What changes do SEC football coaches want to see made to the transfer portal calendar?

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — In the most recent academic year, the transfer portal was open from December 9 to December 28 and then April 16 to April 25. Not only did coaches, administrators, and collectives have to pursue and defend right after the 2024 season, they had to do so again in the midst of spring football practices.

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The portal has, oddly enough, taken a backseat to other issues on the Southeastern Conference’s plate at SEC Spring Meetings in Florida. The future of the College Football Playoff, life in the revenue sharing era, and how many conference games league members will play have dominated most of the headlines coming from the Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort.

But it remains one of the things decision makers have not solved. However, coaches made their opinions known on Tuesday and with an apparent consensus. They want just one window after the season.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey made that clear yesterday.

Greg Sankey said the SEC's football coaches would prefer a 10-day transfer portal window in January.

They'd also rather keep things as they are instead of an April-only portal.

— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) May 27, 2025

There are a lot of moving parts to the transfer portal. And, these proposed windows only apply to student-athletes in FBS football who have not earned their degrees. As of yet, there have been no discussions about altering the regulations that allow for graduate transfers to enter the portal at any time and still have immediate eligibility, nor talks about removing the 30-day window that opens when a head coach leaves his post for whatever reason.

The desire from coaches to move to a one-window model was not only made public by Sankey, but also by the coaches themselves via the American Football Coaches Association. In January, the AFCA proposed a single window from January 2-12. The proposal doesn’t put it into effect as the NCAA has to approve that type of change.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian didn’t have any dates in mind while speaking about the topic on Tuesday, but he does like the idea of a single window that was put forward by the proposal.

“I don’t know the exact timing of when that should be, but I do think we’re all in agreement that one transfer portal window would be beneficial,” Sarkisian said. “We’re teambuilders, that’s what we do. It’s hard to build a team when you’ve got two different portals and you’re not sure who’s on your team, who’s coming, who’s going. You do your best to build a culture to where hopefully you can retain those players and bring in some good players. We’ve all benefitted from that.”

He’d later say, “I think somewhere in spring is probably the right timing. What does that look like? Is that late January? Is that February? Is that March? I don’t know. What does that exactly look like?”

As it currently stands, the portal window is open in December during the leadup to the Saturday that features conference championships to about the end of the month. Then, there’s the brief window in the spring. The winter window forces coaches to not only scour the portal for new players, but also work to keep players on the roster. This happens when those same coaches are trying to lock up their high school signing class. And in some cases, like for Texas and Georgia in 2024, game prep for a conference championship is also taking place.

In the House settlement era, those in power will have to make sure they have their dollars and cents straightened out when negotiating revenue sharing deals with everything else going on.

“The timing of the portal right now is really critical because it affects so many things,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said on the Paul Finebaum Show this week. “We have become a little more accustomed with the December-January portal. There’s also an April portal. Will it be a one portal window? Will it be a two portal window? If it’s one portal, when will it fall? That’s become a really critical decision because it’s going to affect people’s cap and your cap space.”

Said Sarkisian: “I think if we can uniform that a little bit, some point in the spring I think would be helpful. What that exact time is, I don’t know yet. I do know from my perspective, for two years now I’ve been in the playoffs in back-to-back years: that December portal window was brutal.”

A single portal window sounds like an easy solution, but the whole college part of college football plays a factor here. Enrollment dates, academic calendars, and the scholastic side of things can complicate matters when it comes to roster building. Of course, these are just things those in power will have to deal with. After all, there is no perfect solution in modern college football.

“I’m definitely an advocate of that portal (window) being after the playoffs are done, but when in spring? When does that occur? I don’t know,” Sarkisian said.

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“I don’t know” is a common response to most of the issues surrounding college sports at the highest level. But in Destin and in AFCA meetings, a prevailing opinion has been formed around the idea of one portal window in order to make the roster-building process a bit clearer for coaches in the tumultuous NIL+transfer portal era.