NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The American Football Coaches Association convention is an annual gathering of logoed quarter-zips, bro-hugs, speeches and job interviews, as well as conversations about key topics and teams around college football.
ESPN spent four days last week at the AFCA gathering, where more than 7,000 coaches descended from every corner of the sport. The event wrapped up Wednesday with the FBS coaches meeting, during which the group discussed the sport's biggest challenges.
"Lots of frustration," a Big Ten coach texted toward the end of the meeting.
Multiple coaches used words like "chaos" and "mess" to describe the current state of college football. Before Wednesday's meeting, a Group of 5 coach said it would be hard to screw up the sport more if you tried. Although coaches realize they're not seen as victims and shouldn't be -- "We make $2 million to $10 million per year," a Big 12 coach said late Tuesday. "We're paid to deal with this stuff" -- they also want their voices heard and note that they predicted some of the sport's biggest challenges years ago.
"Many of the things we suggested in the transfer portal infancy, and in the NIL infancy, we've circled back many times to what the coaches suggested from the very get-go," said AFCA executive director Todd Berry, who is retiring later this month and will be replaced by Craig Bohl, the former Wyoming and North Dakota State coach. "When we had our FBS head coaches meeting, you could sense the frustration in the room about many things, because we propose things and ... other people act like it's the first time they've ever heard them."
The convention included more than big-picture complaints. Coaches weighed in on teams, transfer portal transactions, NFL draft decisions and other topics.
Here are five things ESPN learned from conversations with coaches and others at the convention.
1. The recruiting/portal schedule needs to change
Coaches see the personnel calendar, which encompasses high school recruiting and the transfer portal, as becoming increasingly untenable, especially the crunch that occurs in December. The coaches were successful in lobbying for two transfer windows -- a 30-day stretch beginning on the first Monday of December and a 15-day period in the spring -- and see them as beneficial. "There's a lot of support for that," Berry said. "We've seen the data, and there's no question ... that these are the days when our players get in."
Berry also said 30 total days is more than sufficient, but coaches say the timing is difficult. Coaches said the first few weeks of December are consumed by the confluence of transfers and high school recruits finalizing decisions. Several coaches said they were barely involved in bowl preparations. Some wondered how coaches with teams in the first round of the expanded CFP, to be held Dec. 20 and Dec. 21 at campus sites, would manage the transfer/recruiting frenzy while also preparing their teams for massive postseason games.
Coaches have different ideas for how to adjust the calendar. One Power 5 coach told ESPN he favors a single signing date in February that will allow high school juniors a full calendar year to sign. Others are open to a signing date before the season begins. The concern, though, is that top high school players who sign with their college teams early would be tempted to skip their senior seasons at the prep level.
Berry said the coaches' group wants to move the high school signing date before the portal window, immediately after the regular season, at the start of a four-day dead period in recruiting. This would allow high school players to secure their spots and possibly ease anxieties around portal additions that occur before the current signing date.
"That way, you've signed all your high school players," Berry said. "We're still maintaining some kind of scholastic model, rather than the transfer model."
2. Ole Miss' portal success jumps out
At the 2023 convention, Florida State generated the most buzz among coaches for its notable transfer push, which included Virginia's Fentrell Cypress, Western Michigan's Braden Fiske, South Carolina's Jaheim Bell and others (Michigan State star receiver Keon Coleman would arrive in the spring transfer window). This year, Ole Miss has taken the crown of portal king.
The Rebels have pillaged the transfer portal for several key additions from within the SEC, notably on the defensive line with Texas A&M's Walter Nolen -- ESPN's No. 1 overall recruit in the 2022 class -- Florida's Princely Umanmielen and Tennessee's Tyler Baron. Ole Miss also picked up notable offensive players from within the league, such as South Carolina wide receiver Antwane "Juice" Wells Jr. and LSU running back Logan Diggs.
Although Ole Miss lost standout running back Quinshon Judkins to Ohio State in the portal, the team retained starting quarterback Jaxson Dart, wide receivers Tre Harris and Jordan Watkins, tight end Caden Prieskorn, and others for the 2024 season. The Rebels won a team-record 11 games in 2023.
