Daily briefing: On the transfer portal and coaching stability, Kirby Smart and Trent Dilfer at UAB

Ivan Maisel’s “Daily Briefing” for On3:

Is the transfer portal leading to coaching stability?

One unintended (I think) consequence of opening the transfer portal on the Monday after conference championship games is that it’s promoting coaching stability. It used to be that coaching hires spilled into December; the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame dinner on the Tuesday after the season used to be a job fair. Now athletic directors want a coach in place when the portal opens. Moving up that deadline is taking some coaches out of the market. A coach like Willie Fritz of Tulane, whose Green Wave is playing for the American Athletic Conference championship and a New Year’s Six bowl berth, is not about to leave for Georgia Tech this week. Last year, Luke Fickell stuck with Cincinnati preparing for the CFP semifinals instead of pursuing Notre Dame. It’s nice when an unintended consequence improves the game. That doesn’t happen very often.

The SEC coach of the year? What about Kirby Smart?

I have a dark horse candidate for SEC Coach of the Year. It’s hard to argue with giving the award to LSU’s Brian Kelly, who brought organization and focus to a program that desperately needed them. Kelly turned things around quickly enough that LSU won the SEC West. Then again, Kelly’s Tigers lost at home by four touchdowns to Tennessee. In his second season in Knoxville, Josh Heupel took the Vols to No. 1 and, even with their November fade, still finished the season 10-2. Of course, Shane Beamer’s South Carolina Gamecocks not only embarrassed  Tennessee, they followed up by beating a second top-10 team, cross-state rival Clemson, in as many weeks. All worthy candidates, and yet my vote would go to Kirby Smart. He took a team that had 15 players from the 2021 national champions go in the NFL Draft, yet still went 12-0, winning all but one game by double digits. Coach of the Year votes favor underdogs who succeed; this season in the SEC, an overdog outcoached everyone.

Trent Dilfer better adapt quick to the college game

Hiring Trent Dilfer as coach means that UAB athletic director Mark Ingram certainly will win the news conference. And Dilfer is no ordinary high school football coach. He’s an NFL veteran with a Super Bowl ring and, as a longtime quarterback whisperer at the Elite 11 summer camps, knows how to spot and hone young talent. But there is so much more to college coaching, especially in this era of expanding staffs, NIL execution, transfer portal and the heretofore NFL-only skill of “roster management.” You have to admire Ingram’s ability to think differently and take a chance. But when you’re third banana in your market behind Alabama and Auburn, your fans are going to have a limited attention span. Dilfer better have a fast learning curve.