Schools who fire or lose a coach could care less about the impact these signings have on student athletes at other schools. The *only* thing that matters is turning the program around, especially if they just endured a horrible season that resulted in firing a coach. Interestingly, professional sports leagues have very clear rules preventing teams from interviewing coaches while in season. The right thing would be for the membership to institute a dead period for signing coaches. I'm not holding my breath.

There should be a rule against things like what's going on with Cincinnati. It's crazy to think that a group of kids who learned under and looked up to a coach will now have a matter of days to get it right with the new guy.

If an athlete has to sit out when transferring schools, then a coach shouldn't be able to come in with a new scheme, new staff and new outlook for the final game of the season. Cincinnati might take a terrible L because of the coaching carousel; but then again, it would be difficult to get a coach in place for the recruiting season if it wasn't done this way.

Just another wacky and wonderful day in the NCAA.

I kinda think some of the problem with coaches jumping ship during the time between the season is the fact that they almost have a whole month of not a whole lot going on. Especially the good coaches that got a team going to a bowl. The big schools that are not going a bowl are not going to wait around til January to sign another coach.
Now, if they had a playoff system where the good teams where still busy every week, you wouldn't see coaches jumping before a bowl game.

PS.- BK used to be the GVSU coach as well Josh.

The reason this kind of thing happens at all has to do with the original school in this piece – Michigan State hiring the Cincy coach. The schools that aren't playing for a bowl, their season is over and they are on the market for a new coach. You even see coaches in basketball that have made the NCAA tournament with a mid-major school always linked to some major university before they are even done. The timing for Cincy may be poor but that is the right time for the coach to make his choice. It is an unfortunate situation but what the community as a whole needs to understand is that it is a job. Coaches are usually not affiliated with the institution they work at so they don't have the same ties as an alum or a lifelong fan. I can't think of to many other jobs where you can't just take another position somewhere else at anytime. If schools want to eliminate this from happening then there should be clauses in the contract. Yes I agree it is unfortunate about the student-athletes but these coaches are realistic - they are not going in and trying to put their system and terminology in a month! They will work within the current structure. And all this about the student-athletes and how a coach could leave now, what about the coaches that get fired before their season is up, is that fair then? It's always the coach’s fault? I wonder about the Minn. basketball coach that was let go before 10 games into the season. The administration had seen the previous years and thought this was the right time? No matter when a coach leaves they leave student-athletes behind, but each year seniors graduate and transfers leave also, it is the nature of athletics.

I don't really have a problem with the coaches - they are professionals and need to think about their futures. I also don't have a problem with student-athletes transferring to new institutions, but everybody would be up in arms if legislation permitted student-athletes to transfer and compete for their new teams during the same season.

I don't fault the coaches for looking out for number one, but the system doesn't seem completely appropriate.

Student-athletes are different then coaches in the sense they should be there for the educational experience. Coaching is a job first and foremost. If you lifted that legislation it would be like any pro organization out there and kids would jump from one university to the other. You would also eliminate parity because the larger schools would continually get the best players to come to them. It would turn the smaller schools into a farm system. If you want to eliminate that rule then just say that academics don't matter then.

I feel that this is ridiculous how the coaches will just leave schools right at the end of the year. All year this is what you work for and then all of a sudden your head coach is gone. As a student athlete, I would hate to have this happen. In college it doesn’t really matter as an individual because you deal more with your position coach anyway, but as a team it has to be devastating.

It’s probably devastating to a team because the head coach most of the time is the verbal leader of the team. He’s the one that’s giving them speeches before games and getting all the players fired up. I mean I know they’re gonna be fired up to play in a bowl game, but some coach that’s been there for about 3 weeks before the game is not going to have the same effect. They need to set up some kind of system as to where this doesn’t happen anymore.