Near the end of every college football season, “up and coming” coaches are hired away from their previous school, resulting in all kinds of chaos in the college football world.

When a team has had success, fans and alumni are going to be upset when their school’s coach is lured away to another institution. The entire hiring process in the world of college football has raised serious questions about what is acceptable and ethically correct. Meanwhile, the NCAA continues to stand by and do nothing while these hiring practices tarnish the fan base that actually supports the system.

As is often the case, head coaches with years remaining on their contract are persuaded by another college to lead their football program. The timing of the hiring is usually the ugly part of the process. Since many of these hirings occur in December or January, teams are preparing for bowl games and the recruiting battles are at the highest point as they lead up to the national signing date on Feb. 3. Furthermore, some high school seniors have graduated early so they can enroll and begin classes at their college of choice and prepare to start working out with the football team.

Take the situation at the University of Michigan and the hiring Rich Rodriguez in December of 2007. West Virginia was set to play Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in three weeks when it was announced that Rodriguez had resigned and signed a lucrative contract with U of M. Rodriguez took other members of the WVU staff with him, and left for “greener pastures” in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Not only did Rodriguez leave a smaller staff to prepare for an important BCS bowl game, but also a staff that had to salvage a recruiting class that Rodriguez was already trying to redirect and recruit to U of M.

This year, two cases similar to the Rodriguez hire occurred. The first was the highly publicized hiring of Cincinnati head coach, Brian Kelly, to Notre Dame. Again, the hiring took place less than a month before Cincinnati’s hard fought berth in the BCS Sugar Bowl game vs. Florida. The Bearcats, who had never played in a BCS game, were now forced to prepare without their leader. In addition, just last week, Tennessee was hit by the news that their coach, Lane Kiffen, was leaving after just 14 months to coach the University of Southern California. The problem was that the signing date for recruits was only three weeks away and a new semester was about to begin at Tennessee. Even before Kiffen’s contract was finalized with USC, he and an assistant coach (also hired by USC) were shifting their focus to their prized Tennessee recruits. Some of Kiffen’s recruits were set to begin classes at Tennessee. If that occurred, they would not be able to transfer schools to USC or any other school without sitting out an entire season.

To be fair to all parties, the NCAA should get involved and end this nightmare. It could take a closer look at creating a coaching “dead period” between Nov. 20 (end of regular season) to Jan. 7(end of bowl season). Head coaches could not sign a new contract with a new school during this period which would protect schools from the issues that arise during the bowl game season. Plus, it would also eliminate the domino effect it creates. Once a coach leaves a school, the former school’s administration is forced to begin the process to find a new coach. Another school might experience the same consequences if they have a successful coach. A “dead period” would eliminate that problem.

On the recruiting front, the NCAA could make some changes in their eligibility standards to ensure athletes don’t get left out in the cold when a coach leaves a program unexpectedly. They could allow current players the right to transfer to another school other than the school where the new coach is headed without penalty of sitting out a year. For early admission recruits, who have already started classes in the spring semester, they could also transfer without penalty if they want – as long as they don’t follow the new coach. If they want to follow the coach, they could, but they would have to sit out a year.  

The solution is not an easy one to decide, but the NCAA must take some responsibility in protecting the young men who are simply pawns in this huge industry of “amateur” sports.