Let’s turn to Exhibit A and Lane Kiffin. Yes, that Lane Kiffin who after Tennessee gave him a chance after a disastrous stint as a head coach in the NFL for the Oakland Raiders only to see him leave after a year for a bigger paycheck and the better weather of southern California as the new head coach at USC.

Though Kiffin was 28-15 at USC, scandal followed Kiffin and he was dismissed and the Trojan program was put on probation for NCAA violations. He then got a second chance at Florida Atlantic where he might have done his best coaching going 26-13 in three seasons including 11-3 and 10-3 seasons. But of course he would jump ship as Ole Miss came a calling with more money and the opportunity to coach once again in the SEC. And in his six years there, he was 55-19 and led the Rebel program to the College Football Playoff (CFP) last season.

But this is when Kiffin pulled a stunner … well, unless you know what Kiffin is all about, announcing before the CFP even started he would leave Ole Miss for LSU. He was expecting to still coach Ole Miss in the tournament before moving on to Baton Rouge, but the Ole Miss administration said no way and don’t let the door hit you in the back side on the way out.

But it hasn’t taken Kiffin long to stir up controversy at LSU and get everyone rankled. The issue surrounding bringing back several players that would normally have athletic eligibility still left but had opted to leave and try their hand in the NFL. Now these players want to return and play at LSU, with likely NIL money that would surpass any rookie salary in the NFL.

The SEC said not a chance but Kiffin and LSU boosters, including the governor Jeff Landry, weren’t going to take no for an answer and a Louisiana court put an injunction against prohibiting these players from playing. Kiffin actually then balked at putting them on the roster as the SEC, so sick of the antics of Kiffin and LSU, threatened to kick the university out of the conference.

So while many coaches bemoan the transfer portal and the NIL, there seems to be a tolerance and even acceptance to pay these head coaches millions of dollars, even if they bolt for “greener pastures”.

Exhibit B is these mega-conferences in their greed that have completely changed the landscape of college football by poaching teams from other conferences. The reason is simply money.

The PAC-12 basically disintegrated with USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington bolting for the Big 10. Four of its programs (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah) found homes in the Big 12. Then Cal-Berkeley and Stanford were admitted into the ACC just leaving Oregon State and Washington State looking at each asking, what about us?

The coast-to-coast expansion for the mis-aptly named Big 10 (which now has 18 schools) might fit the mission of the conference to be BIG like its logo. But having Cal and Stanford in the ACC or ATLANTIC Coast Conference seems completely absurd. There seems to be no thought about the needs of the student-athlete and the concerns of traveling across the country these two schools have to do for the vast majority of their competitions.

In fact, there was an idea that contests in Olympic sports, say between Stanford and Florida State, be done in a neutral site somewhere in the middle of the country ensuring that virtually nobody would attend these games. Of course, one would think that two schools of such academic prestige as Cal-Berkeley and Stanford would have some knowledge of basic geography and seen the ludicrous nature of joining the ACC.

Then there is that Western Michigan vs. Michigan game two Saturday’s ago for Exhibit C. Oh yes, the added phantom one second that gave Michigan one more play which they cashed in for an improbable 13-12 victory. For us older types, it reminded us of that Olympic gold medal game between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1972. If you want to know what exactly happened there, google is your friend.

Of course, Western Michigan and the Mid-American Conference (MAC) protested the game, but their protest was ultimately denied. The stated reason might have some technical jargon that the rules don’t allow governing bodies to change the outcome that was finalized on the field though the obvious thing for most people would be siding with Western Michigan and giving the Broncos a 12-7 win. But let’s face it, Michigan is one of the bluest blood programs out there and with all the betting going on, it would open up a sea of litigation. So again big money wins over doing the right thing which seems to be par for the course for college football these days.

Then finally let’s take a look at Exhibit D and some troubling post-game antics. Yes, Texas came from behind to beat Ohio State 24-23 in the biggest match-up of the season thus far. But much of the big Longhorn victory has been tarnished by Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and his star quarterback Arch Manning.

First, Sarkisian basically dissed Holly Rowe when she tried to do a post-game interview on the field. That isn’t a huge deal per se as Sark, as he is often referred to, wanted to celebrate with his team and the students that stormed the field. And the production team of ESPN dropped the ball in what was supposed to be a halftime interview between Rowe and Sark that might have made the Longhorn coach a bit cantankerous. But there is some irony here because Sark’s head coach at BYU, LaVell Edwards, is one of key people that helped launch Rowe’s career, something she pointed out when she was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame last year.

Then a meme surfaced showing Sark slapping Rowe on the field and Texas quarterback Arch Manning thought it was pretty funny, having a good laugh at a press conference. But justifiable backlash has occurred. Rowe is a consummate professional who never missed a Saturday, even while battling cancer. Manning, to his credit, apologized to Rowe both publicly and privately and Rowe graciously accepted. But the whole thing just shows that the acceptance of female reporters covering a male sport still has a long way to go, let alone the deeper, and certainly, darker message, that violence against women is acceptable and even humorous.

Brian E. Preece is a retired social studies educator and coach. As a wrestling coach, he was named as the 2006 Utah Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. He has also co-authored three books and has been a sports journalist for parts of five decades.