NC State HC Dave Doeren critiques early signing day changes

NC State will sign its 2025 recruiting class a few weeks earlier than originally anticipated. Early signing day, which historically took place in mid-December, will now move up to the week leading up to conference championship games. 

Per Nicole Auerbach from The Athletic, the NCAA will open up its new early signing window Wednesday, Dec. 4 this year— a rule change confirmed by the Collegiate Commissioners Associates (CCA). Prospects will be able to sign their National Letters of Intent for a three-day stretch following the college football regular season. 

December is a chaotic month for every Division-I college football staff, and this new rule is meant to help address that. Even if NC State is not preparing for the ACC championship game this year, the staff will still need to prepare for potential bowl games, assess potential staff attrition and recruit the always-important transfer portal. 

The current college football calendar has drawn criticism from college coaches all over the country, including Dave Doeren. He likes that the signing day change no longer conflicts with the transfer window, but the head coach pushed back on some of the details. 

“I’m glad that it’s not after when the portal opens, I guess,” Doeren said. “That was one thing we all wanted. There’s some things that came along with it that I don’t really understand.”

Doeren mentioned that the Pack now has to prepare for a condensed transfer recruiting calendar in the 2025 cycle. NC State will only have one week to recruit the portal after going through the previous two cycles with twice that amount of time. 

That limited recruiting window is the primary point of contention for Doeren. Schools would only have one week to host portal prospects. Some players might still be in class at their previous Universities, Doeren said, which could make it difficult for them to make a trip before choosing their next collegiate home. 

“There’s positives in that it is away from the portal window for the high school kids,” Doeren said. “I think that’s great. But for the college coaches, now we’ve got 4,000-5000 kids in the portal, and we’ve got one weekend to bring them in. That makes no sense.”

College portal recruits and high school prospects operate on the same recruiting calendar right now. With the exception of an extra window in early January, transfers are limited to the same visit restrictions as their prep peers. 

Doeren floated the idea of creating a different recruiting calendar for the portal. Even if the coaches cannot hit the road to meet with the prospects, at least allow them to visit schools before making their commitments, he explained. 

Shifting the calendar up also places signing day before the end of the high school football season. Last year, the NCHSAA played its state championship games the week after college conference championship matchups. Some in-state prospects would have to sign with the Pack in the middle of a playoff run. 

Fitting in-home visits into the calendar before new high school signing day is not feasible in Doeren’s opinion, which axes a significant part of the annual recruiting calendar. 

“The benefit of December was being able to go into the homes of the kids, and now that’s changed as well,” Doeren said. “A lot of these decisions are being made without the impact of the entire calendar being looked at in my opinion.” 

A June signing period remains on the table. The CCA will mull over that option with the possibility of implementing it in 2025. Doeren sees that as a potential step in the right direction.

“Had the signing day gone to June like I think a lot of us thought it was going to, then the December thing wouldn’t have been a problem anymore,” Doeren said. “It’s just the way it is. Bend your knees, get flexible and do the best you can.”