College Football’s Insane Calendar Needlessly Damages Bowls, Carousel, Recruiting & Portal

The Coaching Carousel – Bryan Kelly Epitomized the Problem

Two years ago, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly had the Fighting Irish in legitimate College Football Playoff contention. Yet Kelly chose to forgo the shot at the College Football Playoff to take the LSU job. The act was a jaw-dropping example of college football’s calendar crisis.

Kelly calculated that it made more sense to leave Notre Dame for LSU because he did not want to miss out on recruiting for his new program. Because the early signing period was approaching, he thought his time would be best put to use signing players for LSU than chasing a national championship at Notre Dame.

It was a terrible look for everyone involved. Yet, nothing was done to address the issue.

This year, Mike Elko led the Duke Blue Devils to a second consecutive bowl season. That is a rare feat in Durham, NC. But Elko took the Texas A&M job, leaving Duke without its head coach for its Birmingham Bowl matchup against Troy. 

What should have been a special and proper end to a good season became one where top players such as QB Riley Leonhard hopped into the transfer portal rather than stay for an uncertain future. The Duke team that played in the Birmingham Bowl was a much lesser one than the program that earned the honor.

Also, in 2023 James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti led the Dukes to an 11-1 record and a berth in the Armed Forces Bowl. However, Cignetti was not around for the program’s first bowl berth and reward for a landmark season. Instead, he was recruiting for the Indiana Hoosiers, who hired him away.

The NFL has a rule that no in-person coaching interviews can be done until the divisional playoffs are complete. This rule prevents distractions for teams in the postseason and allows those coaching in the playoffs to have a legitimate shot at open jobs. College football should do the same.

Orange Crush – How the Calendar Destroyed Florida State’s Postseason

Following a 13-0 ACC championship season, Florida State was denied an invite to the College Football Playoff. Instead, it earned a berth in the December 30 Orange Bowl against 12-1 Georgia in a top-shelf matchup of two legitimate CFP-quality programs.

But because of the sub, Florida State players began opting out of the game for the NFL Draft or transferring out of the program. While this was going on, head coach Mike Norvell was trying to salvage what was a strong but shaky recruiting class. There was plenty of negative recruiting about FSU being stuck in the inferior ACC. This perfect storm further devalued the motivation of current players to stick with the program or play in a “meaningless” Orange Bowl that has no national championship implications.

That once-promising matchup of the Seminoles and Bulldogs has been obliterated. Florida State has an unrecognizable roster and lineup for the matchup. The team that went 13-0 is a mere shell of itself. Slaughter is expected. Meanwhile, ESPN, Capital One, the Orange Bowl, and other sponsors are stuck holding an empty bag of a meaningless mismatch.  Yet they won't be getting a refund.  

Since NFL quality players are opting out of bowl games and with so many players hitting the transfer portal, more bowl games are resembling NFL exhibitions in which teams that earned the right to play lose many or most of the key players that got them there.

The entire bowl system needs to be reimagined, perhaps with non-CFP bowls played at the start of the year instead of the end. 

Irony - Early Signing Period is Too Late 

At the start of December, as the coaching carousel gained full speed, teams began preparation for their bowl games, the transfer portal was overloaded with players wanting new homes, and the early signing date of December 20 was approaching. This buffet menu meant a full recruiting blitz for the first three weeks of the month. It was too much.

The early signing period’s place on the calendar is a major part of the coaching carousel problem. Schools wanting to get a head start with new leadership will fire coaches before the season is completed to get a head start on recruiting. This way of business means good assistants are getting poached off of schools still in the postseason hunt, further complicating the life of head coaches.

The early signing period should begin sometime in mid or late July and last until August preseason camps begin. And then national signing day should go back to mid to late February after the season. This logical change would allow a new coaching staff plenty of time to do effective recruiting for a month or two while keeping the coaching units in tact until after the CFP and bowl season.

The Portal Glut

The transfer portal is a trickier issue to navigate. Much of the problem has to do with enrollment dates for early January at most universities. Most estimates have the portal totaling well over 3200 players. Sadly, many of those players will not find a new home and will lose their scholarships forever in the process.

The current portal period is December 4, 2023, through January 2, 2024. Again, this is at the peak of postseason preparation, on the heels of early signing day, and with coaching staffs still being put together for 2024. It’s insanity.

As distasteful as it is, the portal might have to become a 24/7/365 proposition in the future. This change would help reduce the logjam of players without homes and somewhat ease the burden of coaches with too much on their plates already.

Does College Football Even Want to Change?

President Ronald Reagan used to say that the solutions to America’s problems were simple. But that did not mean the solutions were easy.

And that is where college football finds itself.

With a summer early signing period, a February national signing day, a ban on coaching changes until after the CFP, and an always open portal, the willful, deliberate stupidity of today can be ended.

But does college football have the vision, brains, and brass to realize that? Sadly, the answer is probably not.

College Football’s leadership has a verifiable policy of if it does NOT make sense, do it!