Just Business: Athletic Directors Have To Fire Football Coaches Earlier Than Usual, Thanks To NCAA Calendar

We've reached the eighth week of the college football season, and it's time for some athletic directors around the country to start making hard decisions about the future of their programs. 

While in previous years this might've been a decision that was made following the season's end, we're in a new era of college sports that makes this a situation that needs to be handled now, not later. 

There was already one head coach who was fired on Sunday, as Southern Miss decided it was time to move on from Will Hall after the program continued heading in the wrong direction and fans voiced their displeasure following another loss this past weekend. 

It wasn’t a head coach position, but Utah and Oklahoma decided it was time to make a move at offensive coordinator, even if the Utes wanted to say that Andy Ludwig resigned on his own accord. And there will be more to come over the next month, as we inch closer to the end of the regular season. 

It's not as if we haven't seen this in the past, with the likes of Jimbo Fisher, and even Les Miles. But now there's another problem that's working against athletic directors across the country, and it all centers around the new calendar for the transfer portal, along with season-ticket renewals. 

New Transfer Portal Window

As the NCAA decided to roll out the new transfer portal window, which was shortened to just 20 days, but starting the day after the conference title games are concluded, these decisions have to be made now, rather than later. 

With everything that is changing in college athletics, including the upcoming revenue-share with student athletes, there's not enough time to sit around and wait for the regular season to end. Sure, an athletic director can wait until the final game, but also put together a short-list of candidates behind the scenes, and discuss this with agents across the country. But they can only keep a secret for so long, and some of these schools are going to need big-money donors to help pay for the next staff, along with the buyouts for the current group. 

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 14: Head coach Billy Napier of the Florida Gators looks on before the start of a game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 14, 2024 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

This is where the problem lies, and not much has changed over the years when it comes to firing head coaches. But now, how quickly a school needs to get this done so that they have time to find the right guy, along with timing it with the transfer portal opening, is on the agenda. 

So, what usually happens following the final game of the season will now happen over the next four weeks, and the clock is ticking.

No Such Thing as ‘Perfect Timing’ Anymore

"In this era, we can no longer sit around and wait for the perfect timing," one AD told OutKick in Nashville two weeks ago. "If I had to make a decision, and thank goodness I don't, the new calendar and 12-team playoff is going to make this difficult. Do you pull the trigger now, but then the coach wins a couple of games down the stretch and you're second-guessing? You have to take the emotions out of the situation, and understand that you're trying to sell a product. If people stop buying that product, and the financial outlook doesn’t look favorable, it's time to make the call.

"Trust me, it's not easy. If I have to ask a donor to help with the financial ramifications of my decision, they want to have an opinion on who should be hired next. Don’t get me wrong, I understand where they are coming from, and that's the risk you take when asking for help."

It's Just Business, And Coaches Are Getting A Shorter Window Of Time

In the past, coaches would at least get a full recruiting cycle to overhaul a program. But all of that changed with the transfer portal and NIL. 

Now, you can go put together a roster within two years. As much as they hate the process, coaches can use the portal to win enough games to make a bowl in their first year, if they find the right group of guys. 

But, after the Nick Saban ripple-effect last year, athletic directors have become more mindful of making sure they get the right guy in a timely manner. After we saw the coaching transfer-portal of this past winter, college football fans have certainly realized that there is no loyalty anymore in this business, if they hadn't already figured that out in the past. 

So, administrators know that making a decision to fire a coach in late October or early November is the only way to get a head start on the next season. But the problem is that if you're a program with a high pedigree, hiring a coach before the college football playoff begins is a tall task, especially if one of your targets is playing in the postseason. 

And like I mentioned earlier, you're going to have a very tough time keeping things quiet if you're making calls and gauging their interest in the potential opening. Think about how much talk there has been surrounding Billy Napier since the Texas A&M loss, where fans were waiting the next day to see if the Gators administration would make a move. 

No More 'Wait and See'

I promise you that Florida boosters are not just sitting around and waiting to see if the train fully derails. No, they have a plan, but it takes everyone getting on the same page to make that decision, especially if Scott Stricklin is holding out hope that he doesn’t have to fire Napier. What if Florida pulls off an upset or two over the next month? 

Good luck trying to get the UF administration to approve the firing of a head coach is reasonable. 

This is just one example, but for a school like Florida, they can't sit around and twiddle their thumbs, and the same can be said for UAB, as this disaster of a season continues. It's already past time to fire Trent Dilfer and start looking around for the next head coach. And guess what? A program like UAB, which was rebuilt under Bill Clark, can go out and start talking to their potential new coach. 

Why? Because UAB is going to hire a coach with experience, who is most likely not the head coach at a program right now fighting for a playoff spot. They would go after a fiery OC that actually has experience at the collegiate level, and could be hired soon after Dilfer would be fired. We'll see if this actually happens though. 

Southern Miss figured it out, and knew they needed to jumpstart their search. 

At the end of the day, none of this is personal, it's just the way schools have to conduct business now in this new era of college athletics.