Chip Kelly gives opinion on the calendar in college football, transfer portal

Chip Kelly has certainly had a lot of thoughts on the state of college football over the past few days. The latest from UCLA’s head coach was in relation to the transfer portal and how the opening of the window makes even more of a mess out of this time of year in the sport.

Kelly gave some opinions on the matter in an appearance on ESPN during the halftime broadcast of the Famous Toastery Bowl. With the portal opening amidst bowl preparations, changes in the programs at the end of the season, and the lead up to an event like National Signing Day, there are too many things going on at once. That makes it difficult to even keep it straight regarding who on your team will even be available for the postseason.

“I think the schedule is crazy – even for coaches. Everyone says, ‘I can’t believe they’re not playing in the bowl game’. Well, there are coaches that are not coaching in the bowl games either,” said Kelly. “The schedule is wack. You don’t know who is on your team, you don’t know which coaches are around. Boise (State) had new coaches, we had new coaches. Boise lost players, we lost players.”

That’s why, moving forward, Kelly would like to see the sport take on a slate that looks more like the National Football League. Nothing truly goes down in the NFL until everyone is over and done which, in turn, keeps everything in order.

With too many events to shuffle and keep up with, all Kelly, like many other coaches nationwide, is looking for is a schedule that’s a little more extended like that.

“I think the scheduling has to be looked at in a different way so that there is a uniformity. We should be able to finish our season,” Kelly said. “In the NFL? They don’t hire people until the season is over. But, in college football, because we’re dealing with a different calendar — the recruiting calendar is different than the playing calendar. It all needs to be aligned. I think everybody needs to be on the same page.”

“That’s the great thing about the NFL. They set their own calendar,” said Kelly. “Ours is a mess right now.”

With so much happening at this time of year, this seems to be an overall complaint from coaches. Several significant dates are happening and not one is able to get sole attention over the other.

The question now is whether the powers that be will hear the protests like Kelly’s and make the necessary changes in the future.