For a long time, Bronco Mendenhall has been a vocal critic of the NCAA transfer portal.
There’ve been various reasons, but most have stemmed from what Mendenhall views — boiled down to its core — as a departure from the student-athlete model of college athletics.
Mendenhall values the development of “young people,” immensely, and by that, as he has said many times, he means their development as whole, complete people, not just as athletes.
Connected to that, Mendenhall has been an outspoken proponent of a single transfer portal window. For student-athlete welfare.
“I like a single transfer portal window. I’m for that, but it’s shortsighted and there hasn’t been relief granted to anyone that’s, again, an early-start school.”
— Utah State coach Bronco Mendenhall
As CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd put it, “it’s a long-proven fact that the more a student transfers, the less likely that person is to graduate.” One less opportunity for players to transfer means less transfers and more college graduates.
Another boon to a single transfer portal window is team building. Mendenhall’s New Mexico team was devastated by outgoing transfers in the spring of 2024, when the spring transfer portal opened. That left Mendenhall and his staff scrambling to build a team and contributed to a slow start for the Lobos last year.
This past spring, Mendenhall locked down his Utah State program in an attempt to prevent a similar exodus of Aggie players. His efforts worked, but Mendenhall remained ever supportive of a single transfer portal window being implemented.
Earlier this week, on Tuesday, the NCAA announced that that will be a reality.
The Division I (DI) Administrative Committee approved a new single transfer portal window, from Jan. 2 to 16 every winter. That replaces the previous model that included a 20-day transfer period in December and completely eliminates the spring transfer portal window.
The implementation of a single transfer portal window would seem great for Utah State, limiting the opportunities for more monied programs to lure Aggie players away. But Mendenhall is still frustrated with the latest update to the transfer portal system.
Why not? The current timeline means that the transfer portal will open mere days before the spring semester starts at Utah State (Jan. 6 in 2026). That isn’t a lot of time to scout potential transfers, recruit them, get them to commit to Utah State and then enrolled in school. Especially since all of that will be happening while Aggie players are also entering the portal for new opportunities.
Meanwhile, a good amount of FBS schools don’t start until mid-to-late January. Utah State and other early-start schools will be at a disadvantage — on paper at least — when it comes to utilizing the transfer portal.
“I’ve had conversations and expressed the concern, not only for Utah State, but any other early-start semester school that begins January 5th-ish, or that week,” Mendenhall said. “(I’ve asked about) what the intent is to mitigate (those issues). I’ve received no answers, no relief, and really, quite frankly, haven’t been listened to. And so (I’m) pretty frustrated.”
“I like a single transfer portal window,” Mendenhall continued. “I’m for that, but it’s shortsighted and there hasn’t been relief granted to anyone that’s, again, an early-start school.
“The other schools that I think will be challenged are those in the playoffs, as it’s a multi-semester sport now, which, again, I’m opposed to. I’d rather start earlier. But quite frankly, no one has addressed the early start. It is academics, right?
“These are student-athletes. I’m pretty frustrated at the lack of attention, or, quite frankly, even acknowledgement of what that might be. And we’re not the only one, obviously, that’s in this situation.”
The NCAA did attempt to mitigate the challenges that might impact teams that compete in the College Football Playoff, allowing for players who do play in postseason games after Jan. 12 to “initiate notification during a consecutive-five-day period beginning the day after their team’s final postseason contest.”
But nothing, as of yet, has been publicly stated about early-start schools versus later-start schools.
Mendenhall noted that the transfer portal is an essential tool in modern college football. You can’t be successful in the sport if you don’t utilize it.
“It’s essential,” he said. “I mean, if you plan on being in the portal, the advantage (is) you’re addressing immediate needs.”
And he’s happy that the spring transfer portal window has been eliminated.
“To address immediate needs and do that after spring practice really (was) not ideal,” he said. “And so again, I’m for one window.”
Not like this, though.
“The shortsighted nature, the lack of relief and the lack of a mitigating policy to address some of the timing in the school space — I’m opposed to that,” Mendenhall said.
