Dan Mullen is joining a number of other coaches and analysts who are beginning to speak out against the Transfer Portal in its current form.
Mullen didn’t sugarcoat his opinion when asked about the current system during a recent media session.
“It just teaches bad habits to kids,”Mullen said. “…Listen, I’ll give you the benefits (of eliminating the spring portal window). If you do that, you know what your roster looks like in January. It makes February signing day more valuable.
And honestly, he’s not wrong.
There’s been a growing chorus from fans, coaches, and even analysts who think the current model—especially with those two open windows in the winter and spring—feels more like NFL free agency than anything tied to student-athlete development or the college experience. Except, it's free agency every single year for every single player.
College football fans have watched over the last few years as the Transfer Portal evolved from a tool designed to give players more flexibility into a chaotic free-for-all. It’s now common to see dozens of players exit programs after spring practice—some of them without even notifying coaches. And with NIL money tied to a lot of these decisions, it’s hard to blame players, but it’s also fair to say the current structure feels unsustainable.
The portal windows—one in the winter and one after spring ball—were supposed to help organize the chaos. Instead, they’ve added more volatility. Some players now treat spring practice as a tryout, with no intention of staying if they’re not starters by the time the spring game wraps. Some aren't even finding homes once they enter the Transfer Portal.
“I had that in my notes. I went back and reviewed it and I said, ‘OK, how are we gonna structure the team-building around? I guess after that spring portal when we start in June.’ Officially, that will be our team for the year. We’re not making cuts. Guys aren’t going to the portal at that point. That’s our team. Now, that seems like a quick window and I’d really like to do it before, but I’ll see how that plays out," Mullen shared.
A lot of coaches probably nod their heads when they hear that quote. A lot of fans too. The current format that has two windows is just too much. It's caused spring games to be canceled and it's caused teams to believe that they have an answer, only to find out in the blink of an eye that a player is leaving.
No one is against players having flexibility or opportunities to better themselves, but free-agency every offseason — in two separate windows — for every single player with tampering running wild isn't what's best for the sport.