"They've put all their cards on the table," an SEC assistant said.
A Pac-12 assistant noted how often Ole Miss would be mentioned by transfers his school was targeting.
"They would list the other schools that had contacted them, and it was, 'And also Ole Miss,'" the coach said. "They've really pushed hard."
3. Louisville, Oregon, FSU, Ohio State also standing out
Ole Miss isn't the only team coaches were buzzing about in Nashville. Florida State continued to draw praise for its work in the portal and elsewhere, as the Seminoles try to reload a roster that won the ACC and went 13-0 before being left out of the CFP. The Noles added quarterback DJ Uiagalelei from Oregon State, but coaches also were bullish on additions such as Alabama offensive lineman Terrence Ferguson and Oregon State defensive lineman Sione Lolohea.
Louisville did not end the 2023 season well, falling to rival Kentucky, to Florida State in the ACC title game and to USC in the Holiday Bowl. But coaches think the Cardinals are poised for big things under coach Jeff Brohm, perhaps a CFP push in 2024. Louisville has been extremely active in the transfer portal, adding Texas Tech quarterback Tyler Shough, South Alabama wide receiver Caullin Lacy, Toledo running back Peny Boone, Tennessee safety Tamarion McDonald and others. The Cardinals also have retained star pass-rusher Ashton Gillotte, cornerback Quincy Riley and others from a defense that finished 21st nationally.
Oregon and Ohio State also drew praise from coaches for their personnel success, in adding transfers and *in retaining players. The Ducks brought in two quarterbacks in Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel and UCLA's Dante Moore, helped their secondary with UTSA's Kam Alexander and Kansas State's Kobe Savage, and bolstered the receiving corps with Texas A&M's Evan Stewart. Ohio State had the big transfer splash with Judkins but stood out to coaches for its ability to retain top players on both sides of the ball, including wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, defensive linemen Tyleik Williams and Jack Sawyer, and offensive lineman Donovan Jackson.
4. Group of 5 player retention is more challenging than ever
As two Group of 5 coaches walked into the convention center Wednesday morning, they were asked what to expect from the day's FBS coach meeting. One scoffed that their programs and the other "little guys" would continue to be marginalized by the decisions and direction of the sport.
Life in the Group of 5 is tougher than ever, according to head coaches and assistants with programs at that level. They recognize that whenever their players show tangible improvement or have breakout seasons, Power 5 transfer opportunities will surface and most players will make the jump. Roster replenishment has become an annual chore.
"It's just a status thing," a Group of 5 coach said, noting that his entire secondary went into the portal in recent weeks.
Group of 5 coaches aren't against the portal, noting how it has allowed certain programs, especially those in or near major cities, to add players seeking transfer destinations closer to home. Boise State's offseason, which included the retention of star running back Ashton Jeanty and the addition of USC quarterback transfer Malachi Nelson, ESPN's No. 1 recruit in the 2023 class, resonated with Group of 5 coaches.
But the coaches' objective to develop their players has come with the caveat that many will seek other opportunities.
5. The transfer process needs fine-tuning
Coaches recognize that the transfer portal and the freedoms around player movement are not going away. They might not like the challenges of managing rosters in 2024, but they have accepted the realities.
Their hope is to create more controls around the transfer process. Berry said coaches think there should be "a higher academic bar" for players to reach before they can transfer, noting transfers across the board have a lower chance of graduating than athletes who remain at one school.
Some coaches sense growing momentum to attach a national letter of intent to transfers, which would help control multiple moves within a transfer cycle. Transfers currently can sign financial aid agreements with multiple schools and aren't tied to a destination until after classes begin for the spring semester or winter quarter. A Power 5 coach recounted how a transfer who had committed to his program already had secured an apartment in town and was set to move forward, before another school agreed to pay out the lease if the player moved, which he did.
The national letter of intent program is under the control of conference commissioners.
"It's hard to be able to move fast in these ever-changing times or to make better decisions, because you have multiple entities that are responsible for different things that are connected," Berry said.