Coaches created this college football calendar mess. It's on them to fix it

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Coaches created this college football calendar mess. It's on them to fix it

Matt Hayes, USA TODAY · USA TODAY Sports

Tue, Dec 2, 2025 ·

5 min read

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Time for a brief history lesson on the dysfunctional college football calendar , the latest and now loudest worst thing ever about the sport.

Tighten up, everyone. We're going through this charade of an excuse from college football coaches one time, and one time only.

There are three undeniable facts to combat all whining and from coaches about the calendar:

Coaches wanted national signing day in the first week of December.

Coaches wanted the single, two-week transfer portal window in the first two weeks of January.

These decisions weren't arbitrarily forced on them by from high above. They voted for it.

News media arrive before a press conference by LSU's new head coach Lane Kiffin at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on Dec. 1, 2025.
(Matthew Hinton, Imagn Images)

A sign is seen before a press conference by LSU new head coach Lane Kiffin at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on Dec. 1, 2025.
(Matthew Hinton, Imagn Images)

LSU new head coach Lane Kiffin is introduced at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on Dec. 1, 2025.
(Matthew Hinton, Imagn Images)

LSU new head coach Lane Kiffin speaks at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on Dec. 1, 2025.
(Matthew Hinton, Imagn Images)

So when you continue to read or hear coaches complain about the calendar and how it presents so many logistical problems to the health of the sport, understand it's a mess of their making. They voted for it as a group through the American Football Coaches Association, and forwarded their thoughts to their respective presidents, athletic directors and conference commissioners.

The NCAA then did what was asked of them, and rubber-stamped the changes. Period.

Full stop. End of story.

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Now, let's bring in Lane Kiffin, who as an excellent football coach, is one helluva salesman.

He's not the most popular cat in the state of Mississippi right now, or any state not named Louisiana. Which is probably why he stood at his introductory news conference at LSU on Monday — mere hours after his separation from Ole Miss captured the sports world like few things ever have, even dwarfing the NFL — and tried to explain away why he wanted his cake, and wanted to eat it, too.

Why he desperately wanted to coach Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff, and simultaneously leave for LSU.

And but for that dumb college football calendar — that, you know, he voted for — he could've maybe pulled it off.

"Obviously, the last 48 hours, in a lot of ways, sucked," Kiffin said. "There was no way to possibly do it, in my opinion, any better than we did from a timing standpoint, because it's a bad scheduling system of how it's set up."

This, of course, is laughable.

Look, I'm all for coaches making as much money as they can. All for their free movement, with no limitations on when, where and how it happens.

But they don't get two bites at the apple. They don't get free movement while limiting player movement to get better control of roster management.

They want players in their buildings when it's convenient for them, and that's why they're in this current predicament. That's why the dreaded calendar — I mean, a calendar — is the current "unsustainable" beast it is.

Sort of like NIL and free player movement was "unsustainable" when the flood gates opened in 2021. But enough of that, let's get back to the big, bad calendar.

Penn State hired Matt Campbell as its next head coach. Campbell, 46, coached 10 seasons at Iowa State and was the winningest coach in school history.

(Nirmalendu Majumdar, USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Kyle Whittingham is finalizing a new deal to be the coach at Michigan after 177 wins in 21 seasons at Utah. Whittingham replaces Sherrone Moore who was fired Dec. 10.
(Rob Gray, Imagn Images)

UCLA hired Bob Chesney as its next head coach, ending the longest coaching search in country of a coach fired midseason in 2025. Chesney spent two seasons at James Madison and led the Dukes to the Sun Belt championship game this season after coaching Holy Cross, where he won five conference championships.
(Bob Donnan, Imagn Images)

South Florida hired Brian Hartline, replacing Alex Golesh, who left to become head coach of Auburn. Hartline has been an assistant at Ohio State since 2017 first as wide receivers coach then offensive coordinator and helped the Buckeyes win the national championship last season.
(Adam Cairns, USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Florida hired Jon Sumrall as its next head coach, replacing Billy Napier, who was fired midseason. Sumrall, 43, spent two seasons at Tulane and two at Troy and led his teams to the conference championship game in each of those four seasons.

