIL and the transfer portal. Just last season — using an entirely rebuilt team, of course — Toole took the Colonials to the NCAA Tournament and nearly upset Alabama, then immediately lost his entire starting five to the portal.
Bigger schools swooped in like vultures. Toole had to say goodbye to the Horizon League Player of the Year in Folgueiras, the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in Amarion Dickerson and his leading scorer in Kam Woods, plus two other starters.
Amazingly, he led RMU back to within two wins of another NCAA Tournament appearance this season — and of course has already seen his three best players announce their intentions to leave.
Toole is losing yet another Horizon League Player of the Year in DeSean Goode, plus Ryan Prather and Nikolaos Chitikoudis.
So again I ask: How does this man stay sane?
“A lot of therapy sessions,” Toole said by phone, right after Folgueiras made several big plays Thursday night to help send Iowa to its first Sweet 16 since 1999. “But I’ve actually had 10 years to process all this, and some of the bitterness came and went long ago. Now, at least I can find somebody to replace the guys who are gone.”
In other words, Toole has become portal-trained. He used nine transfers this season. He’s actually doing fine because he has accepted the reality of the modern game: Every team, everywhere, is essentially one-and-done.
“It’s not just at RMU,” Toole said. “Last year, Baylor had zero players on the roster (shortly after the season). It’s not unique to us. At the highest level you can retain players because you have the resources to do it. Maximum dollars. If you don’t have those resources, you have to be able to try to build your team year to year.”
Fact is, Toole is ahead of the game because he got used to this years ago, long before the transfer portal became busier than Penn Station and before NIL entered the fray. RMU was losing good players a decade ago, too, but without the chance to replenish through the very same portal.
Marcquise Reed was a great example. After a stellar freshman year at RMU in 2014-15, Reed understandably bolted for Clemson.
“Here I have the rookie of the year in the conference, and you’re thinking, man, the next three years are gonna be incredible, and he goes to Clemson,” Toole said. “Like I said, I’ve had 10 years to process this. Now at least, as much as players leaving stinks, you can rebuild a roster.”
The portal opens next month. Toole will be ready. He’s not feeling sorry for himself. He’s just playing the game.
He doesn’t blame the kids, either.
“Coaches have come to grips with this quicker than fans and media,” Toole said. “People believe there’s some loyalty button everybody needs to push when they’re offered $100,000 or $200,000 or more (to transfer). People believe only college athletes should be loyal when every professional in the world would move pretty much at the drop of a hat for a change of six figures.
“It’s just something everybody has to come to grips with.”
Toole, 45, isn’t sure it’s a sustainable model, but it’s the only model right now. And as much as it hurts to watch a player like Folgueiras thrive elsewhere, it’s also a point of pride. The two exchange text messages, including one from Toole after Folgueiras hit the shot against Florida.
Toole’s two boys — ages 13 and 11 — had become close to Folgueiras, whose big personality is now on display for the whole country to see.
“He’s a giant child, is what he is — a fun-loving, personable kind of guy, always laughing, joking, great one-liners, always has a comeback, just a fun guy to be around,” Toole said.
I wondered what it was like when Folgueiras left.
“I don’t think he anticipated it being hard, but shortly after he decided he was gonna go, he ran into my sons coming into the gym and my one son said, ‘Are you leaving?’ and he got pretty emotional,” Toole said. “He said, ‘I didn’t didn’t think it was going to be very hard.’ But we told him you have to go, to put yourself on a track financially and basketball-wise that you can’t accomplish here.
“That doesn’t mean it’s not hard. It’s cool to watch him live out his dreams, but part of you wishes you could live it out with him.”