Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin right to criticize college football's absurd calendar

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin laid into the college football calendar on Tuesday, telling reporters that the current setup makes little to no sense.

According to the Associated Press (via ESPN), Kiffin called the current calendar "dumb," saying it was absurd to open the transfer window before bowl games, and putting the early signing day for recruits during conference championship week.

"We just try to make the best of the situations," Kiffin said during a videoconference call for coaches headed to the Gator Bowl. "It really is a dumb system."

Kiffin was referring to the fact that Duke starting quarterback Maalik Murphy announced he was entering the transfer portal, leaving the Blue Devils to face Ole Miss without their starting signal caller.

"Think about what we're talking about or what [Diaz] just had to address: a quarterback going in the portal," Kiffin said. "Just think about what we're talking about. The season's not over yet, and there's a free agency window open.

"Just think if the NFL was getting ready for the AFC, NFC playoffs, postseason, and players are in free agency already. It's a really poor system, but we just try to manage the best we can through it, and hopefully someday it'll get fixed."

The fact of the matter is, Kiffin is exactly right. The calendar makes no sense for teams or coaches who are trying to prepare for bowl games or conference title tilts. Recruiting and retention of players are both massive undertakings for head coaches in the modern era.

Expecting a coach to juggle the level of contact it takes in the final days of the recruiting process while simultaneously trying to convince players to stay, or figure out who's leaving, while ALSO preparing for conference title games and bowl games is far too much to ask of them and their staffs.

On top of that, coaches losing chunks of their starting lineups to the transfer portal before bowl games makes it almost impossible for teams to properly prepare for games. Take Ole Miss and Duke, for example. Lane Kiffin now has to prep his team to face a Blue Devils quarterback who they have next to no tape on. And to make matters worse, players looking to transfer whose teams might be in the playoff right now will have to wait until April to leave, when the spring window opens.

Unfortunately for coaches, Kiffin is also right in that no one seems to know what the right answer is; signing day has moved around a lot over the years, and has been split into parts to try and ease the burden on coaches.

But one thing's for sure: the calendar as currently constructed does no one any favors.

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Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin right to criticize college football's absurd transfer, recruiting calendar

By Sam Westmoreland | Dec 10, 2024