Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin has dominated the NCAA transfer portal the last few weeks, but that doesn't mean he's a fan of the way the portal is currently set up. 

In fact, Kiffin blasted the current setup this week while speaking to reporters ahead of the Peach Bowl. 

"It’s a normal week for us, we’re just in a hotel in a different city," said Kiffin. "Previous to this, it’s been a little chaotic with not just recruiting and flying around, trying to get back for practice, a lot of assistant coaches not at the practices. But then dealing with the portal, going to other universities to see kids and dealing with keeping our own kids."

“Again, it’s a terrible system," added Kiffin. "I wouldn’t think any other sports, professional sports, have ever set up a system where free agency starts while the season is still going, so it really makes no sense. You can leave, you can stay, you can go other places. Coaches can call you and our season is still going. It would be like before the NFC or AFC playoffs start in a couple weeks, all of a sudden free agency the week before opens. So you can start recruiting other people’s players and fly them on trips and get them to transfer. So really a really bad system.”

Kiffin is spot on — it's a terrible system that isn't sustainable. 

As soon as the regular season ends, coaches immediately have to put the finishing touches on their signing class because of early signing period while dealing with transfer portal madness (which really starts a couple of weeks before the regular season ends when players start hitting the portal). And then for bowl eligible teams, there's also a bowl game to prepare for. It's makes December the busiest month of the year for college football programs (and these coaches, by the way, also have to deal with the holidays and try to manage time with their own families). 

There's an easy solution, but no one is going to like it. 

The early signing period should stay where it is. The bulk of the recruiting work is done by December. And the little bit of work that is left — pursuing the last uncommitted recruits — is wrapped up by the week before Christmas when the early signing period begins. That's manageable for coaches. 

The transfer portal, however, should be moved back to the end of April/beginning of May. Essentially, the mid-year window should disappear (December/January and April/May are the only options because of class schedules). 

(Note: Exceptions should be made for players at a program where the head coach leaves.)

This would prevent new transfers from taking part in spring practice which is why no one would like it. But I think that's something that could be viewed as a positive. The point of the transfer portal was never to treat it like free agency where programs can rapidly improve their teams by buying the best transfer players. 

The priority should be on developing high school talent and giving high school players the first shot at roster spots. Once spring practice happens, then programs can check out players in the transfer portal. It would make managing the roster much easier while also cutting down on some of the portal madness. 

One problem with this method, however, is tampering. How do you manage that aspect? 

It won't be easy. But there would have to be some serious punishments (the NFL has an anti-tampering system in place and they catch a few violators from time to time). A serious fine, something that starts at seven figures, would seem like an appropriate punishment. Maybe even share that cash with programs that don't generate as much revenue (that would require a complete overhaul of college football, but that's probably what's needed at this point). If the NCAA can figure out that Jeremy Pruitt's staff paid for some hotel rooms, surely they can catch programs that tamper with other program's players. 

Unless the NCAA is willing to cut out the December/January transfer window, this problem isn't going away. And the month of December will continue to be incredibly stressful for college football coaches (which will likely lead to burnout for those coaches). 

The NCAA has a monstrous problem on its hands. But it's a problem they created by being late to the party on updated transfer rules and NIL deals. 

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