College football coaches are the first to complain that their game is broken. The system does not work, whether it is the calendar, the finances, or the lack of guardrails on the transfer portal. The coaches tend to be unhappier than the fan bases that have stuck through the revolution of college sports. So, with their annual American Football Coaches’ Association meeting in Charlotte, the coaches had the ability to vote to make fixes. Instead, they approved a head-scratching measure and then took off instead of answering for their decisions.
A Vote on Something
The coaches voted to extend the time a college football player can play and still claim a redshirt year. It was four games. It is now nine games, or three-fourths of a season. After the four-hour-long meeting and subsequent vote, AFCA Executive Director Craig Bohl issued the following statement, handwritten on a piece of scrap paper. “FBS coaches unanimously support increasing the current Division I football redshirt rule to include up to nine regular- season games.” He then left, saying he would not take any questions from the media.
A Lack of Answers
The coaches, meanwhile, upon seeing the dozen or so members of the national media waiting for the details of the meeting, fled like deer trying to avoid a pack of mountain lions. A couple spoke to Last Word off the record. But most ran for the exits. One even proclaimed, “Appreciate you, though,” as if appreciation provides the media or the fan bases any answers as to why the coaches failed to take any accountability for the things they complain the most about.
One Big 12 coach told Last Word off the record that there were other things that were discussed in the four-hour meeting, but nothing that came close to being voted upon. One ACC coach told us it took nearly all of the four hours just to come to an agreement on a number for the redshirt revisions and get it to a vote. No one was willing to give us an answer as to why, with all of the issues coaches raise every year, this was the one topic they decided to try change.
The Haranguing Will Continue
So there is no impending change in fixing the December calendar. The norm will still be that December has conference championship games, bowl game prep, early signing period for high school recruits, and the renegade engagement with players for the January transfer portal. While many coaches have publicly advocated for moving the portal until after Spring camp, and maybe even moving Spring camp to Summer, none of it was dealt with.
A rough estimation would put the attendance at the coaches’ vote at about 50% of FBS coaches. Yes, we are in the final couple of days of players being able to enter the transfer portal. But Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were designated as “dark periods” where coaches could not negotiate with players, so that they could have the time to deal with the big picture issues for college football. Still, some of those who are the most vocal about the things that ail the sport took a pass on attending the vote.
The Bottom Line
If approved by the full DI council in a few months, players could now accumulate playing time in nine games at any point during the season and still redshirt. In recent years, bowl games have not counted toward the total number of allowable games. Since the AFCA would not answer questions, we will assume it remains the case. So we can expect some players to use their newfound leverage and, come the heat of the conference race in November, choose to sit out the last few games. Certainly, there will be a certain group that will be vocal about how it hamstrings their lineups at the end of the season.
