SEC coaches expressed support Wednesday for the proposed move of college football’s transfer portal window from December to January, arguing it’s the best option even if it conflicts with the College Football Playoff schedule.

“I’m sorry, there’s no crying on the yacht,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said Wednesday during the weekly SEC teleconference. “I mean, we gotta get this thing set and [in] its best position at this time to allow us to set our rosters moving forward.”

Ohio State coach Ryan Day said Tuesday that he was not a fan of the proposal to open the transfer portal window on Jan. 2, 2026, for a 10-day period immediately following the CFP quarterfinals. Day is concerned about the difficulty of assembling a roster for next season while still competing in the playoff.

He said he believes a majority of Big Ten coaches and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti agree with him. Kelly said his fellow SEC coaches are unanimous in their support of shifting to a January portal period.

“I’ve talked to many that believe across the country this is the progress that we need to make,” Kelly said.

The FBS oversight committee voted last week to move the portal window to Jan. 2-11, 2026, giving FBS graduate and underclassman players 10 days to decide whether they will enter their names into the NCAA transfer portal, and eliminate the April transfer window. The reform still needs to be approved by the Division I administrative committee, with a vote expected to occur before Oct. 1.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart acknowledged roster management could be “nightmarish” for the last four teams still competing for the national championship, but said he agrees moving transfer recruiting to January is the best option and said several Big Ten coaches agree with him.

FBS head coaches held their annual meeting at the AFCA convention in January and emerged with unanimous support for a Jan. 2 portal window, according to AFCA director Craig Bohl, believing it helped to stabilize rosters and ensure more players finish the season with their current team. Several playoff teams in the 2024 season had their depth charts affected by players departing when the winter portal window opened Dec. 9, and Marshall pulled out of its bowl game due to heavy roster attrition.

“I don’t think there’s any perfect place by any stretch,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “But being able to get guys in school the end of the season for 95% of college football is there. The kids have made decisions anyway. Let’s get a window that makes sense for everybody to both recruit, evaluate and still be able to get them into school.”

If approved, the transfer window would begin one day after the CFP quarterfinals are completed. This season’s CFP semifinals, the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, are scheduled for Jan. 8 and 9, respectively.

“I just don’t quite understand how teams that are playing in the playoffs are expected to make the decisions and sign their upcoming players while they’re still getting ready to play for games,” Day said Tuesday. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“I’m sorry, there’s no crying on the yacht. I mean, we gotta get this thing set and its best position at this time to allow us to set our rosters moving forward.””

LSU coach Brian Kelly, dismissing concerns over an overlapping transfer portal and CFP

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has led the Longhorns to the College Football Playoff in back-to-back seasons, including a semifinal showdown with Day’s Buckeyes last season, and has gone through the difficulties of recruiting the transfer portal while also preparing for playoff games.

“Those are champagne problems,” Sarkisian said Monday. “That means you’ve got a pretty good team — you’re in the semifinals. But I think for the betterment of the sport, that’s the right window for the players to have a chance to go in and decide where they want to go so they can enroll in their next institution for spring and be there for spring ball and then into summer. It’s fair for the school so they can build their rosters predicated on who leaves and what they’re trying to do.

“Like I said, if you are one of the four, you figure it out. We’ve all hired big enough personnel departments.”

Opponents of the January transfer window have suggested moving to a single transfer window that opens in the spring, like the NFL does with free agency, after the season and coaching carousel are over. A portal window in February, for example, might mean players and coaches no longer feel as pressured to make rushed decisions about their moves for the next season.

But many general managers acknowledge that concept would likely have to be paired with a complete overhaul of the offseason calendar in college football, toward more of an NFL model with spring and summer OTAs.

SEC coaches say they don’t think it would work with the current calendar. Sarkisian said he still thinks it’s important to assemble next year’s team as quickly as possible, getting newcomers on campus in January to start building camaraderie and finding out who they are working with.

“I think some in the Big Ten thought if we have the portal later, kids will have to stay and you’ll have the team ’til the end of the semester,” Smart said. “That’s not realistic. The kids and players that want to leave, that are not happy, I don’t know that they should be staying on campus an extra semester. It’s not a great situation either way, but the better way is the way it out came out, in my opinion.”