As part of my very quick (and also very restful) trip to Nashville to help cover a press conference with Kirk Herbstreit at Raising Cane’s (more on this in a bit, I’m on an airplane trying to get this published as quickly as possible before it takes off), amid the fun of watching Herbstreit’s dog, Peter, meander around and sniff everything and greet people glowingly, I got the chance to ask about one of the most intriguing things that everyone involved in college football is trying to figure out.

With the way that the college football calendar has shifted, things are tricky.

Players will opt out of bowl games to try and prepare for whatever is up ahead for them (be it the transfer portal or the NFL draft), entire programs will opt out of bowl games so they can prepare for transitioning following a coach’s departure or to prepare for the offseason, and then also apparently coaches will leave college football playoff contenders to go take over a team in the same conference.

The Lane Kiffin example is the most prominent exampel from this offseason and it’s something that is generating the most attention across this sport. It’s something that is going to garner even more attention, drive conversations, and lead to people sharing their opinions on what exactly the right solution is. 

And if you ask Kirk Herbstreit, he doesn’t seem to know the actual answer here. But he’s definitely not alone in that one. This situation is a mess and so much of it is connected to the academic calendar that universities tend to use. I, for one, also don’t know the solution. Herbstreit also doesn’t seem to think that many coaches know what the solution is. 

I got the chance to ask one of college football’s most prominent media entities about what he’d do if he could redesign the entirety of the college football calendar.

And of course, he gave a pretty candid response on the very tricky situation.

“Oh my God, the calendar, there’s just so many layers to that to try to figure out the best way to… You know, I just feel when we get to December and the coaching carousel stars and recruiting is starting to end and the transfer portal is getting ready to crank up here, I just think these coaches are put in a really tough spot,” Herbstreit said.

It is tricky situation with coaches up and leaving for other places. While Lane Kiffin isn’t the only coach to do that this cycle, his example might be the most noteworthy given the attention that it commanded.

“In a way, Kiffin’s situation this year, in a perfect world he could have finished their season, did whatever he did this year with the 2025 Ole Miss team, and then if he’s going to leave, then leave,” Herbstreit noted about the way the former head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels ended up leaving Oxford for the LSU Tigers.

Herbstreit continued, pointing out how the whole situation is a bit clunky.

“I feel like coaches and players should be committed at least for one year,” the College GameDay host mentioned. “The fact that they could leave, players can opt out, coaches can leave for other jobs, that can’t happen.”

And as for who is impacted by all of the change?

“It’s just not fair to the players, not fair to fans of the game,” Herbstreit said. 

Again, there’s no easy solutions here. 

“I don’t know what the answer is, I just know what we have right now is not the answer,” Herbstrait noted.