The ending of the college football season always invites chaos. Coaches get fired, coaches leave for other jobs, early signing period starts, and the transfer portal opens. We all know the college football calendar needs to change, but the timing of the season will never fit with the academic calendar.
Coaches keep getting fired earlier and earlier in order to get new coaches and staffs put together in time to get a jump on recruiting and the transfer portal. The perfect example of this is currently underway. North Texas Head Coach Eric Morris was just hired as the new Oklahoma State Head Coach.
Smart move for the Cowboys— Coach Morris is already recruiting! See the problem here? North Texas is in the hunt for a spot in the AAC championship game, and potentially a playoff spot, while actively recruiting for another school.
How profoundly broken college football seasonal calendar could cost the Aggies dearly this offseason
This could've been an issue for Texas A&M, and could still be one. Offensive Coordinator Collin Klein was rumored to be in the running for the Oklahoma State job and now is rumored to be in the running for the North Texas job.
Most people agree that the early signing period should be eliminated for high school recruiting, or at least moved back to the end of the postseason. The transfer portal has already been moved from December to early January.
The academic calendar is the reason why we won't ever see a solution to this problem. Moving back the early signing period and transfer portal would eliminate most players from being able to enroll at their new schools for the spring semester. This puts players, and teams as a whole, way behind the 8-ball when it comes to player development. Key players may not be around for winter workouts and spring ball, two major parts of a team's offseason.
With basketball spanning both semesters and baseball confined to the spring, we don't see these issues for either sport. We probably won't ever find a perfect solution to this issue, but we all know there has to be something better than what we already have.