Mike Elko endorses one transfer portal window proposal

There is no shortage of opinions in recent years about how the Transfer Portal should operate in college football. Certainly, Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko is among those with strong opinions about the future, which now include support for the proposed move to one portal window.

The NCAA Football Oversight Committee voted to support a single portal window. It would be just a 10-day window that opens on January 2nd, after most teams have completely finished their season. That would, in turn, eliminate the spring window and move the winter window from its current time in December while shortening the period players can enter.

Coaches have, in general, been supportive of the move. Elko is no different. As he explained in his weekly press conference ahead of the Notre Dame game, Elko wants teams to know their rosters more firmly than they currently do sooner.

“I think it’s a phenomenal idea,” Mike Elko said. “I think the fact that we’re gonna do it at the end of one season before the start of another one is a really great idea. I’m not sure where the idea of not doing it that way came from. That never seemed real intelligent to me. I like free agency before the season starts, and then we can start preparing with the team that we have. Yeah, I think hopefully it goes through, and I think it’ll be best for everybody. I think it’s really challenging.”

Much has been made about the December period for coaches. During that time, they currently deal with the Transfer Portal, bowl games, and high school recruiting. It’s a chaotic period, which is perhaps too chaotic for coaches and the move to January would alleviate some of that.

This also comes after the House Settlement has come into effect in college sports, allowing for revenue sharing. That’s going to, in its own way, reshape how rosters are constructed. That’s a concern Mike Elko is also considering in these debates about the future of the Transfer Portal.

“The thing that I think, obviously, we’re all for players having the opportunities that they need to have,” Elko said. “But I think the thing that’s going to make it really challenging is when you talk about revenue sharing, you’re basically talking about cap management and managing cap with two open free agent windows, one later after the first one. I just don’t know how financially people can manage a cap with that system with two different windows, and so I think it’ll be really helpful.”

As of now, the one-time portal window is still just a proposal. For it to be implemented this year, the vote requires approval from the Administrative Committee by October 1st.