'Things are changing': College football calendar needs alterations

Transfer portal, early signing period, bowl prep, and the coaching carousel. Somehow, college football has set up all of those major events to occur during December. That seems inefficient.

In many ways, the current model does not seem sustainable for college football. There is no real reason to have to make the majority of your personnel decisions in three weeks before Christmas, but here we are.

There seems to be buzz building within the industry to make some adjustments. Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops is one of those who would like to see some alterations to the college football calendar.

“Things are adjusting. Things are changing. I was voting for the early signing period. Now this month is so crazy, I don’t know,” Stoops told the media on Wednesday. “I think we just got to get together and have some great leadership and some discussions about how to improve this process.”

“All the coaches, whether it’s Power Five, the calendar, looking at how everything falls. Or adjust it. I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers. I’m holding onto my own you know what.”

Stoops isn’t the only one stretched thin at this time of the year. For those programs forced to make a head coaching hire, their new staff gets put in a tough situation. These football organizations must be ready to sign high school prospects almost immediately after arriving on campus. Meanwhile, the new transfer portal window has made things increasingly more difficult.

The portal process did not officially get started until Dec. 5. and visits had to be conducted over two weeks before a dead period began on Dec. 19. If you wanted a mid-year transfer, that recruitment had to be wrapped up in two weeks. That’s asking a lot.

The early signing period has turned into the main national signing day with the majority of high school prospects signing their National Letters of Intent. Per the On3 Consensus, 95 of the top 100 recruits in the class of 2023 have signed with schools. That has made the February signing period an afterthought.

Add in the bowl process, and you have a complete mess filled with non-stop chaos. Some changes have to be made. Could we see the early signing period eliminated? That seems like the easiest fix so coaching staffs can focus on the transfer portal and game prep in December before digging 100 percent into high school recruiting in January. However, with the College Football Playoff expansion coming in 2024, there could be modifications required to bowl games outside the tournament.

College football is in the land of the unknown and must adjust accordingly.

“I know there’s many coaches that I talked to, yes, that feel the same,” said Stoops.

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