Why Big 12 Coaches Are United Behind Rodriguez’s Bold Transfer Portal Move—What It Means for the Season

Spring’s not just about blooming flowers and warmer days—it’s also when college football coaches like West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez get downright vocal about the transfer portal mess that’s been bugging them for a while now. Two portal windows—one in winter, another in spring—are driving coaches up the wall, Rodriguez included, who argues for a streamlined, pro-style approach. Imagine one portal period, like free agency, and a draft-like recruiting process—that’s the vision. He’s frustrated, and honestly, who can blame him? Spending spring coaching a player only to see him jump ship and play against you come fall just doesn’t sit right. This complaint isn’t isolated; the Big 12’s top brass also chimed in recently, showing clear backing for a unified January portal. But shifting the dates isn’t as easy as flipping a switch—calendar conflicts and playoff schedules mean this debate won’t settle anytime soon. Still, hearing voices like Rodriguez’s grow louder means a shake-up is looming, and I, for one, am watching closely to see how the sport adapts. LEARN MORE

Rodriguez wants to adopt a professional model, like Bill Belichick’s model, with one portal window being like free agency and recruiting being the draft. 

West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez was vocal this spring about his problems with the NCAA and the current state of college football. His biggest issue was with the transfer portal, and how there were two openings, with one in the winter and the other in the spring.

Currently, there’s a portal period in December and another in April, so the January window won’t be a plug-and-play option. It won’t just replace one of the current windows while getting rid of the other. But, there’s reasoning behind why the coaches want January to be when the spring portal falls.

Rodriguez isn’t the only coach in college football who sees this as an issue. Last week, the Big 12 coaches, athletic directors, and commissioner Brett Yormark met to talk about the current state of the sport and voiced their complaints. 

It’ll be interesting to see how January works, though. The December portal was created because the winter semester ends in early December and starts at the beginning of January. So, players have time to switch schools during the break. The portal in January could get dicey with many schools starting the second semester in early January. The National Championship game for 2026 is scheduled for January 19, which is deep into January, so will it be after? Now, it’s almost February at that point.

Rodriguez wants one portal period. His argument is that he’ll coach a player all spring, and then after he’s spent all his time and effort developing the player, he can just jump in the portal and play against him in the fall. 

A January portal gets rid of the awkward conversations a player and coach have in December when he’s on the roster of a College Football Playoff team making a run for the national championship, and in the middle, the player has to decide to whether to stay for the betterment of the team or leave to better his career. 

“It’s a tough thing with calendars right now and where it goes,” Leipold said ” It’s a chance to get your team settled. You’re signing most of your guys in December. You’re going to know what your roster will be like to start the second semester, and you have the opportunity to work and develop, build those relationships, evaluate your team, and get ready for the next season.”

The consensus for the portal was that the Big 12 coaches agree with Rodriguez and want one portal period.

“I mean, how ridiculous is that?” Rodriguez said in March. “There’s another portal thing coming up in a couple of weeks… I wasted all my time coaching this guy, getting him ready, and then he’s getting a paycheck to go somewhere else.”

Thursday, Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham and Kansas coach Lance Leipold took to the podium, answering questions about what they’d like to see for the future of college football, representing the rest of the Big 12 coaches.

“I think the people in charge see that you can’t have this much roster movement and turnover and change in April and May,” Rodriguez said. “It’s ridiculous.”

It also removes a coach coaching a player all spring, just for them to leave at the end.

There hasn’t been a change, yet, on the portal because of issues like these, but it’s known that the Big 12 coaches want it to change, so a switch could be coming in the future.

“As coaches, we unanimously support one portal window, and that is in January,” Leipold said. “That’s what we’d like.” 

“It kind of sucks that we have to do so much roster movement, management, whatever you want to call it in April,” Rodriguez said early this spring. “I guess I am complaining. It’s kind of a new thing in college football. It’s not smart. It’s not right. It’s not organized correctly.”