(Stephen Lew, Imagn Images)

LSU hired Lane Kiffin as its next football coach on Nov. 30. Kiffin spent six seasons at Ole Miss and led the Rebels to a spot in this year's College Football Playoff, though he won't coach in it.
(Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger)

Virginia Tech hired James Franklin as its next head coach. Franklin was fired earlier this season at Penn State. He replaces Brent Pry, who was fired midseason by the Hokies.
(Brian Bishop-Imagn Images)

Michigan State football hired Pat Fitzgerald as Jonathan Smith's replacement. Fitzgerald coached 17 seasons at his alma mater Northwestern, posting a 110-101 overall record.
(Michael Reaves, Getty Images)

Auburn is hiring South Florida coach Alex Golesh to be the Tigers' next head coach. Golesh is 23-15 in three seasons with the Bulls, with three bowl bids.
(Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images)

Ole Miss promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to head coach after Lane Kiffin left for LSU. Golding is in his third season as Rebels DC and served as Alabama's DC before.
(Justin Ford, Getty Images)

Morgan Scalley is taking over as Utah coach with the departure of Kyle Whittingham following 21 seasons in the job. Scalley, a former Utes defensive back, was an assistant under Whittingham for 18 seasons and coach-in-waiting since 2024.
(Rob Gray, Imagn Images)

Arkansas is set to hire Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield to lead the Razorbacks program. Silverfield is 50-24 in six seasons in Memphis with a fifth bowl appearance on the way.
(Wesley Hale-Imagn Images)

Oklahoma State hired Eric Morris from North Texas to be the Cowboys next head coach. Morris replaces longtime OSU coach Mike Gundy, who was fired earlier this season.
(Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images)

Stanford hired Washington Commanders quarterback coach Tavita Pritchard to be the Cardinal's next head coach
(Eric Canha-Imagn Images)

Colorado State hired Jim Mora Jr. as its new head coach. Mora led UConn to back-to-back nine-win seasons and replaces Jay Norvell, who was fired midseason.
(David Butler II-Imagn Images)

Kentucky moved on from Mark Stoops after 13 seasons and hired Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein to fill its vacancy. The Kentucky native previously played for Louisville.
(Ben Lonergan, The Register-Guard)

Iowa State hired Jimmy Rogers as its next head coach. Rogers, 38, spent one year as the coach of Washington State after coaching South Dakota State for two seasons and an FCS national championship in 2023.

(James Snook, Imagn Images)

Kansas State has brought back former player and assistant Collin Klein as its football coach after Chris Klieman stepped down after seven seasons. Klein spent the past two years as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M.
(Peter Aiken, Getty Images)

Tosh Lupoi is returning to alma mater California after the school fired Justin Wilcox. Lupoi, a longtime college and NFL assistant, was defensive coordinator at Oregon for four seasons.
(Ben Lonergan, The Register-Guard)

Charles Huff is the new Memphis football coach after one season at Southern Mississippi after leading the Golden Eagles to a bowl game. He previously was at Marshall for four seasons.
(Matt Bush, Special to the Clarion Ledger)

Connecticut hired Toledo coach Jason Candle to replace Jim Mora. Candle won 81 games in 10 seasons with the Rockets.
(Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)

James Madison moved quickly to hire Billy Napier, a former coach at Florida and Louisiana-Lafayette, after the departure of Bob Chesney to UCLA.
(Matt Pendleton, Imagn Images)

After losing Jon Sumrall to Florida, Tulane elevated offensive coordinator Will Hall to the job. Hall previously coached four seasons at Southern Mississippi.
(Matt Bush, USA TODAY Sports)

