Why the NCAA shouldn't eliminate the spring transfer window

The NCAA announced Tuesday that its oversight committees recommended modifying the winter transfer window to 30 days starting the Monday after conference championship games and eliminating the spring window altogether.

Currently, transfer portal rules allow players 30 days to enter in the winter (after conference championships) and again in the spring (from April 15-30).

The committee justified their decision based on data that showed "many football student-athletes made the decision to transfer after the end of the fall football season."

While the transfer portal window should be shortened and streamlined, the NCAA's recommendation would eliminate the wrong window and put athletes in terrible positions.

Perhaps most problematically, the winter window overlaps entirely with the first three weeks of the new College Football Playoff. Fox Sports' Joel Klatt and CBS Sports' Josh Pate deliberated the conundrum on "The Joel Klatt Show" on Monday.

Star players sitting out of bowl games in preparation for the NFL Draft is already an issue. Now, more players will be burdened with deciding whether to pursue better collegiate opportunities elsewhere or stay — maybe win a championship — but ultimately be locked into that school for another year.

A further detriment of losing the spring window is the dilemma of players on the fringes of rosters deciding to forgo the winter window and fighting for their spots. They now risk a whole year of valuable experience on potentially being downgraded by high-rated incoming freshmen.

Those players would then be anchored to the bottom of a depth chart rather than playing meaningful snaps at another school — simply because they were rushed into making a decision about their future.

The NCAA needs to take more time to evaluate this recommendation. Let athletes and coaches weigh in before ultimately making a decision based on what's best for the athletes rather than what's most convenient for the bureaucracy.