Over the past several years, there has been a massive exodus of elite coaches as some of the best coaches at the College level have either stepped away from the game or moved to different roles in the NFL. Whether it has been coaches like Nick Saban retiring, Head Coaches moving to the NFL like Jim Harbaugh, or a coach like Jeff Hafley leaving a Head Coaching gig to become an NFL coordinator, the game has been stripped of it's talent.
The biggest reason for the loss of elite level talent has been some of the recent changes to the College Football landscape. As NIL and the Transfer Portal have made it even more demanding on coaches, many have pointed to the added issues coaches need to deal with as a reason for the departures.
Marcus Freeman appeared on The Joel Klatt Show, where he gave his pitch to how College Football could start to make the sport more appealing to the coaches.
"We’ve gotta create some type of balance for those coaches and I think we are. I see us trending from my first year to now my fourth year in a direction that is trying to create some type of balance for assistant coaches, and that’s important."Marcus Freeman
The overall point that Marcus Freeman is making makes a ton of sense as the day to day roles these coaches, especially assistant coaches have are truly overwhelming. Where College Football needs to adapt is by simply creating more breaks in the yearly calendar to create more periods where coaches can get the balance that NFL coaches are given.
The main area where the game can shift is by creating more dead periods or longer dead periods in the recruiting calendar. During the season, coaches are still working extra hours keeping in contact with recruits which adds to the job. Once the season ends, the true season for assistants starts as they travel around the Country pitching their program to recruits.
The other area where College could look to cut down on activity is by moving from two transfer portal windows to one transfer window. The second transfer window creates another period where coaches could be on break but, they're instead recruiting their own players once preventing departures while also looking to add to the roster.
As the College game continues to shift in a way that benefits the athletes, the coaches will need to become the next group that reaps some benefits.