Toledo found the replacement for Jason Candle with the addition of Mercer's Mike Jacobs, who led the Bears to consecutive FCS playoff appearances in two seasons at the school.
(Will McLelland, Imagn Images)

Oregon State hired Alabama co-offensive coordinator JaMarcus Shephard as its head coach, replacing Trent Bray who was fired after an 0-7 start this season.
(Jason Clark, Getty Images)

North Texas hired former West Virginia coach Neal Brown as the replacement for Eric Morris, who departed for the head coaching job at Oklahoma State. Brown spent six seasons with the Mountaineers and won 35 games in four seasons at Troy.
(Ben Queen, Imagn Images)

Ohio promoted interim coach John Hauser after the team defeated UNLV in the Xbox Bowl. Hauser replaces Brian Smith, who was fired in December.
(Raymond Carlin III, Imagn Images)

After the departure of Jimmy Rogers, Washington State hired Kirby Moore, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant at Missouri after previous stops at Fresno State and Washington.
(Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports)

Caostal Carolina filled its coaching vacancy after the firing of Tim Beck by hiring Ryan Beard from Missouri State, who led the Bears to a bowl game in their first FBS season.
(Michael Gulledge, Special to the News-Leader)

Southern Mississippi promoted offensive coordinator Blake Anderson to fill its coaching vacancy following the departure of Charles Huff. Anderson was previously the head coach at Utah State and Arkansas State.
(Michael Madrid, USA TODAY Sports)

Alex Mortensen took over as interim coach of Alabama-Birmingham after the firing of Trent Dilfer. Mortenson was promoted to full-time coach after going 2-4 to finish the season.
(David Butler II, Imagn Images)

Coaches will tell you if national signing day is in February like it once was, and the transfer portal has two openings (winter and spring) like it once did, well, all hell breaks loose in the sport. Players are coming and going, and nobody knows who's staying or leaving, and that's not how you build a team.

So they lobbied for change, and now it's biting them in the backside — preventing them from seamless transitions between jobs.

Long story short: Coaches want to control player movement as best they can, while simultaneously expanding their own movement. They want their cake, baby.

And they sure as all get out want to eat it, too.

The solve for this latest crisis is fairly simple: follow the NFL calendar, and NFL rules about coaching movement. You've already set up the financial framework that mimics the NFL with revenue sharing, why not go all the way?

Coaches can only move between schools after a certain date, and only after the regular and postseason is complete to eliminate competitive advantages for any school.
National signing day is the first Wednesday in February, but midterm enrollees are allowed to get an early start on their college careers (like the good ol' days). High school players can arrive on campus early, and help solidify an evolving roster.
A single transfer portal opening is two weeks, beginning May 1. All OTA's (organized team activities) must be completed by April 15, which gives coaches two weeks to evaluate their roster ― and players time to evaluate their process ― before the portal opens.
No more spring practice. Helmets-only drills with OTAs, and no hitting.
Mini-camp is the first week of June, with helmets-only drills and no hitting.
Fall camp begins August 1.

But coaches don't want that schedule for any number of reasons, beginning with limitations on their own movement. That schedule also prevents transfer portal signees from completing a full offseason with a new school, eliminating nearly four months with their new teammates.

Similar ideas like these have been tossed around numerous times, but are always voted down by the AFCA because they give players more control over the movement process. And any time a player has more control, that's a bad thing for coaches.

All you have to do is look at their AFCA voting record to see that. They agreed to this mess.

It's on them to fix it — or stop complaining about it.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coaches upset about college football calendar, they voted for it

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Coaches created this college football calendar mess. It's on them to fix it

See Lane Kiffin's LSU introductory press conference in Baton Rouge

See Lane Kiffin's LSU introductory press conference in Baton Rouge

See Lane Kiffin's LSU introductory press conference in Baton Rouge

See Lane Kiffin's LSU introductory press conference in Baton Rouge

See Lane Kiffin's LSU introductory press conference in Baton Rouge

See Lane Kiffin's LSU introductory press conference in Baton Rouge

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