By Darryl Jacobs ESPN, CBS Sports Networks Commentator

Having spent decades in college athletics, professional sports, and nonprofit leadership, I’ve learned that real professionalism is not about titles, salaries, or facilities — it’s about responsibility. And when I look at the Lane Kiffin situation, watching a head coach walk away from a team on the doorstep of the biggest stage in college football, I don’t see a sport being “professionalized.” I see a sport that has never held its leaders to professional standards in the first place.

The immediate reaction from many corners of college sports was predictable. Some people blamed NIL. Others pointed at the transfer portal. Some even tried to claim that player freedom is what triggered instability across the sport. But from my vantage po

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