We’re nearing the end of the transfer portal window as players across the country are making their final efforts at finding a new home. By the end of the week, players will no longer be able to enter the portal,
but those already in the portal can still sign anywhere across the country. This will be the first time the sport has had only the one winter window, as there will be no spring window as in years past.
Let’s review what has happened across the sport so far:
- On3 reports that 4,199 players have entered the transfer portal as of 5 p.m. ET on Sunday
- 31 FBS and 15 FCS programs had a head coach opening this year (including Michigan)
The result has been an unmitigated disaster filled with chaos for both the student athletes and programs, and worst of all has been teams with a change at head coach. Kyle Whittingham spoke about why it has been so difficult on Wake Up Barstool.
“Players feel a little more pressure and under the gun because when they had two portal windows, they had a safety net. For example, in a situation like ours then — new coach, new staff, they can come in and say, ‘Ok, let’s go through spring ball, see how it feels, see what we think, and if we don’t like it, there’s another portal after spring ball ends.‘ But now there’s not. And so they’re forced to make these decisions, really uninformed in a lot of cases, and they don’t have the chance to get to know us and the new staff.“
Michigan has had 29 players enter the portal this winter. Andrew Sprague, Zeke Berry, Jake Guarnera and Logan Forbes have withdrawn and are returning, and there is still the potential for others to do the same. But as of now, Michigan looks like it will lose foundational pieces like Justice Haynes, Cole Sullivan, Brandyn Hillman and TJ Metcalf, to name a few.
With the lack of structure and a short period of time to make a decision, how can you blame anyone for considering other options in their only opportunity to leave? Not having a portal window in the spring has heavily damaged programs who were making a transition like Michigan.
The coaching change in Ann Arbor was certainly tumultuous, but it also benefitted the Wolverines from a roster retention aspect. Many coaching changes have seen coaches transitioning to another Power 4 program. Amid that, players at the original program have followed their coach at rates we haven’t really seen previously.
That wasn’t the case for Sherrone Moore’s conclusion as the head coach. It happened quickly and unexpectedly from scandal. The team underperformed, sure, but it’s not like they won six games and Moore was fired for a complete and utter lack of success. That helped key young pieces like Bryce Underwood, Jordan Marshall, Andrew Marsh, Andrew Babalola, Nate Marshall and others stay at Michigan. Hiring a head coach like Whittingham and two promising coordinators has also assisted there.
The other end of that spectrum is what happened to Iowa State and Ole Miss. Lane Kiffin’s departure for LSU was less than shocking as he was tied to the job as soon as it opened. But the Rebels were put in a devastating position where Kiffin could be coaching the playoff-bound Ole Miss while the transfer portal window was open. Instead, the booted Kiffin out of the building, still impressively won a playoff game, but risked the best season the team has had in decades for it. The potential payoff was that only 10 players have entered the portal since they promoted Pete Golding to be their permanent head coach quickly after Kiffin announced his departure. They were seconds away from a national championship appearance before Miami’s Carson Beck ran the ball into the end zone. It’s going to be one of the largest what if’s in the history of the sport wondering if Kiffin could have made the difference needed.
For the Cyclones, Matt Campbell departed to become the head coach at Penn State — 21 of his players, including quarterback Rocco Becht, went with him. In total, Iowa State had more than 50 guys enter the portal; on Dec. 29, it had just 17 players left on the roster. The Cyclones have to be in contact with just about anyone who enters because they need bodies to actually form a team in 2026. They’ve received about 40 commitments, a majority coming from Washington State — Iowa State just so happened to hire Jimmy Rogers from Washington State to be their head coach.
You see the trend here. One portal window while football is still being played means immediate change and quick reactions, specifically surrounding coaching changes. Programs that spend years waiting for their moment get it pulled away, players move with their head coach without even giving their original program a chance, and depth charts will be shaken up across the country. And the teams who might hurt the most are the ones in the CFP. Imagine preparing for the most important game of your life while having to also balance the drama of the portal, from either a coach or player perspective.
The decision to cut down to one window from two might be the right one. It protects programs from players having full control and keeps the chaos somewhat retained to a shorter amount of time. But this current state of the portal doesn’t work well for anyone.
