Lane Kiffin puts transfer portal timeline on blast: 'It's a terrible system'

The month of December is filled with plenty of big moments for college football teams and fans — from bowl games to National Signing Day. It also marks the opening of the transfer portal window, and it makes the month even more chaotic for coaches across the country.

Not only do coaches have to worry about players leaving, but they also have to strike while the iron’s hot and big names enter the portal. Ole Miss is one team that’s had a good run through the first few weeks of the fall window, hauling in two of the top five players in the On3 Industry Transfer Rankings.

That doesn’t mean Lane Kiffin is a fan of the current calendar, though. Ahead of the Peach Bowl, he pointed out the issues with the system and how there’s so much movement while the season is technically still going on. While National Signing Day is now in the books, it’s still a sprint to the finish line with the portal set to close Jan. 2.

“We’re actually kind of, finally, to a normal part now, where today’s Tuesday and we actually play on a Saturday,” Lane Kiffin said. “So it’s a normal week for us. We’re just in a hotel in a different city. Previous to this, it’s been a little chaotic with not just recruiting and flying around, trying to get back for practice, a lot of assistant coaches not at the practices. But then, dealing with the portal, going to other universities to see kids and dealing with keeping our own kids.

“Again, it’s a terrible system. No other — I wouldn’t think any other sports, professional sports, have ever set up a system where free agency starts while the season is still going. So it really makes no sense. You can leave, you can stay, you can go other places, coaches can call you and our season is still going. It would be like before the NFC or AFC playoffs start in a couple weeks, all of a sudden, hey, free agency the week before opens. So you can start recruiting other people’s players and fly them on trips and get them to transfer. So really, in a really bad system.”

Because the portal opens during bowl season, it makes for tough decisions if players want to transfer while also staying with their teams through the end of the year. In some cases, such as Texas’ Maalik Murphy and Florida State’s Tate Rodemaker, they enter the portal and miss out on the bowl game. Programs such as Missouri allow transfers to remain with the program, but it’s not always that cut and dry.

The fall portal window closes Jan. 2, unless teams play in later bowl games. Then, the window gets a five-day extension.