When asked to describe what December had been like for him, Florida State coach Mike Norvell turned to a running metaphor.
“It is a dead sprint for basically every minute you have until you finish up the last game,” he said before the Seminoles took on Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl at Camping World Stadium on Dec. 29.
From the end of the college football regular season (Nov. 26) to conference championship games (Dec. 2-3), bowl announcements (Dec. 4), the transfer portal window opening (Dec. 5), the start of the bowl season (Dec. 16) and the early signing period (Dec. 21-24), coaches have all felt like they’ve been running a marathon.
“It’s just an unbelievably frustrating time right now,” said Todd Berry, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association. Berry has heard from coaches exasperated by the recent calendar stretch that concluded with the National Championship Game on Jan. 9 in Los Angeles.
“There’s certainly an awful lot of moving parts right now and that’s our fault,” added Berry. “I’m not talking coaches. I’m talking about the NCAA and the oversight [committee]. We ignored, quite honestly, so much.”
The new transfer portal window caused a flood of players to enter the marketplace looking for new homes. More than 1,000 players were in the portal during the first few days, leaving coaches and fans to wonder who would be left on their rosters when the smoke cleared.
Bowl season opened mid-December, forcing the coaching staff to deal with roster management issues as some players transferred and others opted out to prepare for the NFL draft. There were more than 100 players who bypassed 42 bowl games.
According to LSU coach Brian Kelly, the Tigers had 65 scholarship players for their appearance in the Citrus Bowl against Purdue.
“We are chock-full of players. I don’t know what we will do with all of them,” Kelly said jokingly. “We are not where we need to be, certainly, but some units are critical. We are going to have to be very fortunate and manage it.”
Berry said available players became such a concern that some coaches considered using protocols enacted during the COVID season that would allow teams to pull out of bowl games if they didn’t have enough scholarship players available.
To avoid such a situation, Berry convinced the NCAA Oversight Committee to relax its redshirt legislation so players who only appeared in four regular season games to redshirt could play in a bowl game without losing eligibility.
“It’s just a lesson in this new world that we’re in,” he said. “We need to have our whole roster available because we can’t predict who’s coming in and out.”
Purdue faced a similar situation, but making things more difficult was the departure of coach Jeff Brohm, who left on Dec. 7 to take the Louisville job. He brought several coaches from the Boilermakers staff, leaving the program short-handed heading into their bowl game.
“We are kind of on a skeleton crew, basically all the QCs [Qualiy Control assistants] are elevated up to full-time coaches,” said interim coach Brian Brohm, Jeff’s brother.
There were 24 coaching changes at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, 15 of which transpired after the regular season finales.
To add to the frustration, many coaches were on the recruiting trail wrapping up their 2023 classes before the start of the early signing period just before Christmas.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey voiced concern about the impact of the tight window between the early signing period and the transfer portal, separated by just two weeks.
“We’re crushing coaches in December,” Sankey told The Athletic. “We’re going to add playoff games [in December]. We have to change early signing.”
The traditional National Signing Day takes place on the first Wednesday in February. Most high school players and transfers, however, sign their National Letter of Intent in December to get on campus as early enrollees in January.
Berry believes the early signing period works, but he thinks it should be moved up.
“If we signed earlier, let’s say early December or late November and that becomes the signing date, then you feel comfortable about signing the high school class and then the portal window opens,” he said. “That way, you’re not trying to do two things simultaneously.”
The challenge with having the transfer portal window open before the signing period is that it increases the likelihood that a coach may recruit a transfer to fill immediate needs rather than sign and develop a high school recruit.
“You have a high school player that thought they had an opportunity and all of a sudden, it’s not presented,” Berry said.
Some coaches would prefer an open signing period that would allow high school prospects to sign at any time during the year. There also is a growing sentiment among some coaches to move the early signing period up to the summer, but Berry insists that would cause other issues.
“There are some coaches that are concerned that some high school players will begin opting out of their senior year, which, unfortunately, we’ve already seen some of that regardless,” he added.
As challenging as this December was, it could be nothing compared to what’s coming when the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams in 2024.
The four first-round games are set to take place Dec. 21, with the four quarterfinal games Dec. 28-Jan. 1. The two semis would be played on Jan. 11, with the national championship game on Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told the Orlando Sentinel last month that the Playoff management committee, comprised of the 10 conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director, would discuss how to alleviate the pressure the expanded playoff would create for some schools in December.
“There’s a compression of games if you leave the season the same way,” said Phillips, citing a schedule that features a 12-game regular season, conference championship games and then bowl games and playoffs. “Part of the work we’re doing with the calendar is finding some relief, either on the back end of the season or at the front end.”
Kicking off the season a week earlier, which would be when the Week 0 games typically take place, is an option.
Berry thinks an earlier start merits consideration, significantly if it eases congestion at the end of the season. Still, he warns that if the plan includes adding additional bye weeks, that won’t help.
Meanwhile, Norvell credits his support staff for helping handle December.
“For a coach, it is craziness. You love each of the phases of being a college football coach,” he said. “When it’s all meshed together — the organization, the departments, the staff — I’m so grateful for their work because you can’t do it on your own. Everybody has to take ownership of those responsibilities and ensure that each phase operates best.
“When you mix recruiting visits with being on the road with the bowl practice, the practice, the game preparation and game planning — all those things are thrown together. It is a wild time and the new age of college athletics.”
Added first-year Oklahoma coach Brent Venables: “It does take a village. You need a well-educated and ready team to hit the ground running, and you have a tiny window to get it all done. Everybody has the same rules, and we are no more disadvantaged than anyone else.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Matt Murschel at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.
