I saw Saban talking about this on Gameday. What should be the yearly timeline for portals, NSD, when coaches can leave for other teams, etc.?

Early signing day should be in late December instead of early December. The whole point is for early enrollees to be able to get on campus for the spring semester. The transfer portal should open at the beginning of December once the conference championships are over and close on national signing day in February. This will allow coaches to be fired and hired in the two weeks after the season as most unless you're the Kiffin types wouldn't leave a playoff caliber team to go to another school and most playoff caliber teams aren't firing their coaches. Those same coaches would then be able to inform any potential recruit flips of their new school before the early signing day period at the end of December. Transfer portal players can follow their coach to new schools and open season of poaching players can still be taking place all the way until NSD but at that point in February rosters should be set for the year. Possibly with the exception of an end of spring transfer portal period in May for anyone who didn't like how their spring ball worked out and want to try their luck on a different team because they are buried on the depth chart.

TLDR: two portal times early December to February and late May to end of June
Two signing days end of December and February.

College football parameters at least with regard to tampering with coaches need to follow NFL-like guidelines. Change the dates of portal and other transfers until after the conclusion of the entire season (until after the championship game).

We need schools making a commitment to coaches and players for the season. We need coaches and players making commitment to schools for a season.

Players - waiting period. If you don't finish your current season in it's entirety, then you must sit out 12 months until playing for another school (this includes the Car Quest Go Nevada Bowl). You must be enrolled in current school to play in January playoffs. If you are not enrolled, you can not play and risk sitting out 12 months. If your team makes the playoffs, then you can not play spring ball anywhere else because you will not fulfil your current season prior to start of Spring Semester. Head Coach and School Administrator to sign off on if player fulfilled commitment to avoid any injury missed time confusion.

Coaches contracts run through January. New school pays old school 5X new annual salary for early release plus any contractual obligations in their old contract. If a school terminates their coach, they are already paying the balance of the contract. If the balance of their contract is < 5 years, then they owe their coach 5X for terminating early without cause. If terminating for cause, no penalty. If you want to terminate your coach early to start searching, then it will cost you. Don't expect your coach to stay through season if you can't stick with them through the season.

Let's stop pretending the current state of college football isn't the NFL minor league. Let the NFL run it.

Bump up the playoffs. Time it so that the final game can be played January 1st. Open the transfer portal 3-7 days after that. Colleges don't start spring semester typically until after MLK day. This would give them time to enroll.

So something like this:

AUGUST-NOVEMBER

• Regular season only
• No transfers, no signings, no coaching movement
• Players + coaches locked into current school

DECEMBER-JANUARY 1

• Bowl games + expanded playoff
• Must finish season to avoid 12-month sit-out
• Championship played January 1

JANUARY 4-10

• Transfer portal opens 3 days after Championship
• Player movement allowed only if season commitment was fulfilled

JANUARY 4-24

• Transfer + enrollment window for Spring semester
• Must be enrolled to participate in playoffs

JANUARY 31

• Coaching contract year ends
• Last day before movement cycle begins

FEBRUARY

• Coach movement period

MARCH-APRIL

• OTAs + development period
• No spring transfers allowed if season not completed
• Injury-related exemptions require coach + administrator sign-off

MAY

• May 1 High School Signing Day
  
  • One clean date for graduating seniors + JUCO players
• May 15-31 Final Transfer Signing + Roster Lock
  
  • Portal closes after May 31
  • Official roster for next season is finalized

JUNE-JULY

• Summer workouts/7-on-7
• No roster movement or transfers

IMO, it has gotten way over complicated.
If we're going to pay everyone and it be NFL lite it needs to follow same rules (no contact, etc) and timeframe as NFL
If they want something different then it should be simple.
HS Signing day is first week of February like it was. No more December day. Big deal if kids are "forced" to finish high school and then enroll for summer.
This also allows all teams to finish their season and playoffs and coaching changes to happen.

Then have one portal window from mid to late May.