How college football's new early December Signing Day will create a 'bonkers' coaching carousel
On the On3 YouTube channel Thursday morning, Andy Staples explained why 2024 could feature the single craziest coaching carousel ever in college football due to a new scheduling wrinkle.
Bright and early on Thursday, Staples was live breaking down a report from the day before noting that the Collegiate Commissioner’s Association had just decided to move the December Signing Day forward by a couple of weeks.
“They’re going to move the December signing date from the third Wednesday in December to the Wednesday after the last regular season game,” Staples explained, commenting that “this is going to make the coaching carousel absolutely WILD!”
Staples continued, pointing out how rushed the hiring process will have to be this coming season for teams who need a new coach and want any chance at salvaging their recruiting class.
“Think about the timing of this stuff. Look at an example from last year: Mike Elko, Texas A&M’s new head coach, he was hired on Nov. 27. Remember all that stuff that went down on the last day of the regular season where it looked like Mark Stoops might get the job and it shifted as the night went on, they ended up hiring Mike Elko? He’s there the next day. Duke didn’t hire a head coach until Dec. 7.
“So here’s the timing of this: if you fire your coach and you hired a new coach, that person probably starts on the last day of the regular season or the following day. You’re gonna have basically three days to get that signing class together before National Signing Day.”
However, down the line, Andy Staples believes the sport is trending towards a first signing day in the summer, which would take the pressure off new coaches to put together a class in a matter of days at the beginning of December.
“Now, the original thought as they discussed this was that they were gonna have another signing day in the summer. Still not sure they want to do that yet and they don’t really want to start it this year, if they’re going to do it at all. So they’re gonna talk about it when they meet in June this year. If they do it next year, it makes that coaching carousel situation less wild.”
But for at least one year, in 2024, there’s an early December signing day with no summer signing period, which will make those days between the final regular season game and the next Wednesday absolutely wild.
“If there’s a coach who starts the season on shaky ground and loses some games, that person is not making it to Halloween,” says Staples. With an abbreviated recruiting calendar compared to other years, teams will have to act swiftly and mercilessly when it comes to making a decision on their head coach.
“That school is gonna want to fire that coach, get in line, make sure they have the option to have a broader candidate pool. But they’re going to hire a coach who’s winning right now, who’s doing well — that’s the school who’s going to get screwed by this, and there will be a few,” added Staples.
While the carousel could get crazy, this new signing window could benefit other coaches who aren’t being fired or hired and are simply just staying put between seasons.
“I know they think this is going to make coaches’ jobs easier. I think it will make it a little easier because they will get the class signed before the transfer portal window opens,” says Staples.
“But if you’re planning to fire your coach, if you are worried you might lose your coach, your November/December are going to be very interesting and probably not in a great way.”
He predicts a December to remember in 2024: “It is going to be bonkers with this coaching carousel with this particular signing day.”