Brian Kelly, Kirby Smart Supportive of Transfer Portal Window After Ryan Day Remarks

The SEC and Big Ten are taking opposing stances on what the future of the NCAA transfer portal should look like.

LSU coach Brian Kelly said Wednesday that SEC coaches unanimously support the consolidation of the winter and spring transfer portal windows into a single 10-day stretch in January, according to ESPN's Max Olson.

Kelly was seemingly dismissive of worries of Ohio State coach Ryan Day, who said Tuesday that he and other Big Ten coaches opposed the January window due to its overlap with the college football playoff.

"I'm sorry, there's no crying on the yacht," Kelly said, per Olson. "I mean, we gotta get this thing set and its best position at this time to allow us to set our rosters moving forward."

Georgia coach Kirby Smart also expressed support of the January transfer window on Wednesday, per Olson.

"I think some in the Big Ten thought if we have the portal later, kids will have to stay and you'll have the team 'til the end of the semester," Smart said, per Olson. "That's not realistic. The kids and players that want to leave, that are not happy, I don't know that they should be staying on campus an extra semester. It's not a great situation either way, but the better way is the way it out came out, in my opinion."

The FBS Oversight Committee recently proposed to replace the current transfer portal window, which opens for 20 days in December and 10 days in April, with a single portal opening from Jan. 2 to Jan. 11.

Last year, the transfer portals were open from Dec. 9 to Dec. 28 as well as from April 16 to April 25.

Had the January transfer window been in place last year, it would have opened and closed between Ohio State's CFP quarterfinal win and the team's trip to the championship game.

Kelly said shortly after the vote passed in favor of the January window that he was "pleased that the oversight committee moved that along."

"We were in favor of the January 2nd through 11th period. We think that's going to allow us to set our rosters for the rest of the year, not put us in the position where we're using revenue share, NIL, and then we don't see them because they transfer," Kelly said during last Thursday's press conference. "So I think that that's a great move for the oversight committee, as well as December being dead."

Day provided the opposite perspective Tuesday, when he told reporters he believed the January transfer portal wasn't "a good idea at all."

"In the conversations that we had with the Big Ten coaches, I think the majority of them agree," Day said. "I just don't quite understand how, for teams that are playing in the playoffs, are expected to make the decisions, and sign their upcoming players, while they're still getting ready to play for games. It doesn't make any sense to me."

Day continued, "I know the calendar is funky. But I know that the Big Ten, and [commissioner] Tony Petitti, has been working hard, because he doesn't believe it either, and neither do the coaches in the Big Ten. We've had a lot of long discussions about that, and tried to work through the different windows. But I don't agree with it being in January."

Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reported in July that Big Ten was the lone holdout among FBS conferences in supporting the January portal. The league instead supports an April transfer window, per Dellenger.

Kelly has been just as dismissive of the April window as Day was of the January proposal.

"April doesn't make any sense," Kelly said in June, per Dellenger. "You are going to put a business together and 33% of your revenue share (paid players) could be gone in three months? That's stupid. It just doesn't make any sense.

"(Big Ten coaches) are trying to set it to their academic calendar and they're saying they can't get guys in in January. Come on. We are firm on January and if we have to do a second (portal), we would. But we are firm on January."

The proposed January transfer portal would need to be approved by a vote from the DI Administrative Committee before it can go into effect. The committee is expected to vote on the issue before the start of October, according to the NCAA.