In NCAA football, it pays to cheat, so long as you have good timing.

A booster gave this player a golden football?  There is
no possible way I could know anything about that.  

Pete Carol and Chip Kelly are smart men.  They know their craft, they know how to lead, but their best shared feature may just be that they know when to leave.

Both men had great success as college coaches (in the same conference even), recruiting top offensive talent and installing excellent systems to turn that talent into regular championship contenders.  

Both men turned down offers in the NFL, and both made statement about how they have a great job and it would be foolish to leave it.  

Both men left those jobs for the NFL.  They both said that they were ready for a change.  They both said that they had an offer from the right team at the right time.  That may be true, but that is not why they left.  

Both men allowed dubious recruiting practices to occur at their school.  Did they know who was giving the money/gifts to which players and how much?  Probably not, but they knew more than enough to be suspicious.  Professional football coaches (and NCAA division 1 coaches are professionals, they may be paid less than their NFL counterparts, but that is their profession, making them professionals, and they) are control freaks.  Every moment of practice is scripted, and coaches try to control as much of every moment in every game as they possibly can.  It is impossible to not notice the effect that the boosters have their players. These coaches know what happens when they arrange a meeting between a recruit and a booster.  Does the coach personally introduce them, probably not, that is far too obvious, but they make sure the meeting happens.  

These coaches (and countless other NCAA coaches who are cheating in the exact same way) also know when the investigations are coming.  They have friends in high places, and the more successful they are the more influential friends they make.  I am sure they are warned of impending investigations, and if they are not able to cover their tracks they are also warned when sanctions are coming.  Frankly it is obvious, with the 24 hour sports media even casual fans knew when USC and Oregon were being investigated, and we knew when sanctions were likely.  

These two coaches left their perfect jobs at the perfect time, just before they would have to pay the price for their unfair advantages that helped to create their success.  If Chip Kelly and Pete Carol are forced to compete against division 1 competition without offering as many full ride scholarships as the competition they would probably get their butts kicked.  Even if they did well they would probably look poor compared to the next (cheating) wonder-kid who is able to offer scholarships to the top talent (and who's booster are still allowed unfettered access to the recruits and players).  The nice NFL jobs with talented teams and nice NFL paychecks would probably diminish to nice, but not as nice NFL jobs (maybe they accept a coordinator position or risk coaching a team with relatively less talent) for significantly less money.  

You all get a bonus if you don't
splash me with ice water

I dislike that these coaches are able to reap the rewards of cheating and simply side step all consequences by fleeing to the NFL.  It drives me crazy that no one in the sports media even talks about their duplicity.  They talk about how excited these coaches are to give it a go at the NFL but never mention the kids who they made promises too who are suffering sanctions that the coaches deserve (not the future NFL players, but those without scholarships who are doing it for the love of the game).  Sports reporters are not journalists, it is their job to entertain, but I wish one had the courage to ask Chip Kelly what he would say to the players who he abandoned to face sanctions he deserved.  

The Prediction:  This will keep happening, a lot.  Over the next several years over half of the NCAA coaches who are offered NFL jobs will be fleeing a team that is about to face sanctions for recruiting violations, and the NFL and the media will continue to ignore the obvious duplicity and they will never receive consequences for the systems they allowed and profited from.  

I am Wrong If:  If the NFL changes their policy to extend NCAA sanctions for recruiting violations to suspensions and fines for NFL coaches I will be wrong in this prediction, but happy.