What do high school and college football coaches think of a possible June signing day?

After a tumultuous early signing day period and transfer portal moves in December 2023, the Collegiate Commissioners Association voted last month to move up the college football early signing period from mid-December to the Wednesday before FBS conference championship games begin.

With 2024 conference championships scheduled for the weekend of Dec. 6-7, this move would set up the three-day early signing period to begin on Dec. 4 before the transfer portal opens up in the middle of the month.

While the CCA, which provides governance over the National Letter of Intent program, did not announce any changes to the traditional February signing period — which starts the first Wednesday of February and runs through April 1 — they did announce a proposal for the addition of a new signing day, one in June. The discussion of a possible June signing day, though, was tabled until June 2024 by the CCA.

If the proposed June signing day is approved, the current landscape of high school football as we know it could look very different. If an athlete were to sign their NLIs in June, before their senior year begins, it could cause an array of issues, including possible reclassifications and opt-outs.

High school football coaches' reactions to the proposal

The discussion of a possible June signing day has garnered much attention, most of it not positive. Not long after the proposal was announced, the Alabama Football Coaches Association released a statement strongly against it.

"There is a proposed early June signing period for high school players. This would mean that athletes would sign with colleges prior to their senior football season. We believe this is not good for high school football as it would lead to possible re-classifying, senior opt-outs and other issues. Therefore, the ALFCA stands strongly against this proposal. We hope that the decision makers will honor our concerns as a coaches association and urge other state associations to share their concerns about the June signing period," the statement read.

The ALFCA is not the only ones against the proposal, with Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa coach Jamie Mitchell sharing the same sentiment and insisting signing periods begin after an athlete's senior season.

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"I'm obviously going to be on the side of every high school coach ever asked that question," Mitchell said. "I just don't see the value. First of all, I am not sure what they are trying to accomplish by doing that ... I just don't understand the reasoning of having a kid feel like he can make that decision before he even plays his senior year."

Mitchell compared the possible proposal to an NFL team drafting a college player before they begin their final college season, an argument first brought up by Saraland's Jeff Kelly.

"It's no different to the NFL signing a college kid before the college season starts," Mitchell said. "Then that college coach tells that kid he's got to play ... I certainly hope that some smarter minds will prevail and keep any signing period after a kid's senior year."

It's not just Mitchell who is against the potential of a June signing day, new Southside-Gadsden coach Ben Stewart who was an assistant at Oxford and has handled college prospects at both stops flat out is against the proposal, believing it'll end up adding more work load to an already large amount for coaches, not just in Alabama but around the country and said he believes that's why plenty of state coaching associations came out against the proposal.

"Ours job's hard enough as it is. It's hard enough in recruiting, people recruiting high school kids," Stewart said. "There's just so many things as high school coaches that we have to deal with, that we haven't before and a lot of it is out of our hands. It's in the hands of people who are above us, especially in this, the NCAA. They didn't ask, I don't know what the benefit of it is but I guess getting those high profile guys signed early but to me there is no benefit for high school coaches."

Alabama football's Kalen DeBoer, Jacksonville State's Rich Rodriguez weigh in

College football coaches have even voiced their concerns on the proposal. Alabama football's Kalen DeBoer was asked his thoughts on the recruiting calendar, to which he was on board moving up the December early signing period, but he went onto call the possibility of a June signing day "a little too much."

"I know there’s a lot of concerns,” DeBoer said. “I think we’re a pretty unified group here in the SEC with trying to just — we’re for the December date right now, and we’re good with moving it up. I know in the high school ranks, there’s a lot of concern. It’s a very valid concern that you might have some guys that aren’t playing and may opt out if they sign. I don't know if those are you'd want playing."

DeBoer went on to emphasize the importance of high school athlete's playing their senior season, as it gives college programs a chance to further evaluate players in their final season.

“Just want to be careful not to speed things up more than what we have,” DeBoer said. “But working and hearing from the high school coaches, I think that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to make the game better, make good decisions on behalf of all of us. I think right now moving it to June is probably a little too much.”

Another in-state college coach showed displeasure with not only the idea of a June signing day but signing periods in general. Jacksonville State football head coach Rich Rodriguez, who has a coaching resumé that includes stops at West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona, said he believes teams don't need a signing period but instead just sign kids until you have 85 on roster, but doesn't believe the Gamecocks will be affected by an earlier signing period.

"I go with the theory there should be no signing day. I think everyone should be on a contract, once you got 85 guys signed to that team that year, that's it you don't recruit anymore. The early signing period, to me I don't know if it'll effect us cause you're trying to recruit guys before you see them play their senior year. It's harder to evaluate, I want to see them play, come to camp, play their senior year," Rodriguez said.

"A lot of guys are no brainers but at our level (Group of 5), they're a little later developing and I think its way to early to make a good evaluation on prospects, so I'm not in favor of the June signing day."

Rodriguez is also a proponent of letting kids play out their high school careers and try to compete for a state championship for their high schools.

"To be fair to their high school coaches, let them play for their high school team, do all they can. I see some kids 'I got my offer, I got my scholarship' I'm going to sit out, that would be awful, not play your senior year in high school because you got a scholarship, go win a championship for your high school," Rodriguez said.

If the June signing day proposal does get implemented, it will go into effect in June 2025.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: AHSAA football: High school, college coaches on possible June signing day