The Abandoned

Originally Published: Dec 11, 2009 12:36 PM CDT

I love college football, but there are some very frustrating problems with the sport. Obviously, the way it decides a champion is ridiculous. But more to the point today, the manner in which coaches are hired is absurd and completely unfair. Because of the February signing day and the month layoff between the end of the regular season and the bowl games, coaches are forced to do what Brian Kelly is doing at Cincinnati...abandon their teams.

With rare exceptions, coaches turn their backs on their kids and head for greener pastures. Usually at the demand of the hiring school. This doesn't happen in any other sport. For that matter, it doesn't happen in any other profession.  Coaches preach loyalty and togethernes, then slip off to far away lands in the middle of the night.

I'm not so much blaming coaches as saying college football needs to fix this fiasco. Move signing day or phohibit hiring until January. For a sport so concerned about the well-being of its student-athletes that it doesn't want to put them throught the rigors of a playoff...it sure doesn't seem to mind seeing those same student-athletes getting dumped on by fleeing head coaches.