College football's early signing period will move up three weeks from mid-December to the week preceding conference championship games, starting this year.
The Collegiate Commissioners Association, which oversees and administers the national letter of intent program that schools and recruits use to make commitments official and binding, announced the change Thursday.
The start of the second signing period — long the traditional standard as national signing day — will remain on the first Wednesday of February and continue to run through April 1. The three-day early signing period will now start the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, with that holiday weekend when the regular season ends for major college football conferences.
The CCA, which is composed of the commissioners of all 32 NCAA Division I conferences, also said it is still considering a proposal to add a third signing period for college football in June, starting in 2025. A decision will be made by this June, according to the CCA's news release.
The December signing period for football was added in 2017 and quickly became the primary signing period for high school recruits going on to play major college football. Typically, about 80% of available scholarships are accounted for during the December period.
When NCAA transfer rules were loosened in 2021 to allow college football players to more easily switch schools without having to sit out a season, it required the creation of transfer windows after the regular season and led to an overcrowded December recruiting calendar.
The new early signing period would end before the transfer window opens.
Fox likes Friday
Fox will expand its television coverage of college football with a package of Friday night games.
The schedule of games, which will include matchups from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West conferences, likely won't be announced until late May or early June, after conferences and the networks hold their selection meetings for the 2024 season.
Friday games, which used to be confined to only the opening week of the season and the day after Thanksgiving for major college football, are not out of the norm for all three conferences. The Big Ten has had a limited package since 2017, but those were on the Big Ten Network and FS1. The Big 12 had three Friday night matchups on ESPN last season, while the Mountain West had a package of games on CBS Sports Network along with two on FS1.
The college football package will fill a void for Fox on Friday nights during the fall when WWE's "Friday Night SmackDown" moves to USA Network in October. A couple of games could air on Fox in September with "SmackDown" moving to FS1, which is what happened during the MLB playoffs.
This won't be the first time Fox has tried to stake claim to what is considered an underutilized time slot. It launched its "Big Noon Saturday" in 2019, which has been successful. Last season's package averaged 6.74 million viewers on Fox, an 8% increase over 2022.
Pay cut for coach
West Virginia fotball coach Neal Brown has signed a one-year contract extension that includes a $400,000 pay cut over the next three seasons.
Brown will be paid $4 million in each of the next two seasons, a reduction of $100,000 in 2024 and $200,000 in 2025 from a previous contract signed in 2021. He'll make $4.3 million in 2026, a $100,000 drop, and $4.4 million in 2027.
The Associated Press obtained details of the latest contract, signed by Brown and West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker and dated Monday, under the Freedom of Information Act.
While the latest agreement does not mention changes to a $3.5 million salary pool for staff from his original contract, Brown said his "first priority was retaining and rewarding our assistant coaches and support staff who have played such a critical role in our success.
"I appreciate Wren's support on that front as well as his continued commitment to me and what we are building," Brown said in a release. "We share a common vision for this program and that alignment is critical to our continued success."
The Mountaineers are coming off a surprising 9-4 season after being picked to finish last in the Big 12.
Brown is 31-29 in five seasons, the worst five-year stretch for West Virginia since 1976-80. The Mountaineers are 2-1 in bowl games under Brown, including a 30-10 win over North Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl in December.
But his teams have never played for a Big 12 championship or been ranked in the AP Top 25. Brown has been especially vulnerable on the road, where his teams have gone 10-18 and lost 10 times by at least 17 points.