Mike Elko on the college football calendar impacting playoff games: 'I don't think there's a solution'

The month of December is incredibly busy around all of college football. That’s particularly true for teams heading into the College Football Playoff. Despite efforts to find a solution, Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko doesn’t think there’s a solution.

The trouble with the calendar is that as the season ends, coaches immediately need to sign their incoming class. On top of that, the Transfer Portal is about to open, meaning deals need to be negotiated to retain the roster. Then, there’s bowl and Playoff preparation for coaches. All of this comes while players are taking finals for their classes.

Elko was certainly impacted by that calendar. That included losing offensive coordinator Collin Klein to a head coaching job and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman to a rival SEC school right before the Playoff begins.

“I think in terms of our internal stuff,” Mike Elko said. “I’m very confident and comfortable with the types of people we have in this building, that they’re going to handle their jobs the way they should as we finish this thing out. I know they’re both excited for an opportunity to compete in the playoffs and to go compete for a national championship. That’s the internal part.”

There have already been efforts to alleviate the December calendar. The Transfer Portal no longer opens in December and was moved to January. Of course, for teams still making College Football Playoff runs, that’s while games are underway.

Despite that, there are still concerns about the calendar. Those are concerns that Elko doesn’t think there’s gonna be a quick fix for.

“The external part, in terms of the calendar, I’ve said this many times before. I just don’t think there’s a solution. I think when you’re trying to figure out how to manage television contracts, playoffs with academic calendars and university presidents,” Elko said. “You’ve got a lot of people making decisions unilaterally for what’s best for their area. And so probably at some point, what’s going to have to happen is some type of group together or board together that can make decisions for the best interest of college football. And we just seem a long way away from that.”

Being able to focus on the College Football Playoff and their weekend game against Miami would be the ideal for Mike Elko and coaches around the country. For the time being, there is more work that needs to be done as they continue to prepare for next season too.