In a late 2018 meeting with his star player, Loyola (Md.) men’s lacrosse coach Charley Toomey heard the two words no college coach wants to think about: transfer portal.
Of course, Pat Spencer had no intentions of leaving Baltimore at that point. The senior was already gearing up for yet another first-team All-American season, a campaign that would end with him receiving the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s top lacrosse player.
Basketball, however, was also on Spencer’s mind.
“After my freshman year of college I knew I wanted to play basketball, but I had a pretty good year—we went to the Final Four, so it would’ve been way too weird to step away at that time,” Spencer told SI.