Huge Change Coming To College Football Transfer Portal Window

Huge Change Coming To College Football Transfer Portal Window

The Football Bowl Subdivision, or FBS, coaches voted on Tuesday to unanimously reduce the College Football Transfer Portal window down to a ten-day period in January, as opposed to the current format which is a three-week window in December and a period in April. This proposal was brought forward in an effort to preserve the integrity of bowl season.

During the annual meeting at the 2025 American Football Coaches Association convention, all FBS coaches voted yes to shorten the transfer portal window to 1/2 through 1/12. This will take effect for the 2025-2026 academic year. AFCA president Craig Bohl gave a statement on the proposal and the vote:

Full quote via ESPN.com:

“These recommendations are intended to allow a student-athlete and coaches more opportunity to focus on their season while preserving the opportunities for students who choose to transfer to still be able to do so for a traditional spring semester,” AFCA president Craig Bohl said. “We looked at all kinds of information. I’m convinced our coaches care deeply about the student-athletes, so this decision was made through the filter of allowing them more stability and to be able to move forward.”

“We want to protect the season and the sanctity of that, but at the same time, you’re trying to fit a competitive or an academic calendar to sync up, that’s a challenge,” said SMU coach Rhett Lashlee. “We’re the ones on the ground and we know the problems and probably the best solutions, so to be all on the same page and come to a consensus on what the best path forward is, I think we did that.”

“It was important as coaches to express some of the challenges the student-athletes have encountered,” Bohl said. “When we rolled out the windows there were good intentions but there were unintended consequences. As a result, we spent a significant amount of time discussing those challenges and how we can make a decision for the betterment of football.”

2024 College Football Transfer Portal Tracker

I see this as a win for the College Football community. The decision to move the transfer portal window to a ten-day period in January allows the vast majority of schools to not have to stress about who’s leaving, who we are recruiting, who is available for our bowl games, etc. It also makes it way easier for the media and for the fans to keep up with all the moves. This decision gets a thumbs up.

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